Certified Legendary Thread China History in the Making

[Steve Dore]

Carn Port Power

 

[Winganeen]

My understanding is that this is on the front page of the Wall Street Journal


http://www.wsj.com/articles/finally-someone-to-translate-australian-rules-football-1468337044

A daily readership in the US of 1.4M in print. I also understand this will run in the worldwide editions...

 

[Coobk001]

Wonder what Mr. Gui thought of the atmosphere, pre game show and game on Thursday. Had we not folded like a deck of cards in the 3rd quarter it couldve been an insanely good finish to see live, but at least the for the 1st 2 quarters the crowd was up and about.

 

[Smithy7]

Wonder what Mr. Gui thought of the atmosphere, pre game show and game on Thursday. Had we not folded like a deck of cards in the 3rd quarter it couldve been an insanely good finish to see live, but at least the for the 1st 2 quarters the crowd was up and about.

I was wondering if the Club did a video of the pre game show. Would be good to watch.

 

[OneGreatClub]

My understanding is that this is on the front page of the Wall Street Journal


http://www.wsj.com/articles/finally-someone-to-translate-australian-rules-football-1468337044

A daily readership in the US of 1.4M in print. I also understand this will run in the worldwide editions...

mm..news is getting out there....Reinforces why the umpiring decisions in 'the world's most bewildering game' need to improve. Umps did us no favours last week, just added to the confusion. good luck to our game day commentators.

 

[Doctor Feel]

I said to the people around me on Thursday "If this is being beamed into China, they'll all be wondering what the * they are watching, because I certainly can't tell you."

 

[Schulzenfest]

I said to the people around me on Thursday "If this is being beamed into China, they'll all be wondering what the **** they are watching, because I certainly can't tell you."

If that dragon thing before the game was an attempt to suck up to China, it was patronising as hell and the fact that anybody thought it would work is borderline racist.

Can you imagine if some Chinese sport was trying to expand into Australia and they thought that the best way to do is through a pregame show of glow in the dark kangaroos? They'd be able to hear me cringing in China.

 

[OneGreatClub]

If that dragon thing before the game was an attempt to suck up to China, it was patronising as hell and the fact that anybody thought it would work is borderline racist.

Can you imagine if some Chinese sport was trying to expand into Australia and they thought that the best way to do is through a pregame show of glow in the dark kangaroos? They'd be able to hear me cringing in China.

Nah. It looked great. I am sure Port did their research. China use dragons heaps of times in celebrations. Australia doesn't use Kangaroos in the same way.

 

[Steve Dore]

If that dragon thing before the game was an attempt to suck up to China, it was patronising as hell and the fact that anybody thought it would work is borderline racist. ........

You do understand the significance of the dragon in Chinese culture and that the dragon dance is not something that the PAFC made up?

 

[Janus]

If that dragon thing before the game was an attempt to suck up to China, it was patronising as hell and the fact that anybody thought it would work is borderline racist.

Can you imagine if some Chinese sport was trying to expand into Australia and they thought that the best way to do is through a pregame show of glow in the dark kangaroos? They'd be able to hear me cringing in China.

Borderline racist? Patronising as hell? It was a lantern dragon - red to symbolise joy, new beginnings and prosperous business. Used in pretty much every celebratory event in China.



You've never left the country, have you? Chinese have the belief that they are descended from the dragon. It is their national symbol, but also an intrinsic part of their culture and national identity.

Instead of thinking how you'd cringe if Chinese did the same thing for us, why not get educated on their culture and beliefs and understand why the club did it? Because your thought process and comments - how everyone in the world should think like you about things like this? Not borderline racist.

Just racist.

 

[raptalia]

I thought this China thing was a done deal yet in today's press Rucci is writing about any game still requiring AFL Commission approval.
According to Rucci the timing of the game has also hit a snag as mid season is apparently too humid in Shanghai and it will not be possible to programme the game around the mid season bye.

If we have to fly to China, train, do some PR and play then fly home inside of a week I would not be in favour of the move. Both sides would need to be guaranteed a week off.

Rucci is not always right and it is to be hoped that this latest offering is more of his muck raking at our expense.

 

[OneGreatClub]

I thought this China thing was a done deal yet in today's press Rucci is writing about any game still requiring AFL Commission approval.
According to Rucci the timing of the game has also hit a snag as mid season is apparently too humid in Shanghai and it will not be possible to programme the game around the mid season bye.

