The Adelaide Crows were established because of spite. Let’s be clear about that.
In 1990, Port Adelaide – proud, gritty, decorated — made a bold and secretive move to join the AFL while South Australia resisted attempts to join the new national competition under the belief that things were fine just the way they were.
On the other hand, Port, were ready to jump from the SANFL and bring their premiership winning dominance from the state league to the newly re-badged AFL.
The SANFL and the rest of the South Australian football establishment?
They weren’t having it.
In a full-blown panic and in the South Australian supreme court, they cobbled together a composite team to block Port’s path.
Enter the Adelaide Crows.
Round One, 1991 vs Hawthorn
Our first AFL game and we came face-to-face with competition heavyweights Hawthorn. We kicked the first five goals and went on to win by 86 points.
A victory that stunned the football world.
Adelaide: 24.11 (155)
Hawthorn: 9.15 (69) pic.twitter.com/TtO4mf94va— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) March 14, 2023
A club built not from tradition or legacy, but from pure sabotage.
A composite side of the best SANFL talent slapped with a crow logo and marketed to the masses.
Their very establishment is a middle finger to Port Adelaide’s ambition or betrayal depending on who you ask.
And that, right there, is the origin of the most bitter, tribal and emotional rivalry in Australian sport: the Showdown.
But here’s the thing about the Crows, Adelaide took that messy, last-minute formation and turned it into something powerful.
They quickly captured the state’s imagination, united rival SANFL tribes, and built a fiercely loyal supporter base.
Within a few short years, they’d won back-to-back AFL premierships in 1997 and 1998 while Port were still finding their feet.
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Port won the first ever Showdown, the Crows had to settle for the Flag in 1997 and again in 1998, a fair trade off.
We all love a rivalry.
Rugby League’s State of Origin between New South Wales and Queensland is always a must-watch for all sports fans.
Carlton v Collingwood is the most traditional of them all and has rekindled a hatred in recent years.
The Derby in Perth between the Eagles and Dockers has plenty of spite and is right up there, but the stories behind it aren’t as personal or spiteful as what’s on offer in SA.
Even the A-League’s Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers Derby is underrated but can still pack a punch.
But when it comes to the real deal, the most tribal, personal, and bitter rivalry in Australian sport isn’t on a billboard or something a marketing department can try and conjure up.
It’s Port Adelaide vs the Adelaide Crows by the length of the Flemington, or should I say, Morphettville straight.
Two clubs that share a city, a stadium, and an unquenchable hatred for one another.
I’ve had the pleasure for the last few years to host Neds AFL Unpopular Opinions with the man who “built the foundations” at Alberton (it’s a joke, relax) and he’s often spoken about one of the first things he was told when he moved to the Power in 2018 was to hate the Crows and his hatred hasn’t changed since hanging up the boots.
When it’s Showdown week down in South Australia, the hatred that doesn’t just simmer, it boils.
And unlike most modern rivalries, which are brewed up in the marketing department and served lukewarm to casuals, this one was forged in fire.
In betrayal. In pub brawls and boardroom politics. This is real. This is generational. This is personal.
Port had to wait until 1997 to finally get into the AFL, they bought in the Teal and became the Power.
And what did they do in the first ever AFL Showdown? Beat the Crows. Instant history. Payback on the scoreboard.
Port had officially arrived in the AFL.
Since then, every Showdown has felt like a referendum.
On class, culture, and legacy. It’s more than footy.
It’s identity politics in footy jumpers.
Port represent the outer burbs, the working class, even the fact they were their iconic SANFL Magpies prison-bar jumper means a lot to the faithful down at Alberton.
Back in the Prison Bars for Showdown LVII 🖤🤍
Available in-store and online now 🎽 https://t.co/qNRtxqRrcU pic.twitter.com/UlQmMqZu0z
— Port Adelaide FC (@PAFC) May 5, 2025
The Crows are seen as the establishment, broad-market, safe.
Mum’s preferred team, or perhaps best summed up by this Port banner prior to the Showdown in 43 back in 2017 (which for the record, the Crows won)
But they’ve also been one of the most consistently competitive clubs since their inception.
Their success came fast and hard, and they’ve built their own proud identity just as passionate, just as powerful, and just as parochial.
And unlike other rivalries that fall into cycles of one-sidedness or blandness, the Showdown has never lost its edge.
These teams can be first and last on the ladder and the game still sells out.
Form goes out the window but tension doesn’t.
The Showdown has brought so many memorable moments over the years, these are just a few that first spring to mind.
Such as Steven Motlop on the run in 2018 to win it late for Port.
Who could forget Angus Monfries bounce in the dying minutes to help win the game for Port in the final Showdown played at Football Park
There was Josh Jenkins’ controversial goal in 2018 that may or may not have scraped the post.
Who could ever forget Jordan Dawson’s after-the-siren miracle in Round 3, 2022?
There was also the time the two met in a Semi Final back in 2005 which is arguably the biggest game in SA football history given what was at stake, with the Crows demolishing Port to the tune of 83-points.
And who could ever forget the emotional scenes in the late Phil Walsh Showdown in 2015, a game played with tears, tension and trembling emotion and brought the two rivals together in the name of a tragic loss of a coach, friend, mentor, and father with the Crows winning a thriller by three points.
But none quite capture the rivalry like The Ramsgate Hotel Incident of 2002.
After a bruising contest, Port and Crows players ended up at the same pub.
Punches were thrown, beers were spilled, legends were made.
And it was beautifully on brand for the most genuinely combustible rivalry in the league.
The move to Adelaide Oval only turned the heat up.
Football Park was very much seen as the Crows ground, not Port’s (who famously tarped up seats at home games in their last few seasons at the venue.
Port bought in “Never Tear Us Apart” and their fans came flocking back.
And yes, I’ve heard the arguments and no doubt the comments on social about this article will dispute my stance on the Showdown.
Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers has flares and a tifo, Carlton v Collingwood has history, Eagles v Freo has biffo. Origin has state pride and TV ratings.
But none of them were engineered to sabotage a football club’s expansion plans.
That’s what makes the Showdown different.
It isn’t just a contest, it’s a living, breathing grudge.
Port never asked for a rivalry, but everyone who wasn’t from Port hated them to begin with in South Australia.
For Port, the rivalry with the Crows was handed one at the barrel of the Supreme Court of South Australia, ruling in favour of the SANFL and every club that wasn’t them.
And every time they play, it’s a reminder of betrayal, distrust or what was stolen, what was delayed, and what still burns.
The fans know it. The players feel it. The city divides. Households split. Mates turn enemies. It’s fair dinkum.
It is football at its rawest. Unfiltered. Unmanufactured.
So next time someone brings up which rivalry in Australian sport is the biggest, you can rattle off a few usual suspects.
But deep down, we all know it’s the Crows and Port.
The Showdown isn’t just the best rivalry in Australia. It’s the most real.
Dylan Leach is part of Neds content team, a total nuffie and host of the Neds AFL Unpopular Opinions Podcast.