A funny thing happened to Hamish Hartlett as he ran onto Adelaide Oval.
Hartlett and his Port Adelaide teammates were just about to rip through their banner ahead of Saturday’s historic AFL clash against their bitter rivals, the Crows, at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval.
Hartlett stopped.
“I turned around and had a look at a few of the boys and they literally couldn’t wipe the grin off their face,” Hartlett said.
“They were that excited and that pumped.”
Hartlett could have been speaking for an entire city: Adelaide couldn’t wipe the smile of its collective face at the official unveiling its redeveloped crown.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill was there, grinning – and not just because he’s still premier, having scraped through an election a fortnight ago.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou was there – big cheshire cat smile and all.
Head honchos from South Australian cricket and football organisations were also grinning. Their war, which effectively excluded AFL from the oval for 30 years, had finally ended.
And didn’t the people rejoice.
Some 50,397 people packed the historic ground, near the banks of the River Torrens. But it they weren’t the only ones grinning.
In sparkling sunshine, an entire city beamed.
The city’s central business district rejoiced: on previous Saturday afternoons, the few city shoppers could swing the proverbial cat around without fear or favour.
City pubs would usually be empty; the streets near-deserted.
But not this Saturday afternoon. Thousands upon thousands of people flocked to the city for the AFL opening of the grandly redeveloped stadium.
They gathered in mobs to march to the oval. They cheered. They celebrated something worth celebrating in a city often derided as lifeless.
Footy may not save a city. But it went some way to saving Adelaide’s soul.