Aussie Rules Football has long eyed the Chinese market as one of opportunity as has American football, but the oval game that could take root in the Middle Kingdom is rugby.
When the Chinese government said that it wanted to build a sports industry worth US$825 billion by 2025, football was the sport that captured the attention. Rugby, however, may make up more of that than originally thought.
Last week, World Rugby announced in Shanghai that there would be a professional league – for men and women and for 15s and sevens – by the start of the next decade in the Middle Kingdom.
It may sound like one of those false dawns/grand promises we see in sport from time to time but there are reasons to believe this will be different – $100 million of them in fact.
This will be invested to set up the league. And it is not just about the money but the source of it. The investor is AliSports, the sports arm of Alibaba.
This is what has people in Asian rugby excited. Alibaba is one of China’s success stories, an e-commerce titan with almost 500 million users that has close ties with government and has already been active in football and other sports.
The company will not only set up the league, it will broadcast it on its media platform, market it in China and then work with the Chinese government to start introducing the sport into schools. The return of the sport in its sevens form to the Olympics in 2016 is also seen as significant.
The question is not is it going to happen, but whether or not they will manage to turn 76,000 participants currently to one million over the next few years. That won’t be easy even with the schools getting involved.
There are opportunities for Australian rugby here. Some Asian rugby federations are going to work with the Chinese Rugby Union and help with setting up the nuts and bolts of a rugby environment.
Not least, there is a target to train 20,000 coaches and 15,000 referees by 2020. These are career opportunities for Australians and a way for the authorities down under to forge close ties with China and Asia.
If rugby makes inroads in China, it will be major step forward for Asia.
At the moment, the continental scene is basically this: Japan are far and away the best. The Brave Blossoms are the only Asian side to play at the World Cup and then famously defeated South Africa at the 2015 edition.
Japan now have a team in the SANZAR Super Rugby tournament – the Sunwolves – and will, of course, host the 2019 World Cup. The country’s professional league offers opportunities for other players in Asia especially South Korea. Korea along with Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan, are the best of Asia’s rest. Another professional Asian league will provide more opportunities for Asian players.
China is nowhere but there are attractions in rugby. Football is obviously a great deal more popular and but then competition is also much greater. If China has a professional league, it will find that it qualifying for the World Cup is within reach.
While it may take years or even decades to get the league to a decent standard, it may well be that like their football counterparts, Aussie rugby stars will find that there are lucrative opportunities closer to home than Europe.
A Chinese league with money and strong media, marketing and sponsorship foundations can only be good for Australia.
Timbo
Guest
'Aussie Rules Football has long eyed the Chinese market as one of opportunity' Opportunity for what?
correct sometimes
Guest
yes he does. he has made many mistakes in his life.
correct sometimes
Guest
urban myth - a mysterious letter for thousands of coaches
correct sometimes
Guest
dont let facts get i nthe way of the dreamers who believe rugby is a global sport. if they cant compete in soccer with clubs spending millions on players they wont be a chance in rugby
peeeko
Guest
i reckon every sport in the world has thought this for the last few years
Mike Julz
Guest
A Super team in China or Hong Kong will get thrashed by 80 points every week.
Wardad
Guest
Well they sure as heck have a huge pool to choose from.
Wardad
Guest
Sounds like the rugby trumps old wrongs in this instance which is pretty groovy .
Common Sense
Guest
Olympics. Also, money.
Common Sense
Guest
a 1.3 billion sized talent pool to choose from is where they're going to find them.
Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
Great article John. If the Chinese, with over a billion people to recruit from, attack this in the same way they have other sports there are exciting times ahead.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
Just re-read the article and it gives the impression that the $100m will be used exclusively for the pro league structures. Not true. The Pro leagues are just one element. A fair portion of the $100m will actually go to training and participation.
woodart
Guest
are you having a laugh, a scottish rugby league team in the top four!! get over the top down approach, all that buys is a few mercanary players and a jersey that changes with disappointing regularity. the only way to start something like this properly is grassroots,, schools.
mikeT
Guest
Who cares who is investing 100million - its 100 million!
Akari
Roar Rookie
Thank you, John, and Roarers for an update as to why rugby in the PLA didn't take off. Can't wait for it to take off and there are lots of players of Chinese descent who could also be recruited to bolster the teams if or when required. Looking forward to developments in the next decade and so forth.
The Neutral View From Sweden
Roar Guru
Good read John. Your column - and a ton of research I have done - proves that NZ/OZ future in rugby is in Asia. Help Japan and China (and maybe South Korea) to be strong rugby nations and all worries about Them Rich Europeans ruining SH rugby will disappear. I will write extensively about this in December when the test season is over. It is a super fascinating subject with some real promise in it.
Gormon Kinchley
Guest
Because he's backed up by Communist money. All that money spent on Basketball courts and soccer, and China still doesn't do well internationally. It's because of the system they're in. They won't do well at team sports, no matter how early they pick physical specimens.
BrainTrust
Guest
From what I remember the CHinese army sent a letter to NZ requesting thousands of coaches and had a plan to have the Chinese army start playing rugby on a big scale but then they abandoned the idea. If they actually implemented it with thousands of NZ coaches and millions of players they would definelty have at minimum the best actually home grown Asian team. Having just a professional league , they will end up with a situation like Japan, they will start importing players more than developing them. Imagine what happens to the Wallabies and Springboks with the Chinese grabbing players as well.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
I didn't see it in the article but another significant boost to this plan is that the Chinese Ministry for Sport are set to recognise Rugby as an official sport which will help things along. One of the primary reasons Rugby has been held back in the PLA was coaching more specifically access to it. While the ancedotal story of the Chinese asking for 4,000 coaches from New Zealand seems unlikely it was a real issue to an extent. That's why as part of this plan they have set out to address this early on. Another part of the plan is to roll out this program across 10,000 schools and Universities. Targeting both boys and girls. All they need to do is get enough kids interested to form a few teams in both and they'll go close to their 1m players target.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
LDU China has made one soccer world cup (2002), and copped a few hidings once there. Their professional domesitic soccer comp has done all right, but their national team remains pretty hopeless.