Aussie Rules searching for its own Yao
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| A young Australian Rules fan poses with the Brisbane Lions' mascot before Sunday's Kaspersky Cup match in Shanghai. |
Yao Ming's influence on the world sporting landscape has extended to Australia, with that continent seeking its own version of the Houston Rockets' all-star center to boost the image of Australian Rules football in China.
The Australian Football League (AFL) staged its first exhibition game in China on Sunday - as part of the country's contribution to Expo 2010 Shanghai - at the Jiangwan Stadium before an estimated crowd of about 7,100, roughly evenly divided between Aussie expats and curious Chinese.
The Melbourne Demons scored a last-gasp victory over the Brisbane Lions in the AFL's showpiece event, but that was nowhere near the highlight of the tour for the AFL's General Manager of International Development, David Matthews, who now has his sights sets on bigger and better things.
"The game had a thrilling ending and was a great showpiece for the sport, but what was most important was the exposure it gave to the game here," Matthews said.
"The whole idea of the first Kaspersky Cup was to introduce the game to China and I think we successfully achieved that.
"We felt a crowd of about 5,000 would make it a success and we exceeded that," he told China Daily after a match that the Demons won by five points.
"Now, we have to try and build on our work here over the past few days."
That "work" included an Aussie Rules training camp for promising young athletes at the Shanghai Sports University, the Asia AFL Championship (won by defending champion Dubai on Saturday) and a curtain-raiser to Sunday's big game between teams from Japan and China, from which the former emerged victorious.
Matthews said the AFL had "ticked all of its boxes" during the trip, but the next step was to find a Yao-like figure to raise the game's profile to a whole new level on the Chinese mainland.
"An article in your paper the other day stated that Yao Ming is probably the most influential foreign player to ever play in the NBA, and we are very aware of that," he said.
"We have struck a deal to broadcast a game live each week in Shanghai and the Kaspersky Cup has been a great success, but the next step is to find an Aussie Rules version of Yao Ming here to give the game even greater exposure in China."
Looking at a time frame in which that could possibly occur, Matthews was extremely optimistic.
"I think within the next three to five years we could see a Chinese player in the AFL," he said.
The indigenous Australian sport seems to have already won one prominent Chinese fan - Wu Qianyu, the deputy mayor of Shanghai's Yangpu district.
"I like the game because it can help us to boost our mutual understanding," Wu said.
"I think the game itself has demonstrated great sportsmanship and great spirit, and so I think I like it very much. It not only brought us joy, but it is a good platform for people to know each other better," she told the Melbourne Age.
After this initial foray into China, Matthews said it was now a matter of "when and not if" the AFL would return.
"This has been a tremendous experience and we will be back here. Our aim is to have a regular season AFL game played outside of Australia and China would certainly be in the reckoning for that somewhere down the line," he said.
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