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Roar and Against: It's a great idea to play an AFL match in China

Port Adelaide's venture into China was a financial success. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
11th May, 2017
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For the first time, a regular-season AFL game will be played in China when the Gold Coast Suns and Port Adelaide Power square off in Shanghai this Sunday.

The globalisation of Australia’s game has divided opinion.

Is there any need to spread Australian Rules internationally? The NFL has been trying for more than a decade to crack the Chinese market. It’s a hard slog to win the hearts and minds of a country that, traditionally, isn’t a great consumer of sport.

That brings us to this week’s Roar and Against.

In the red corner this week we have Roar Editor Ben Conkey, who thinks the AFL is right to have a go at spreading AFL to China. Weekend editor Josh Elliott isn’t so sure.

For: It’s a great idea to play an AFL match in China

BJ Conkey
It might be a pipe dream to expect other nations to embrace playing Australian Rules Football but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a push for more international exposure.

The NFL has proven the value of global reach, taking games to England and ensuring the league can be viewed anywhere in the world on global streaming passes.

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You have to first show off your product before you can expect people to invest their time in following or indeed playing a sport.

That’s why it’s a good decision to take an Australian Rules game to China.

The groundwork has already been laid thanks to Port Adelaide’s television deal with Chinese network CCTV.

Last year, two matches were broadcast with a live game between the Power and Cats attracting almost four million viewers.

In an Australian context, that’s the equivalent to the all-time record number of viewers for an AFL grand final.

After that initial success, one game a week is now being shown in China. There’s clearly some interest there and the value of those millions of eyeballs will lead to extra cash for the AFL.

It’s been seven years since an exhibition game in Shanghai and the novelty factor will entice locals. Admittedly, with 5000 Port fans heading across and thousands of expats snapping up tickets there wasn’t much room left in the small Jiangwan Stadium.

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Even if only a few thousand Chinese nationals get to see the match in person, the buzz in the city will spark plenty of queries. What are these strange singlets everyone is wearing? What is that red looking football and who on earth is this bald man they call “Kochie”?

Port Adelaide vs Gold Coast is not just another fixture on the AFL calendar. It’s a chance to reach millions of people. Any brand would kill for that marketing.

(Picture CCTV screenshot)

Against: It’s pointless playing an AFL match in China

Josh Elliott
Is it the worst idea in the world to play an AFL game in China? No – I can think of a few worse ones – but what are we giving up to get it done?

The most obvious thing for Port Adelaide is that their prioritisation of getting this game on the calendar ruined any chance they had of securing an AFLW team.

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They didn’t even put in enough effort to become one of the five clubs given priority weighting for AFLW expansion – it’s going to be a long wait for them.

We’ve already seen what a great success the AFLW is – is there any chance that playing a game in Shanghai is going to have such immediate results?

With a crowd largely composed of people who are already AFL fans – travellers or expats – it’s likely a no.

In the meantime, every girl in South Australia who is drawn to the AFLW – and there will be many – has only one choice of team to fall in love with: the Adelaide Crows. That’s bad, Kochie.

The other big concern has to be what it’ll mean for Port Adelaide’s season.

The Power are 4-3 at this stage and look like a finals team, but spots could be tight if the lower half of the ladder continue to throw up challenges like they did last week.

Gold Coast have been in okay form lately and you wouldn’t put it past them to pinch one here.

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Of course, this would’ve been a Gold Coast home game if it wasn’t in China, which might not be all that more advantageous for the Power.

But they would still have avoided the potential interruption to their season that will force them to take an early bye, spend plenty of time on a plane (including being stuck on the tarmac), and not be forced to inhale whatever passes for oxygen in Shanghai.

You’d think that if Port Adelaide were going to over invest in a China game they could at least get it right – but no, they’re actually playing as the away team against an opponent who’ll be dressed in China’s national colours. Oops.

Everything about this game so far strikes me as being more of a nice executive junket and some AFL ego-stroking than a genuinely well thought out way of giving the AFL some exposure to a larger audience. And gee if we were going to do that, at least take it to Hawaii, or Thailand (and bring Libba along).

The AFL has enough problems in its own backyard right now. Let’s get a team in Tasmania and work out why no one with any football talent can bear to live in Queensland before we try to go all Robert Morrison spreading the good word of Australian footy to China.

* * *

Okay, Roarers, it’s over to you now. AFL in China: good or bad? Let us know in the comments below!

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