Ex-Port Adelaide president Greg Boulton has made the extraordinary revelation that the Collingwood Magpies approached the Power about a potential merger during his tenure.
Speaking on Triple M in South Australia, Boulton shed light on the play made by Collingwood powerbrokers, that was very abruptly declined by Boulton and his fellow board members.
In an interview slated for airing on Sunday, what started as a conversation about the age-old prison bars debate quickly morphed into an opportunity for Boulton to get one over the club's fierce rival.
“I can only talk about what happened prior to 2008. We never had an agreement with Collingwood to not use the black and white - that's not something that we ever had, nor was it in our sublicense," Boulton told The Power Hour.
“However, when we designed the guernsey and the colours, the board and our marketing people felt that we couldn't duplicate black and white - it'd be silly to have done that. But we could still incorporate it in our history. That's why we went with black and white, with teal...that's why the back still has 1870 on it."
Things then took a turn, with Boulton recalling a moment sure to draw the ire of Collingwood faithful.
“We weren't too worried about Collingwood," Boulton continued.
"Collingwood made a lot of noise, and some things that will never get printed. I will say this - there was an offer at one stage of, “why don't we merge with Collingwood, and Port Adelaide can become the South Australian branch of a merged AFL side?”
“I think there was (sic) only two words we used to make sure the discussion didn't take too long.”
