HUSBANDS in Crows colours, wives decked in black, white and teal, children wearing the jumpers of their favourite teams or still muddied in the uniforms of their local clubs, on Sunday afternoon, they all came to the Adelaide Oval to pay tribute to Phil Walsh.

Many Crows and Power fans have laid tributes at the Oval and AAMI Stadium in Walsh's memory, but this was the first time supporters from both tribes were able to attend a footy ground together, along with supporters wearing the colours of many clubs from outside SA.

It was fitting that they walked through the gates together, sat and stood together and waited in silence for a moment before 2:50pm.

That was when Walsh was due to sit in the Adelaide box as senior coach for just his 13th AFL game.

When the siren sounded to mark the start of what should have been a cracking contest between the Crows - the last club he coached at - and Geelong when he started his journey as fitness and conditioning coach back in 1995, the assembled mass burst into applause. 

Then they flooded the Oval for a kick-and-catch in memory of a man who contributed over a decade to serving South Australia's AFL clubs. 

Many then left tokens of respect - caps, scarves, jumpers, flowers - at a memorial of the steps outside the Oval's southern gates, with a placard bearing the emblems of all the clubs Walsh was involved with at VFL and AFL level.