Why the Showdown is still footy's biggest grudge match

From the Ramsgate to Houston's big hit, Mark Ricciuto, Chad Cornes and Charlie Dixon tell Bharat Sundaresan why Crows-Power clashes still set Adelaide alight

Chad Cornes, Mark Ricciuto and Charlie Dixon. Pictures: AFL Photos

"THAT MAKES me 'effing sick'. That can't happen. Let's show them in the Showdown who is the real team in town."

It took a few minutes into Chad Cornes' maiden training session with Port Adelaide, as he ran around the Parklands, for the magnitude of the ultimate intrastate rivalry in Australia to sink in.

The words of disgust had come from the then runner and fitness coach of the Power, David Arnfield. The source of his ire was the sight of the Adelaide Crows colours on the West End chimney—that most Adelaide of things—because they'd won their first AFL flag that year.

The man they call 'Mr Showdown' had grown up a Crows fan through his legendary father, Graham Cornes, having been the club's first coach, with Port being the real enemy. Now, the loyalties would be flipped for good. And he'd end up becoming the most hated figure for Crows fans by regularly starring in what he refers to as the "most important matches" of his career.

Mark Ricciuto needed less than 15 seconds into the first-ever Showdown to realise that these would be the most physical matches he'd be a part of, on and occasionally off the field. Despite having supported the club till he was eight years old himself, the footy great admits that "it's always been easy to hate Port."

A ruck contest during the inaugural Showdown in round four, 1997. Picture: AFL Photos

Spare a thought for Charlie Dixon, then. The towering Queenslander who'd eventually become a cult figure with the Power knew nothing about the intensity of the club conflict when he moved to Adelaide. He learnt it the hard way, within a few hours into his first Showdown week.

"I was walking around the streets and people were yelling at me and calling me all sorts of things," he says with a chuckle.

Now, the people of Adelaide largely agree on most things Adelaide, especially when it comes to the way they want to be perceived by the rest of the country. We have the best wine, the best beer, the best festivals, the best weather, the best sporting venue, the best Test match, as well as being the country's best-kept secret.

With everything else, there's a rivalry we share with every other state and region, but when it comes to the AFL, we are home to the best rivalry in our own backyard. Twice every year, even we have something to disagree about between ourselves.

Tom Lynch, Charlie Dixon and Taylor Walker in a dispute during the Showdown between Adelaide and Port Adelaide in round two, 2016. Picture: AFL Photos

This is one week where you are not allowed to sit on the fence. This is a turf war for those in Adelaide. One you indulge in, like everything else this wonderful city has to offer. And the only way to celebrate it is by picking a side – and hating the one you don't.

"It'd get boring if we only kept agreeing. Who's the best team in town? That's why we have a Showdown to decide. And then you can't really argue, can you, afterwards?" Ricciuto says.

"Even though in the last Showdown, you know, the only reason Port won was because they knocked out Izak Rankine, the dirty buggers. They won because they cheated. See, you still have to find a way to argue, even if the scoreboard says we got beaten."

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I remember the first Showdown I attended in 2019 with a friend of mine who'd gifted me a Crows scarf, which I donned proudly to fit in. Only to be told, "You'd better watch which pub you walk into on Hindley Street with that thing on. You might run into me," by a Port fan who I bumped into outside the toilets.

I wasn't sure if he was being serious. I didn't want to find out, either.

Speaking of walking into pubs, a part of me wishes I was there on Henley Square on that Sunday afternoon in 2002, when it all came to a head in what's referred to as the Ramsgate Rumble, which I personally love as a lifelong pro-wrestling fan.

Ricciuto recalls it fondly, having been one of the central figures of the fracas, but also believes the fact that the players from the two biggest football teams would end up in the same pub the day after a grudge match is the most "Adelaide thing ever".

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Adelaide, where everywhere is only 20 minutes away, and everybody knows your name. But for two weeks every year, that familiarity can breed contempt, quite literally, and does so quite often if you are a footy player or a fan.

Like when Cornes was grabbed by the neck and pressed against the wall by a decidedly annoyed Ricciuto for not having shaken the Crows' players hands after a big loss the previous night.