If we have to fly to China, train, do some PR and play then fly home inside of a week I would not be in favour of the move. Both sides would need to be guaranteed a week off.

Rucci is not always right and it is to be hoped that this latest offering is more of his muck raking at our expense.

This is a bit of old news rehashed. Rucci is full on excited about the China games. He goes over with the club when they visit China so he is in on it all. He would be loving it. Yes mid season won't work as pollution is worse then too apparently. Hopefully the season starts a bit earlier for us an our opposition so we get a long enough break before our second game

 

[Steve Dore]

I thought this China thing was a done deal yet in today's press Rucci is writing about any game still requiring AFL Commission approval. ......

My understanding is that it has in principle approval but there are a number of conditions that need to be met before it is fully approved.

 

[Doctor Feel]

My understanding is that it has in principle approval but there are a number of conditions that need to be met before it is fully approved.

The definition of an MOU is exactly this.

 

[raptalia]

The definition of an MOU is exactly this.

The last time I remember us having a memorandum of understanding was in 1990 when we had a 'heads of agreement' with the AFL. I do not trust the bastards.

 

[Steve Dore]

I was wondering if the Club did a video of the pre game show. Would be good to watch.

 

[jdeezy]

I just don't understand how this is seemingly becoming more difficult as time goes on, when it seems the pieces are all lining up.

- It needs to be played early in the season
- Teams need a week off after it
- Channel 7 wants it to be a marque thing (hence wanting a Victorian team)
- Gold Coast want to be on board, the Victorian teams seemingly do not

To me it seems bloody simple.

Gold Coast v Port Adelaide as a standalone game on its own weekend the weekend before the other teams play their Round 1 games.

The game is now in March, both teams get a week off afterwards (plus they could in fact go early to get used to conditions / for promotional purposes with no game the week before), and it makes it marque because its the opening game of the season and the only one that whole weekend.

From there Channel 7 can build around it. Friday night a China travel special, then a Season preview special. Saturday midday movie of Big Toruble in Little China. Saturday afternoon a Port funded documentary on how the game came about. Saturday night a whole bunch of pregame build up (think ANZAC day style) then the game itself. It'll draw viewers, surely. And it delivers what everyone seems to want. It seems really obvious to me.

 

[OneGreatClub]

I tell ya, it's all happening. David Caldwell, a lecturer in English language at the University of South Australia, is compiling a dictionary to make Australian Rules football comprehensible to the Chinese.
http://people.unisa.edu.au/david.caldwell

 

[OneGreatClub]

Mr Caldwell hopes to launch his “Footytionary” in August with about 60 initial translations for the terms of “Australian olive ball,” as the game that Aussies call footy translates into Mandarin.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...r/news-story/5d7565bab56fbcf10ac84dd092bcbb89

 

[Steve Dore]

I tell ya, it's all happening. David Caldwell, a lecturer in English language at the University of South Australia, is compiling a dictionary to make Australian Rules football comprehensible to the Chinese.
http://people.unisa.edu.au/david.caldwell

As posted by Winganeen yesterday morning

Getting a bit more press

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I thought this China thing was a done deal yet in today's press Rucci is writing about any game still requiring AFL Commission approval.
According to Rucci the timing of the game has also hit a snag as mid season is apparently too humid in Shanghai and it will not be possible to programme the game around the mid season bye.

If we have to fly to China, train, do some PR and play then fly home inside of a week I would not be in favour of the move. Both sides would need to be guaranteed a week off.

Rucci is not always right and it is to be hoped that this latest offering is more of his muck raking at our expense.

Why would you think this?? Until Rucci went to China a couple of weeks ago he has always written as if an AFL game in China is the 1st order issue with our China strategy. Its not, its a 10th to 15th order issue. Its the cream on top of the cake - the tip of the iceberg ie the easy bit to see.

The only reason why this is being pushed so hard for in 2017 is to beat the NFL who have proposed a game there in 2018. If the NFL said 2019 then the AFL would be pacing themselves and pitching for 2018. In this thread on page 85 Lockhart Road linked an article by Patrick Smith on 6th June which clearly pointed out the AFL would not make a decision until late August.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...h/news-story/d74a87fc57e3488616e1a516a61cd7df
The general manager of AFL operations, Travis Auld, spent most of last week in China investigating venues for the proposed venture by Port Adelaide to stage a premiership match in Shanghai next season. Auld and league national venues manager, Simon Gorr, spent four days in Shanghai with a turf consultant, a Port Adelaide official (Andrew Hunter, GM China & Govt. Relations) and representatives of venue and event management firm Populous......

