Destiny

'If Port Adelaide does not receive the nod from the powers-that-be then it will rank as one of the greatest injustices in football history,' Tony Greenberg wrote in Inside Football in 1994, as a handful of SANFL teams competed for the state's second AFL licence.

Port Adelaide's bold initial bid to join the national competition in 1991 had been thwarted by the SANFL, which put up a composite state team - what would become the Adelaide Crows - instead ... But Port's gutsy move was what finally propelled South Australia into the national football arena.

This fascinating book tracks Port's tumultuous, often controversial journey to the AFL: from 1981, when Victoria's VFL began to evolve into a national competition, to 1994, when Port Adelaide finally won its licence, beating out the teams who'd become bitter rivals along the way.

Norman Ashton digs deep into the archives of the time, from newspaper reports, legal proceedings and club records, to interviews with the major players in the struggle for AFL victory. The result is a behind-the-scenes record of Port Adelaide's path to glory that will fire the passions of every fan all over again.