Road to Shanghai: Gold Coast Suns throw verbal punches at press conference

IT probably went right over the heads of the Chinese media at the first bilingual AFL press conference, but not the Port Adelaide delegation.

IT probably went right over the heads of the Chinese media at the first bilingual AFL press conference, but not the Port Adelaide delegation.

First, Suns captain Tom Lynch. He played the company line about how China already has a strong affinity with Gold Coast.

Those sunny beaches of south-east Queensland make his club’s base the No. 1 Australian destination for Chinese tourists. “And,” he added in his prepared speech, “our colours (red and yellow, as in the China national flag) will get a few over the line as well.”

Second, co-captain Steven May. The Suns’ players have been having – like their Port Adelaide counterparts – lessons about Chinese culture.

“Wearing red is a good luck colour … we’re happy with that,” he said while reminding all of the etiquette on how to place chop sticks on a plate in China.

A few from Alberton immediately lost their appetite for the Chinese delights on offer at the rooftop bar looking over The Bund and Shanghai’s skyline (that is a hazy view but not dripping in smog nor sandstorms).

It’s doubtful any of these jabs – from the point scoring the Suns have been making by slipping their guernsey through the fine print of the agreement to sell a home game to Port Adelaide for at least $500,000 – will make it to the news services or the newspapers from the Chinese media that was on The Bund on Thursday as Australia’s game put itself on the world stage.

But there was – to contradict all those at home who wonder if Port Adelaide can put on a “sideshow” in China and have anyone notice – a strong Chinese media presence.

Nine local media outlets appeared to an event first dominated by the business of promoting Australian tourism and then the question of what is Australian football doing in China.

Port Adelaide’s trump card in this space is Chen Shaoliang, the Team China captain who has been at Alberton since last year and – after being held up by a knee injury last year – is on track to finally breakthrough into a Port Adelaide SANFL team this season.

“People will be curious,” he told his home media on Thursday.

“They will want to see how Australian football is played. And I hope we convey the passion this team sport has – and how it is unique to Australian football.”

The Chinese media is certainly curious about Australia, a point Port Adelaide hit on when it started its “China Strategy” almost four years ago to build a bridge between the two nations through “sports diplomacy”.

And it may become bewildered by Australian football on Sunday, just as many Australian fans are most weekends when there seems to be yet another interpretation of the holding-the-ball rule.

But, as Chen, notes they are curious about this Australian game … and Australia.

Whether they fall for the Gold Coast jumpers by allegiance to the Chinese flag is still to be seen – but the Suns on Thursday were not wasting the opportunity to land some early jumper punches in Shanghai.

[e-mail]

Originally published as Road to Shanghai: Gold Coast Suns throw verbal punches at press conference