Supporting an interstate club can be a lonely caper, especially when you live in the AFL feverish city of Adelaide.
It’s either the Crows’ way, the Power’s way or the highway.
Thankfully there’s a sanctuary for those who are #ProudlySydney.
From far and wide our interstate brothers and sisters take refuge inside the Arkaba Hotel, an accommodating sports bar located just south of the city.
There’s nothing on the walls that scream ‘Cheer Cheer’, you’d struggle to find any proud Adelaide establishment not showing its pride for the…well, ‘Pride of South Australia’.
But they do, contrary to many of their neighbouring venues, warm to the red and white variety.
“The owners are really good to us,” Jeanette Casey, a keen member of the Sydney Swans’ SA supporter group, said.
“We got some posters and bunting sent over last week that we hung up around the place. We stuck it over the top of the Crows stuff for the day which was great.”
That won’t be happening on Saturday night, for obvious reasons.
In fact, genuine battle lines will be drawn.
“There will be a lot of Crows supporters at the same pub watching the game,” she conceded.
“We’ve put the call out to all our members over here just so we’re not drowned out during the game.
“We’ll have an area reserved for us and there will be absolutely no crossing that line.”
Members of the SA Swans Supporter Group cheering the team on during a game earlier this season.
The support is strong behind enemy lines and confidence levels sky-high, with Jeannette among the majority who believe the Sydney Swans will bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing showing against GWS.
Many travelled from Adelaide for Sydney Derby XI and Jeannette knows of a few who will be making back-to-back trips.
While the expected sell-out crowd at the SCG will be loud, it will have nothing on the noise coming from the bellows of ‘The Ark’.
As Jeannette says: “Once that ball goes up, there’s no holding back.”
A win will mean that little bit more for our trapped but treasured South Australian supporters.
It means they’ll again get to gather as one and watch their beloved club strive for a place in the grand final.
It will mean they’ll be saved from the pro-Crows propaganda on the front pages of the Adelaide Advertiser.
And it will mean welcomed relief from a week’s worth of torment from co-workers, friends and even family.
"We have a couple of mixed marriages, one Swan and one Crow, so they will be interesting households after the weekend," Jeannette laughed.
“We don’t want to live here if the Crows win, I'll definitely cop it.
“I’ll keep my Swans stuff up on my desk at work but I’ll just have to put up with Crows things waved in my face.”