Or the way Dixon recalls getting side-eyed at his favourite cafes when he'd go for coffee the morning after his team had beaten the Crows.

"I lived in Glenelg which was mostly Crows territory. And I wouldn't leave home if we'd lost, except for footy training, because you knew you'd get ribbed about the game," Cornes says.

Chad Cornes in action during the Showdown in round three, 2008. Picture: AFL Photos

Understandably so too, considering the Showdown is all about bragging rights for the subsequent few months before going through it all over again.

"I have so many conversations where no one says anything about footy, and then just as they're about to hang up or about to walk off, they'll go, 'Carn the Power!' and I'll go 'you bastard' or suddenly people take off their jackets and there's a guernsey underneath or they'll pull their scarves out," Ricciuto says.

"You pit us against Victorians, and we'll all unite but when it comes to this week, families split up, best friends split up, it's hell or high water," says Dixon, while joking about how he wouldn't be caught having a cheese platter – the stereotyped narrative around Crows fans – even at home while he was a Port player.

Charlie Dixon celebrates a goal during the Showdown in round three, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

The cultural split between the two fanbases is as fascinating as the clash at the Adelaide Oval itself. As is the historical legacy around the rivalry which dates back to well over a century, long before the Crows were conceived, in the larger scheme of things.

After all, there's been a 150-year tradition of Port being the most disliked team in Adelaide, to the extent that many Power fans believe strongly that the Showdown in many ways is an 'anti-Port versus pro-Port' battle, with the Crows being the symbolic antagonist. The small club team with their ultra-loyal followers taking on the state team with all its might.

You'll hear Crows fans, on the other hand, scoff at the underdog badge that their rivals try to thrive on despite their incredible success as a club within the state. Unlike other derbies across the AFL landscape, be it in Queensland, NSW or Western Australia, the answer as to who is the elder brother in the Showdown's sibling rivalry depends largely on who you're speaking to.

For Port, it fits perfectly into the 'us versus them' philosophy that Cornes believes was a driving force for many years after the team joined the AFL ranks.

Port Adelaide and Adelaide fans hold up their scarves ahead of the Showdown in round 16, 2015. Picture: AFL Photos

It's an attitude, in my opinion, that's also symptomatic of the way Adelaide views itself with regards to the rest of the country. From the endearing inferiority complex that I think drives the city, to the equally charming self-confidence it espouses when it comes to promoting itself on the national stage.

"I think Adelaide as a city's changing in that regard. It's a bit new for Victorians and interstaters to be talking positively about Adelaide. I think Adelaide Oval's changed that. Gather Round has changed that, LIV Golf has changed that," Ricciuto says.

"And now it's sort of that Adelaide's becoming a cool place to live and a cool place to talk about. The Showdown is another cool thing on the Adelaide calendar up there with the Fringe and WOMADelaide (festivals)."

Mark Ricciuto in action during the 2005 semi-final between Adelaide and Port Adelaide. Picture: AFL Photos

As a peek behind the curtain, this piece is being written while I am touring the Yorke Peninsula. It's interesting that there are some who don't automatically connect with either team as you go deeper into regional South Australia. Like one patron at the pub says, "Why do you think Adelaide would be my club? I am not from Adelaide, and I'm definitely not from Port Adelaide. I am a Yorkie from Stansbury."

Another puts it very succinctly: "Oh, it feels like they grow an extra leg every time they play against each other, but I couldn't care less. I barrack for Geelong."

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But again, for those who care – which is everyone in Adelaide – there's nothing quite like the Showdown. While Cornes talks about trying to stay away from the hype around the build-up now in his position as a coach, Dixon is as keen as ever on barracking for his beloved Port Adelaide.

Ricciuto, meanwhile, makes no bones about how his whole world still "revolves around winning and losing".

"The house is a happier place for the six kids if we win. There are bottles of wine and cartons of beer to be won, let alone the pride of just being the best team in town," he reveals.

And it's best I leave the final word on the inescapable reality of every Showdown to one of the greatest players and proudest sons of Adelaide. As Ricciuto says: "I reckon one second after I wake up on Sunday morning, I'm either going to have one of the best feelings in the world or the worst feelings in the world. As will all of Adelaide."

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