Port Adelaide’s “China Strategy” has many powerful side shows now that big business wants to use AFL to strike deals in Shanghai
Port Adelaide will play its third China game in Shanghai next month - and the cynicism towards the “China Strategy” is challenged by how big business has attached itself to the moment
Michelangelo Rucci
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Port Adelaide is running a dating agency. “Perfect Pear”.
At every home match at Adelaide Oval it draws two strangers, let’s them get to know each other from some plush seats in the suites on the Oval’s eastern flank and waits to see if love is in the air.
And it will do the same in Shanghai, China next month ... but for much bigger affairs. Much bigger.
There is still much cynicism about Port Adelaide’s “China Strategy”. Even within AFL ranks there was the suggestion taking the game to China was just a “side show”.
Why would the Chinese, with their keen interest in world football rather than Australian football, want to watch an AFL game in Shanghai?
When is Port Adelaide going to show the big money from its investment in China?
How smart is it for the Port Adelaide Football Club to tie itself to a land where political power could easily close the door on the non-football mission statements of diplomacy, culture, tourism ... and big business?
Rio Tinto, the world’s third largest mining company, is going to Shanghai - for this year’s AFL game on Sunday, June 2 - with Port Adelaide. The Anglo-Australian giant is mixing business in China with football and culture ... all the extra elements to Port Adelaide’s “China Strategy”.
Rio Tinto is part of the dating game the Port Adelaide Football Club is running in China.
“Our indigenous game (Australian football) and our indigenous culture (with an Aboriginal dance group) to showcase to a Chinese audience ... what a way to differentiate ourselves in the Chinese market,” says Rio Tinto vice-president for corporate relations Brad Haynes.
Rio Tinto is a big player in China.
In 2018, Rio Tinto’s revenue streams from China reached $18 billion, 45 per cent of the company’s total revenue. It delivered 75 per cent of its iron ore to China.
Since 2016, Rio Tinto also has been the AFL’s major partner for indigenous programs.
And with Port Adelaide, Rio Tinto believes - against all the cynicism carried by traditional football fans - that the Power’s “China Strategy” can improve Australia-China relations, particularly in business.
“You have to build long-term relationships in China - and the longer they stand, the better they become,” Haynes said.
“Port Adelaide is doing that beyond playing a game in Shanghai.
“This opportunity combines two major objectives for Rio Tinto - our support for indigenous communities in Australia as noted with our partnership with the AFL; and our business relationships between Australia and China.”
If Rio Tinto believes Australian football - and the Port Adelaide Football Club - can open doors and create meaningful relationships in China, imagine who else will share David Koch’s vision in Shanghai? The side show is delivering significant hope for the dreamers at Alberton.
The Yellaka dance group’s trip to Shanghai - to deliver the Aboriginal cultural theme to all of Port Adelaide’s events around next month’s game - will be backed by Rio Tinto.
To emphasise this Aboriginal cultural theme, Port Adelaide will have the Yellaka dancers offer the “Welcome To Country” presentation at Jiangwan Stadium before the game against St Kilda. And the Power team will wear the indigenous-themed guernsey designed by Port Adelaide midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper.
It could be the moment that allows Australian football to define itself in China - as the New Zealand rugby union team does around the world with the Maori cultural theme carried by the haka.
Brownlow Medallist and inaugural Port Adelaide captain Gavin Wanganeen notes: “It will be interesting when we present Sam’s jumper and the Yellaka dancers to the Chinese and tell them that our Aboriginal culture is older than theirs. That should strike up a conversation - and get us a good starting point for connections in China where they value old cultures.”
Port Adelaide running a dating agency ... even for big business.
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au
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