+xWhile the AFL has pushed its international expansion through games in Dubai, South Africa and Canada, it has never played a match in China.
AFL national and international development manager David Matthews yesterday committed to the game at a signing ceremony in Shanghai.
Matthews said yesterday the AFL believed playing in China was the perfect way to showcase the game internationally.
"We are extremely excited to be able to bring Australia's indigenous game and all its unique skills to Shanghai as we continue to develop the code internationally," Matthews said.
"This is a great way to position ourselves as we keep ramping up our international strategy.
"We will see what the opportunities are across the world.
LOL! "International strategy" Signed a contract for 3 games in 3 years in NZ. Each year the attendance was lower than the previous year. After 3 years the contract wasn't renewed because NZ said "Thanks but no thanks". 3 games in China. Disappointingly low attendance for the matches (by AFL standards admittedly - they seem to assume an AFL match hosted anywhere on the planet will have a crowd of 30,000+), and if you believed the AFL spin at the time it was either because the crowds were all in the catering tents or because the busses bringing spectators in got lost en-route to the ground. In any case, I think we all know the AFL breathed a sigh of relief when COVID came along and gave them a chance to back out of the contract.
|