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Aussie Rules in Asia

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Hilly72

Hilly72

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Mar 28, 2003
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Said the below in the Asian Championships post but will try to keep this one running with all developments.

The China Blues have now established a second base in Beijing thanks to Sanga, and are intending to play a match between Shanghai (organised by Ross McGregor) and Beijing before the year is out.

We have also started discussions with the Malaysian Warriors for a match early next year and are extending invitations to any sides who wish to make the trip, or offer an game to us.

We would also like the opportunity to discuss with other organisers (be it on a country basis or Australian Navy) on a regular basis and if anyone has contacts please refer them here.

Anyone who wants a run with the Blues can post your email here or email china_blues_afc@hotmail.com or in Taiwan... taiwan_bears_afc@hotmail.com and one of us will be in contact
 
Anyone besides the Jakarta Bintangs doing much development work with locals?

Sanga (I'm assuming that's Andrew Sawitsch) was talking about getting local rugby clubs in Beijing onboard wasn't he - how's this going?
 
A guy called Kevin Jacobs was teaching football in Hami in the North West of China as part of his school curriculum, unfortunately he has gone back to Oz and I am unsure of the status.

In Shanghai there are 2 or 3 guys training with the Blues, 1 of them played the game against Hong Kong earlier this year, apparently he loves the game but is still a little timid.

As far as the other countries I am not sure, but have asked the contacts I have to join this forum to keep the information flowing.

Sanga (yes Andrew) is up and running in Beijing, and it seems he has all but secured a ground, as far as the rugby boys go I am not sure, but as he is studying there I am sure he will be in the ears of other students.
 
What about the 9's format - fit on the Chinese soccer pitches and being more open style of footy because less packs may suit the chinese who are probably in general not so gungho [is that chinese?] on body contact. When they play footy in 9's they may see it is more skillful and open than Rugby and that may be a plus also in attracting recruits.
 

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We have tried the smaller teams format as well and it does work, they key tho' is to get long term players and the catch being that China is still a poor country, sport is really not a focus, this is where the guys who attend Universities or teach in China will come in to it, the youger generation are the key, those now able to watch International sports on TV.

It is not going to be a fast process, but the chances are there.
 
Tournament played and won.

Will post more detailed reports after but here is the rundown in brief.

Hong Kong 1 defeated China Blues.

Indonesia Bintangs defeated Hong Kong 2

Indonesia Bintangs defeated China Blues, highlight here was China's first goal of the Tournament, a handpass from Gav to Hilly on the run with a beautiful pass hitting Rooster on the chest 30 out, no mistake made.

Hong Kong 2 defeated China Blues. a hard fought game that was contested until the end, unfortunately China fell just short.

China Players to make the All Asian side were

James Brodie
Jason
Jezza
Gavin Thomson

a special mention to Rooster who played great football also.

Thanks to the Hong Kong boys who organised a great weekend.
 
Hilly if you don't find for me the entire All-Asian side details immediately I cannot be held responsible for the quinceconces!

Seriously, I am extremely excited about hearing the full details of that side ... do you know where I could find out more?
 
you won't be reling on me.... I am not sure how many days off he needed, he was under the weather in a big way on Sunday as we all were, then there was the recovery...
 
just bumping this back up...

still no response, Farm must have had a bigger weekend than I thought.
 
Beijing is off and running

copy of mail from Sanga..

Fellow footy comrades,

Beijing isn't the best place for a kick of the sherrin, as I've found out the last few days! Had old chinese men attempt to take my footy off me on the basketball courts and been doing a lot of chasing up and inquiring, come accross many barriers and ridiculous prices, but we'll overcome that. Anything for a kick of the footy! Thanks to Andrew at ISB, we have the ground booked out there in shunyi for this saturday arvo (it's real grass and the cheapest we can find!) and with the AFL finals in full swing, I'm hoping all Beijing footy faithfuls, and curious, can converge together for a fun saturday afternoon footy match and make way for aussie rules footy finally having a bit of presence in the PRC capital!

Please get back to me ASAP at either this address or sang500@yahoo.com, my phone number here at Jingmao Daxue is 64492751, (note that you may get my japanese roommate!) and let me know if you and however many of your friends can come and play. All welcome! Please make the effort to get out, Andrew's gone out of his way to book it and with a few there it will be a fun arvo. It's on a rugby pitch so we only need about 10 or so per team and can use the rugby posts for goals, no behinds!! Probably lucky we can't get full size, The game would be abondoned during the 1st quarter! Please forward this to anyone in Beijing else who may be interested too. Get back to me soon and I'll call and email later in the week with more details and maybe team lists etc. there was talk of a Students vs. Businessmen challenge so we'll see how we go with that...

DETAILS:
What- Beijings 1st Ever Aussie Rules Footy match
When- This Saturday 20th September- 3pm (will confirm this time later)
Where- International School of Beijing (ISB) Stadium, http://www.isb.bj.edu.cn/shuiyi/location/index_location.htm (will maybe organise meeting somewhere and taxi pooling later in the week)

Hope to see everyone there, BYO drinks, food, boots, banners, oranges, tape, linomen! Gee how I miss footy! Note also, The grounds the cheapest we can get, but unfortunately still have to fork out a fair bit for a couple hours use. So will have to pass the hat around saturday arvo so everyone can contribute a bit, the more there the cheaper it'll be so rally together, lets have a fun afternoon!

hear from you all soon,

Regards,

'Sanga'
Andrew Sawitsch
University of International Business and economics
tel: 64492751
 

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Hilly72, can you please tell me what¡¦s the progress in Taiwan, it would be hard to find a place to have a kick, wouldn¡¦t it?
 