“We decided to get everybody together so that we could look at the sites in one hit,” Auld said. “But there are two or three options that are now worth a serious look.” With all parties to report back on their choices for the game site within weeks, a final decision on whether a match could go ahead as early as next year will be made by the end of August. “We would need a decision by then for fixture reasons and preparation of the turf. ... “We have a lot of work to do over the next two months.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...h/news-story/d74a87fc57e3488616e1a516a61cd7df

When KT visited China as part of the board's visit, and he had the interview with PTV at the Jiangwan Sports Centre, he said they had one more stadium to visit. That was about the 28th June.

There is a s**t load of things to line up before this is approved by the AFL Commission, and as the Commission is effectively the board of the AFL, there would be good governance board rules about them signing off on things that will involve expenditure of $X. A game in China will cost the AFL probably $3m and what's the bet a budget hasn't even been drawn up by the executives let alone been approved by the Commission.

You have compo to the home team - there is $600k, there is travel and accommodation costs of 200-250 people from the 2 teams and AFL and maybe even media so there is close to $1mil costs. They will have to do work to set up the ground, ie some re-turfing, set up corporate facilities, set up broadcast and TV facilities, other amenities improvement, as well as local promotion and marketing - so there is another at least another $1mil. What about AFL and club sponsors? how do you get them involved and integrated with local sponsors? The AFL Commission has to approve and be responsible for all the logistics. The AFL executives aren't even close to being ready for final submissions to the AFL Commission.

Then there are all the scheduling issues. s**t the AFL via Simon Lethlean can't even over a 3 round bye schedule, get it right that the 6 teams that have byes play each other after their bye, and you get the ridiculous situation of teams who had 6 day breaks playing teams who have had 12,13 or 14 day breaks. Only 2 games, ie 4 teams over the 3 rounds, involved teams that both had the bye the previous week. So there were 14 unbalanced games over a 3 week, 18 games period after the first bye round.

Then there is TV. As the biggest provider of AFL revenue they have the right to have a decent input. They don't want to hear from the AFL until they have everything else nutted out before they will have a decent input when they want the game played. Eg what schedule do 7 have in March that use up their resources compared to June??

 

[SteppingTiger]

I just don't understand how this is seemingly becoming more difficult as time goes on, when it seems the pieces are all lining up.

- It needs to be played early in the season
- Teams need a week off after it
- Channel 7 wants it to be a marque thing (hence wanting a Victorian team)
- Gold Coast want to be on board, the Victorian teams seemingly do not

To me it seems bloody simple.

Gold Coast v Port Adelaide as a standalone game on its own weekend the weekend before the other teams play their Round 1 games.

The game is now in March, both teams get a week off afterwards (plus they could in fact go early to get used to conditions / for promotional purposes with no game the week before), and it makes it marque because its the opening game of the season and the only one that whole weekend.

From there Channel 7 can build around it. Friday night a China travel special, then a Season preview special. Saturday midday movie of Big Toruble in Little China. Saturday afternoon a Port funded documentary on how the game came about. Saturday night a whole bunch of pregame build up (think ANZAC day style) then the game itself. It'll draw viewers, surely. And it delivers what everyone seems to want. It seems really obvious to me.

Double Header: Jack Burton vs David Lo-pan followed by Port v whoever

 

[raptalia]

Then there are all the scheduling issues. s**t the AFL via Simon Lethlean can't even over a 3 round bye schedule, get it right that the 6 teams that have byes play each other after their bye, and you get the ridiculous situation of teams who had 6 day breaks playing teams who have had 12,13 or 14 day breaks. Only 2 games, ie 4 teams over the 3 rounds, involved teams that both had the bye the previous week. So there were 14 unbalanced games over a 3 week, 18 games period after the first bye round.

To me timing is the biggest issue. If a game cannot be played mid season, as it looks, then as jdeezy suggests a game a week before round 1 starts in Oz may be the way to go. This would be early spring in China and both sides would have a bit to play for, and both sides would be physically fresh and could rest once back in Oz. It should be possible to programme a ten day break between games but as you point out we are dealing with the AFL here.

