Chairman David Koch has penned a letter to Members and supporters clarifying the club's bid to wear the Prison Bar jumper in all Showdowns.

Dear Members and supporters,

Last night we launched a petition in a bid to wear our black-and-white Prison Bar guernsey in all Showdowns moving forward.

As of early this morning we already had more 15,000 pledges of support to this petition.

PETITION: click here to sign

This support includes every living Port Adelaide captain as well as supporters from clubs right across the AFL competition.

This petition will form a key part of our official submission to the AFL.

I contacted the AFL today to inform them to expect our submission soon.

Already, it is overwhelmingly clear that the majority of our Members and supporters and football supporters in general want to see this magnificent guernsey featured in Showdowns on the national stage.

To avoid any confusion, let me present some facts to you.

At no stage did the current Board of the Port Adelaide Football Club sign a “once and done” agreement with the AFL to enable us to wear our black-and-white Prison Bar guernsey in our 150th year. FACT.

In fact, the Collingwood Football Club were prepared for Port Adelaide to wear this guernsey in both 2020 Showdowns, on the condition that we would sign off on it being the last time and no more. FACT.

Subsequently, we refused to sign off on anything preventing us from wearing this guernsey beyond 2020 with “the parties agreeing to defer further consideration of that issue to a later point in time.” FACT.

Therefore, we are doing exactly what was agreed, picking up the conversation to be able to wear the black-and-white Prison Bar guernsey in Showdowns ongoing.

And we are not asking to be the Magpies in the AFL. FACT.

All we are asking is that we are able to wear our black-and-white Prison Bar guernsey in all Showdowns moving forward.

This guernsey is more than just a uniform to our football club and our people. It is so much deeper than that. A football guernsey is about identity, it’s about meaning, it’s about purpose. And this is why the traditional black-and-white Prison Bar guernsey is so important to you, our Members and supporters.

We would like to think that the history and tradition of the Port Adelaide Football Club, a club that has proudly represented its community since 1870, would be respected by all parties.

Click here to sign Port Adelaide’s black-and-white Prison Bar petition.