World Footy News

In this installment, we check in with the Beijing Bombers, the China Reds' tour to Thailand for the ANZAC clash, a new club starting up in Qingdao, and Jiaming Pi's blog on the SBS Chinese language website, promoting footy to the Australian Chinese community.

Beijing Bombers back in Training

In the Chinese capital, the Beijing Bombers have started up their Saturday trainings for the year, and numbers have been very encouraging, including around 7-12 young Chinese students from Beijing Sports University who have been regular appearances as they prepare for IC11.

The BAFL, Beijing's Metro League, will be returning this year and the annual Shanghai v Beijing clash will be played in Shanghai on 28th of May.

China Reds Prepare for first tour of 2011

This weekend the China Reds, the open nationality representative team of all mainland China, will come together again for their first match since the Asian Championships last November.

The Reds will travel to Thailand to take on the Thailand Tigers for the prestigious ANZAC Day match, played at Hellfire pass, including a dawn service and several Australian diggers in attendance. By all accounts from previous tours by other teams, this is a once in a lifetime experience and great recognition of the sacrifices of WWI & II. Best of luck to both teams and more info here.

China Reds Australian Reunion 2011

Australian expatriate footy has had a presence in China for more than 10 years and the Beijing Bombers v Shanghai Tigers China Cup rivalry has been a big part of that. Quite a number of people have donned a jumper and had a kick of the footy in China over the years and there is now a sizable number of ex- Bombers, Tigers and Reds reps living in Australia again.

This year, on the day that the Essendon Bombers v Richmond Tigers clash in the AFL; a reunion of players, officials and supporters of footy in China will be gathering at the MCG. It will be a chance to see old faces and relive the stories from previous tours and China Cup clashes, as well as raise some funds for the Chinese National Team in their efforts to make it to the 2011 AFL International Cup.

If there is anyone out there who has ever played some footy in China, wants to be part of the weekend and hasn’t heard from Keysy yet, we encourage you to get in touch and book your spot by emailing Grantk (at) iinet.net.au

Welcome to the Qingdao Magpies, China's Newest Footy Chapter

Qingdao, a scenic, coastal city that is home to the famous Tsingtao brewery, was actually the site of a China Reds training camp weekend in 2009. Being a growing city with an abundance of beaches and beers, it could no doubt prove a favourite for future tours. we’ll keep track of the newly formed Qingdao Magpies and hope they’re playing some matches soon. Below is their first announcement...

>China’s newest Australian Rules Football Club “The Qingdao Magpies” is now looking for players, trainers, umpires and various roles for volunteers.

How would you like to have fun, get fit, learn new skills and make some great friends along the way? No experience necessary, just enthusiasm and an eagerness to learn!!

The Qingdao Magpies will play their first exhibition game during the 2011 Qingdao International Beer Festival in August. We begin training in Qingdao in late April 2011 and will be conducting informal group fitness sessions and social activities throughout the year. Qingdao and Adelaide are Friendly Cooperative Cities and this year it is the 25th Anniversary of Sister State Relations between South Australia and Shandong Province. Part of celebration activities will be AFL exhibition games and in 2012 the Qingdao Magpies will be entering their inaugural team in 2012 competitions.

As the piping shrike is South Australia’s States emblem and that Qingdao is known as the City of Magpies and that Magpies are considered very good luck, we named the club the Qingdao Magpies.

All expressions of interest should be emailed to: conan (at) tacdc.com.au - or call : +61 417227881 or +86 1866 3985 638

JP’s Footy Blog to Target Chinese Australians

Star player of the China Red Demons in IC08 & Southern Dragons (in Melbourne’s Southern Football League), Jiaming ‘Jamie’ Pi has recently launched a weekly blog on SBS’s Chinese language website. Jamie moved to Australia from China in his teens, and since then has become a fanatic of Aussie rules, and unfortunately for some, the Collingwood Magpies!

He hopes the blog will help members of the Chinese community in Australia to better understand sports, culture and water cooler talk in Australia. The blog can be viewed at community.sbs.com.au/jiaming_pi/blog.