Big showdown

Power v the Crows, Adelaide Oval

The first major event at the Adelaide Oval after its $575 million makeover, sadly not the Rolling Stones- but for many South Australians something even more visceral than rock and roll: the return of Australian Rules Football. And what a return: both of South Australia’s national (AFL) league clubs: Port Adelaide Power versus the Adelaide Crows, playing a league match for the first time in the City Centre.

The Adelaide Oval from the River Torrens

Everywhere we went, evidence of the showdown- Crows and Power colours at the supermarket checkout, on the bus, in the pub, fans in club guernseys (we Brits would use a different Channel Island to describe the sporting apparel). It’s like the North London derby, or Man United v Liverpool (sorry, Everton), without the simmering undercurrents of potential violence – but with emotions that run no less deeply. The…