 

[Lockhart Road]

I just don't understand how this is seemingly becoming more difficult as time goes on, when it seems the pieces are all lining up.

- It needs to be played early in the season
- Teams need a week off after it
- Channel 7 wants it to be a marque thing (hence wanting a Victorian team)
- Gold Coast want to be on board, the Victorian teams seemingly do not

To me it seems bloody simple.

Gold Coast v Port Adelaide as a standalone game on its own weekend the weekend before the other teams play their Round 1 games.

The game is now in March, both teams get a week off afterwards (plus they could in fact go early to get used to conditions / for promotional purposes with no game the week before), and it makes it marque because its the opening game of the season and the only one that whole weekend.

From there Channel 7 can build around it. Friday night a China travel special, then a Season preview special. Saturday midday movie of Big Toruble in Little China. Saturday afternoon a Port funded documentary on how the game came about. Saturday night a whole bunch of pregame build up (think ANZAC day style) then the game itself. It'll draw viewers, surely. And it delivers what everyone seems to want. It seems really obvious to me.

'To me it seems bloody simple.'

'It seems really obvious to me.'

Yeah well it would, wouldn't it. You're an expert at everything, including AFL in China it suddenly seems.

A couple of things you haven't taken into account:
1) AFL House is staffed with people who are far less smart than you are, and dead keen not to make a mistake. The longer they can delay a decision, the less likely it is that the match will take place in 2017, then nobody will lose their job.
2) The International Rugby Sevens is being played in Hong Kong - where it began in 1976 - over the first weekend in April 2017. The only time worth playing a Round 1 AFL match in Shanghai, to link up with the Sevens in Hong Kong, is the last weekend of March 2017.

Complicates things, don't it.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

To me timing is the biggest issue. If a game cannot be played mid season, as it looks, then as jdeezy suggests a game a week before round 1 starts in Oz may be the way to go. This would be early spring in China and both sides would have a bit to play for, and both sides would be physically fresh and could rest once back in Oz. It should be possible to programme a ten day break between games but as you point out we are dealing with the AFL here.

The way to go would be, if the AFL had half a brain, is to tell Ch 7 to stay out of it, they would line up the Gold Coast whose major sponsor is Huawei. Ok they aren't their Renault or Energy Australia type major sponsor but they are their technology and ball sponsors/partners so probably next level down from major. They signed a 5 year deal last year. The game is a stand alone Rd 1 game in mid March. The rest of the comp plays the next week!

Huawei's head quarters is in Shenzhen. You tell the GC you spend a week in Shenzen, population 11 million compared to the Gold Coast 600,000 and work with Huawei on your business relationship and also doing and school camps and other footy promo stuff as well as training etc.
*Shenzen is in the province of Guangdong - population 104 million which also contains
* the capital city of Guangzhou population 12.7 million.

We are promoting the South China AFL which includes teams from Guangdong as well as Hong Kong and Macau. And well we do work with Guandong AFL which is developing the game thru universities in Guangzhou.

So we give the Gold Coast footy club and Queensland Tourism access to 11 million people and they help us develop the game in the province of Guangdong and they get a nice slice of the action. As we have stitched up a TV deal with Guangdong provincial TV, we do everything to help the GC get on their network as well as Queensland and Australian tourism commissions.

We spend 10 days in Shanghai promoting the game etc and the Gold Coast after 7 days in Shenzen come to Shanghai for 3 days. So depending on when the game is best for the Chinese to attend ie Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday, Saturday twilight/night, Sunday, as well as allowing for the fact Oz is on Daylight saving for TV time zone stuff. Qld wont be on daylight saving. Lockhart Road will know what is the preferred timeslot for Chinese to be free to attend a game is.

You then hire a jumbo so that first thing Monday morning you fly the two teams home and their Rd 2 game is after all the other teams have played their Rd 1 game a week later and is at home, so no jet lag problems to affect the 2 teams and they both dont have to jump on a plane for the Rd 2 game.

Its a win win for everyone except for 7 and the ratings in Melbourne not being as big as if there was a Melbourne team involved. Big deal, it builds anticipation for following years.

If they don't line up the GC then they should line up someone who has a significant Chinese sponsor, whose HQ isn't in Shanghai and they can do the sort of things I suggested the GC do with their sponsor and wrt footy promo stuff.