- Moderator
- #1
In this installment in the ongoing Bigfooty International Footy Series, we talk to Zhang Hao, the Operations Manager for AFL South China.
Zhang is the program manager for the AFL Talented Athlete Program and his role is to promote the game of Australian football in China and to identify local football talent. He first got involved in Australian football in 2007 while he was at University where he joined the school team, and consequently fell in love with the game.
Zhang is a Hawthorn supporter, although as a huge Buddy fan, he says he might have to consider going for the Swans.
Zhang organises the Guang Do Australian Football League which was covered in some depth on the AFL Asia website. In Round 1 this year, eighty players turned up from four local teams in the Guangdo area. Of the four teams, only one contained expatriate players, with the vast majority of players being of chinese origin.
There are a further 3 clubs in the South China AFL, in Macau, Hong Kong (The Dragons are the current Asian Champions) and Guang Zhou. The South China league matches vary depending on the size of the field. Zhang says that while Guang Zhou has a cricket ground (Due to a shortage of green space availability, the Guang Do competition is played on soccer grounds, with the matches played as ten a side.) they can use, in Hong Kong and Macau its impossible to get an oval, and so games are somewhat smaller than 18 a side. The South China league is played from January to June.
Other clubs exist in Shanghai and Beijing, Zhang says its likely that there are several schools and universities that run Australian Football programs.
Zhang played in the Asian Championships with South China, and says the event was good and has only good memories from it. He was the captain of the last Chinese team to go to the International cup and is hopeful of performing better in Melbourne next year. It will be his third time at the Cup.
Zhang says that most players in the Chinese team for the International Cup will be students, and this makes it hard for the students financially to attend. He remains hopeful of attracting some financial support and sponsorship ahead of the cup to relieve the burden a little.
The South China league is sponsored by the Williamstown Seagulls in the Victorian Football League. Zhang says AFL support has come mainly through the program that he works for. He hopes that more people will become aware of the game in China as people embrace it.
If you are interested in getting involved in football in Guang Zhou, you can attend training at Guang Zhou Sports University on a Sunday morning or Tuesday afternoon.
You can listen to the interview here or on youtube.
