How 'Never Tear Us Apart' became Port Adelaide's pre-game anthem

It was October 2012.

Kane Cornes had just won his fourth club best and fairest. A man broke the sound barrier for the first time, jumping from a helium balloon in the stratosphere… And Port Adelaide was about to embark on a new era.

After a 62-day search for a new coach, Ken Hinkley won the role, signing a four-year deal.

The club hopped on a flight to Milan, Italy, for a pre-season training camp ahead of its game against the Western Bulldogs in London.

The Oval was the scene for the match, with the locals still coming to terms with a poor Surrey season in which they narrowly avoided relegation.

Anyway, With Hinkley and Brad Gotch sharing the coaching duties, Port overcame a 39 point deficit to win by 1 point… Brad Ebert the hero.

At the time, AFL manager of national and international development Andrew Dillon told the media that Port’s win would give it first dibs on a game in 2013… No exhibition games have been played in London since.

While in Europe, renowned fitness guru Darren Burgess, who had links to Liverpool, organised for the team and staff to attend Anfield the night after the Dogs game.

Sitting at the opposite end, the Kop sang ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone,’ the seeds were planted.

Luis Suarez scored a stunner but The Reds were held to a 1-1 draw by Newcastle.

Back in South Australia, the club was gearing up for a move back to Adelaide Oval. It needed a refresh. Footy Park was tired to say the least.

Wedged in the board room at Alberton, was the club’s marketing committee.

The chair of that committee, Cos Cardone - a high flying former Footy Show producer and influential director, sat back in his leather chair with his morning latte and asked the seemingly simple question: ‘What can we do to bring life back to this proud club?’

Five other people sat around the table… There was silence.

The answer wasn’t simple. The Matthew Primus era had torn the club to pieces.

Enter Tara McLeod… The Head of Events.

“Hey, we were at Anfield a few months ago, why don’t we try and do something similar for the first game of 2014? A Showdown?’

“Great idea!” said one person. Let’s play this song: Power and the Passion by Midnight Oil.

“Not bad,” said Tara, as she typed in YouTube to her laptop.

“But what about this!?” - Never Tear Us Apart, by INXS.

The room loved it.

Initially, the song was to be played just for the Showdown. Adelaide asked to wear the South Australian state jumper for that game… Port rallied hard against that.

There were TWO teams in South Australia, and Port wanted the Crows to know it.

Never Tear Us Apart was directed towards the SANFL for tearing the clubs apart. It was a rude finger to their authority and mismanagement.

Which was ironic when a senior SANFL executive, upon hearing it for the first time, came up to a senior Port staffer and said ‘How good is this song!’

'Kochy' (David Koch) was asked for his views. “That was my wedding song!” he said.

The marketing committee was sold. Never Tear Us Apart would be the anthem for the first Showdown of 2014.

They decided to put T-shirts saying ‘never tear us apart’ on every seat… 40,000 of them. And there were no lyrics sheets handed out. They wanted to grow it organically.

It was March 29, 2014 when it was played. Veteran midfielder Kane Cornes had 33 as Port romped to a 54 point win against Adelaide.

“Why don’t we do it for our next home game,” Koch asked.

And Port was away.

Early in the following season, Two members of INXS came and sang it pre-match.

Until the club had another lightbulb moment.

They realised if you play music in the stadium without the video montage… It’s free.

Up until then, they’d paid more than $50,000 per year to use the song.

From 2017, it hasn’t cost a cent.

And there have been other subtle variations too… For example, now the music fades to nothing for the last 5-10 seconds, which allows the Port faithful to sing without backing vocals.

And as much as other AFL clubs may try to replicate it, there’s little doubt Tara McLeod’s vision is what helped define the Ken Hinkley era, and many eras still to come at Alberton.