Taiwan is struggling, basically yes, the only decent places are the American and British Schools and they won't let us on at the moment.

Aussie Rules here is currently a few guys who show up to Gaelic Football training on occasion and have a kick and a run with the Irish boys, then our ball comes out and we teach some of the basics, even the grounds in country footy arent as bad as this one.

unfortunately the Aussie community is not very organised here either, no GF function, lucky a pub is owned by an Aussie and he is showing it.

It is slow, but will get there.
 
SCORES

correct scores, but no all Asian Side yet, sorry..

Indonesia 6.11 47 defeated Dark Side Dragons 1.2 8

China Blues 3 points Lost to H K Dragons 4.12 36

Indonesia 6.10 46 defeated China Blues 1.1 7

HK Dragons 5.5 35 defeated Dark Side Dragons 1.1 7

Dark Side Dragons 5.1 31 defeated China Blues 3.2 20

H.K Dragons 4.6 30 defeated Indonesia 3.6 24 (Half time score in the Grand Final was H.K. D 4 points Indonesia 3.4 22)
 
All Asian Side

Hong Kong:

Hamish Stuart
Tim Burbury
Chris Yee
Gary Wines
Mark Armsden
Damian McNair
Graeme Rigg

Hong Kong B:

Craig Francis
Joe Rossi
Paul Mallia
James Hodgkinson

Indonesia

Rob Spurr
Matt Stephens
Peter Muir
Greg Hinchcliffe
Kym Holthouse
Mark Chadwick

China

Gav Thomson
James Brodie
Jason
Jezza
 

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Hilly - this may sound like anathema to footy purists, but I'm one like Phil Cleary, who believes that cooperation with Gaelic football is the way to conquer the world. There are places and cultures where Australian football fits in well - eg USA, Scandinavia, New Zealand and perhaps South Africa. But I think many Asian nations may pick up Gaelic football easier and from a Gaelic background some will move to Footy.

Reason is - less rough and more easy to fit [with Gaelic 7's and 9's] onto soccer pitches, also no real concept of oval ball in non-Rugby, non-Gridiron countries.

Problem with Gaelic from my experience is that Irish don't seem as oriented and perhaps even as adept as opening their national game up to other cultures, though that is slowly changing. Involvement of Aussies like yourselves in Taiwan could help get chinese playing Gaelic and with an up and running Gaelic league eventually more scope to introduce Australian footy.

If I were a development officer for Gaelic Games in Asia I would try and sell the game on the basis of "The All-Round Game - like football and basketball in the one sport". As both soccer and basketball are widely played this may attract interest, whereas it is asking more for local chinese to understand footy.

I once talked about Gaelic and Aussie footy on an english language Chinese sports board under a thread "what is the most athletic game?". The debate was essentially between soccer and basketball. They found it hard to comprehend footy and difference with Rugby but the idea of "soccer with hands" or "basketball and soccer in one" as Gaelic football was well received. They never knew such a game existed and were quite impressed about use of hands as well as feet.

A long post - sorry, but your thoughts?
 
So, how come there was no representation from the Peninsula? No Singapore, Malaysia or Vietnam? They have clubs, don't they? [/B]
Click to expand...


yes a little disappointing after the early response looked as if those three,Thailand and possibly Japan would come.

A couple of reports stated that Singapore had pulled out as they didn't think they could win, I hope that was not the case. Vietnam and Thailand couldn't get the numbers (a couple of boys from Thailand played for China) and I am not sure about the reasons for Malaysia.
 
Peter, basically spot on, the Gaelic Boys are really supportive, and you are right, the round ball game is more attractive tothe Chinese and Taiwanese as it is not as physical, the first time I took a tackling (wrong?) session the were a few boys in shock.

The few locals playing are coming along, tho' a little timid around the packs, and I am hoping to get a few guys who have lived or studied in Oz to start to come along to explain the rules in Chinese, something that is quite difficult.

The most important part at the moment is to get games played so that those training (expats and locals) don't lose interest, from there we can invite schools and Universitys out to watch.

As a footnote the local Chinese are keen to give new things ago, last year when I was living in Shanghai a mate and I were having a kick in the street that ended up as a huge laugh, would have been a hundred or more chinese guys come around to watch and scrambling to have a go when the ball missed its mark.
 
The one you might want to catch if you want footy rules and commentary in Chinese is Ian Dicker (Hawthorn pres) - the Hawks were doing a bit of work this year broadcasting footy in Mandarin and Cantonese on community radio and trying to get the Melbourne Chinese community behind Hawthorn.

I also saw at Monash Uni one weekend last year there was a game going on entirely of Chinese-Australian teenagers.

Don't know who was organising that.
 
I agree with you sentiments about Gaelic Football being a possible attractive athletic game to some Asian countries ,however i counsel against promoting the traditional GAA style .For one it's their game .Two ,it's the opportunity to promote a simplified game ,one without point posts ,no crossbars(maybe not with the rugby grounds),no goalkeepers ,no yardage lines,no tackling,but allowing the ball to be picked up off the ground and certainly awarding the mark .
 

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