Asians in AFL Question

[SouthBedfordshireFan]

As a person interested in both sports and geography I had a few questions regarding Asians in Australian rules football.

The population of Asians in Australia is approx 17.4%.

Yet in the AFL they do not make up that much.

Any explanations why that is the case?

 

[00Stinger]

Life

 

[AndyLucimitis]

Agree with above.

On the other hand, the influx of immigrants from the sub-continent is evident in our cricket program from club cricket up.

I don't think its too far a stretch to say in 20 years possibly half the Australian cricket team (or Shield teams) could be of Indian/Pakistani/Sir Lankan background.

 

[Scotland]

As a very broad generalisation Asians here (as in Chinese and SE Asians, whether by descent or students/migrants) tend to play soccer, basketball, racquet sports and golf more than full contact football codes. The only one where there is noticeable representation at the elite level is golf. Probably badminton and table tennis too but no one cares about those.

I've played basketball against entire teams of Filipinos, Singaporean Chinese etc. and there is a Filipino league over here because they absolutely froth basketball. But you don't see many Asians running around for the Boomers. Meanwhile every team in the NBL has a Sudanese player now and they've been here 5 minutes. Bad luck to our Filo friends that the average height is about 5'6 I guess.

You don't tend to see a lot of Asians in the A-League or playing for the Socceroos either. With the exception of Japan most of the East Asian countries are not highly ranked in soccer, basketball etc.

 

[Teen Wolf]

The numbers for Australians with Asian heritage are something like 3 million born overseas, 1.5 million born in Australia. So that 17% figure is prone to clump vastly different upbringings together, which isn't particularly useful.

But there is a revealing difference between the men's and women's competitions on this topic, in terms of ratio and total number of notable players (3 current AFLW captains of Asian descent, for instance).

This difference must be due to Asian culture and genetics... couldn't possibly be an indictment of the typical male Australian football environment, which is always perfect.

 

[morsie]

Lack of backyards in modern housing

 

[Atomboy]

Lack of role models to date - Jayden Nguyen could help change that if he has a lengthy career.

He’s a great story and a gutsy little player, love watching him play.

 

[SouthBedfordshireFan]

Being honest most diasporic South and East Asian communities are hardly at any high level sport anywhere.

Besides cricket where outside the 12 Test playing countries participants are usually people with connections with one of the 12 Test playing nations (most instances India or Pakistan.

Anyways the Chinese Victorian population is about 64 people out of every thousand people. Australia's Chinese population is around 55 per 1000.

Victoria is Aussie Rules' hotbed

 

[Osho]

Cultural issues?
My lad from a VN mother grew up abroad where there is a strong dileanation between study and sport. Study for smarty pants (and life), sport for less academically inclined (and to kill time). Ne'er the twain.

Whereas in Oz, at least when I was there, both could be pursued happily, in fact encouraged.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Cultural. Sport is not as highly valued or prioritised in some communities and young peoples’ time is not dedicated to it as much as say, people with a European background.

Academics and other areas (such as music) are highly valued in many Asian cultures and focus can tend to be on that.

Sport is definitely part of life, but not a priority - often more a fitness or social activity rather than a more highly
competitive one.

Of course, that changes, but it tends to be generational change. In a multicultural community such as ours, different cultures influence each other and the next generation. So it’s slow.

 

[Gough]

Footy has always been somewhat of a mystery to new arrivals because most of them arrive never having seen a game. I suspect as we see more multi generational Asian Australian families we'll see more of them playing the game.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

As a very broad generalisation Asians here (as in Chinese and SE Asians, whether by descent or students/migrants) tend to play soccer, basketball, racquet sports and golf more than full contact football codes. The only one where there is noticeable representation at the elite level is golf. Probably badminton and table tennis too but no one cares about those.

I've played basketball against entire teams of Filipinos, Singaporean Chinese etc. and there is a Filipino league over here because they absolutely froth basketball. But you don't see many Asians running around for the Boomers. Meanwhile every team in the NBL has a Sudanese player now and they've been here 5 minutes. Bad luck to our Filo friends that the average height is about 5'6 I guess.

You don't tend to see a lot of Asians in the A-League or playing for the Socceroos either. With the exception of Japan most of the East Asian countries are not highly ranked in soccer, basketball etc.

The gay basketball league in the Philippines is awesome....