AFL has no plans to take the game overseas in the near future

The federal government is reportedly interested in bringing Aussie rules back to China, a move Port Adelaide is ‘watching closely’. Now the AFL have had their say.

The AFL has no plans to resume playing games in China in the immediate future, despite reported interest in rebooting football in Shanghai from the Federal government.

An exhibition match was held at Jiangwan Stadium in 2010 before three games for premiership points were played there between 2017 and 2019 before the Covid pandemic.

Port Adelaide played in — and won — all three games in Shanghai and Power chairman David Koch recently revealed the prospect of returning to play in the region was something the club was “watching closely”.

But this masthead can reveal that the league currently has no plans to take the game beyond Australian shores in the near future.

New chief executive Andrew Dillon — who took over from longstanding chief Gillon McLachlan at the end of last season — has a firm focus on community and grassroots football within Australia and it is understood that there has been no significant discussion about a return to China.

Players run through the banner in 2019. Picture: David Mariuz

Koch said recently that Port Adelaide “still have resources in China” and that it had been recently contacted by the Australian government which he said inquired about the Power’s interest in returning to play.

“We had some whispers out of Canberra gauging whether we’d be interested in going back,” he said on FiveAA late last month.

“And we would, if there was the right sort of support for us to go back. It’s a big expense, it’s a big investment for us. So if other partners came in like the government or AusTrade (then we might).

“It wasn't about expanding AFL into China. It was about developing more trade links and frankly, commercial partners for Port Adelaide.”

China is Australia’s largest two-way trading partner, with the recent lifting of crushing tariffs on Australian industries such as wine and barley further improving relations.

Paddy Ryder and Callum Wilkie playing in China. Picture: Michael Wilson/ AFL Photos

The Power continue to foster a number of key commercial relationships, including recent partner UnionPay which is based in Shanghai.

“We invested a lot into Shanghai, and we still have resources in China, because it’s such a big trading partner and we have a number of sponsors that are China-based,” Koch said.

“It’s been a terrific experience for us. In terms of going back and playing a game there, it’s way too early to decide on that, because you have the situation of not only the Covid shutdowns and the trade issues, getting visas is still pretty hard to get to in China. But we’re watching it closely.”

Coaching great Mick Malthouse told this masthead in 2020 that he would be “very, very reluctant” to have the game return to China, saying he considered it to be “selling its soul”.