Australia’s biggest spectator sport, Aussie rules football, will attempt to win fans in China this weekend when Port Adelaide Power and the Gold Coast Suns play a “historic” competitive game in Shanghai.
Sunday’s game of Aussie rules — which is similar to Gaelic football, but is played with an oval ball — is described as the first time a major Western sports league has held a full-season fixture in China.
Other leagues like American Football’s NFL, and ice hockey’s NHL, are also working to establish a fan base in the biggest potential market of all. But Aussie rules has a much lower international profile.
Port Adelaide’s poster-boy for the venture is Chen Shaoliang, who last year became the first Chinese national to be signed by an Australian Football League (AFL) club.
“Many Chinese people don´t know about the AFL, so they may be curious,” said Chen, whose shirt number is 88, signifying good fortune in China.
“We want to convey the passion and team spirit that is unique and essential to Australian football. It will be a great occasion to get fans excited about the sport,” he said at a press conference on Shanghai’s historic riverfront Bund district.
The game is not an AFL initiative, but has been spearheaded by Port Adelaide.
Australian media have speculated, however, that the project is motivated by a Chinese tycoon’s desire to win over Australian authorities in a major corporate acquisition.
The game’s key Chinese sponsor is Shanghai real estate magnate Gui Goujie, who led a consortium that sought to purchase North Adelaide-based S. Kidman & Co, Australia’s largest private landholder and a major beef producer.
The bid was initially blocked by Australia’s government on economic-security grounds, but a revised deal went through in December, several months after Gui’s Shanghai CRED and Port Adelaide announced plans for Sunday’s match.
North America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) holds pre-season exhibition games in China, while the US National Football League (NFL) is reported to be considering a regular-season game in the country.
The Melbourne Demons and Brisbane Lions held an AFL exhibition match in 2010 in Shanghai, but Sunday’s match is the first played for premiership points outside Australia and New Zealand.
Australia’s The Age newspaper last week reported that the teams have engaged advisors to coach players on Chinese etiquette to avoid any embarrassing culture clashes, ranging from tips on using chopsticks to dealing with hierarchy.
“We feel that AFL football can be a platform for cultural exchange and a great and meaningful bridge between Australia and China,” said Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak, who termed the event “a historic occasion”.
Officials from both teams also played down concerns over China’s notorious air pollution, and denied reports that asthmatic players had been left off the trip for their safety.
Aussie rules’s mix of open-field runs, rugged tackles, pinpoint kicks and acrobatic jumps for the ball have made it one of the world’s biggest-drawing domestic sports leagues.
Interest in sports in China has soared, meanwhile, centering on an official push by the ruling Communist Party to develop China into a soccer power, and increased leisure opportunities for its growing middle class.
Officials have said 10,000 tickets have been sold for the match at Shanghai’s Jiangwan Stadium, including 5,000 travelling Port Adelaide fans, according to Australian media.
While home favourite Chen is likely to inspire allegiance for Port Adelaide, the Suns won the right to play in their home colours of red and yellow — similar to those of the Chinese flag and the country’s national sports teams.
Port Adelaide officials have said they hope to make the China match an annual event.
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