AFL teams named for Shanghai clash
- Thursday, May 11 2017 @ 11:16 pm ACST
- Contributed by: Troy Thompson
- Views: 2,419
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After just six games of Australian football, Irishman Mark O'Connor will make his AFL debut for Geelong at the MCG on Saturday.
After being a very promising GAA football talent in Ireland and playing for County Kerry, O'Connor was invited to the AFL Europe combine in Dublin. Impressive in the testing there he was invited to Melbourne where he was hot property at the AFL Combine in Melbourne last October.
Being an international rookie prospect he was in the position of fielding a number of offers before he finally chose Geelong. He joined fellow Irish recruit Zac Tuohy who had just been traded from Carlton. An impressive pre-season and good early from in the VFL have seen the Geelong selectors back the raw Irish talent for his accelerated AFL debut.
On Saturday there is some chance he will run out on the MCG and be matched against another Irishman in Conor McKenna who had a similar journey via the AFL Europe combine before ending up at Essendon.
Round 8 of the 2017 AFL Season kicks off at Domain Stadium in Perth on Friday night with the West Coast Eagles hosting the Western Bulldogs.
The historic match played in Shanghai between the Gold Coast Suns and Port Adelaide will be broadcast live in China on GZTV and SMG (with Mandarin commentary).
In addition to the TV networks you can also subscribe to the Watch AFL service that will give you live access to all the matches and more (outside Australia only). You can access that service by clicking on the link here or the Watch AFL banner below and paying the subscription fee.
MATCH | DATE | TIMESLOT | MATCH | VENUE | STATE | LOCAL TIME | GMT |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 12-May | Night | West Coast Eagles vs. Western Bulldogs | Domain Stadium | WA | 18:10 | 10:10 |
2 | 13-May | Day | Hawthorn vs. Brisbane Lions | UTAS Stadium | TAS | 13:45 | 03:45 |
3 | 13-May | Day | St Kilda vs. Carlton | Etihad Stadium | VIC | 14:10 | 04:10 |
4 | 13-May | Twilight | GWS GIANTS vs. Collingwood | Spotless Stadium | NSW | 16:35 | 06:35 |
5 | 13-May | Night | Essendon vs. Geelong Cats | MCG | VIC | 19:25 | 09:25 |
6 | 13-May | Night | Adelaide Crows vs. Melbourne | Adelaide Oval | SA | 19:10 | 09:40 |
7 | 14-May | Early | Richmond vs. Fremantle | MCG | VIC | 13:10 | 03:10 |
8 | 14-May | Day | Gold Coast SUNS vs. Port Adelaide | Jiangwan Sports Centre | CHINA | 13:15 | 05:15 |
9 | 14-May | Twilight | North Melbourne vs. Sydney Swans | Etihad Stadium | VIC | 16:40 | 06:40 |
Best local talent in Asia to play Shanghai “curtain closer”
There has been much hype surrounding the historic and monumental first ever AFL game to be played for Premiership Points within Asia, between Port Adelaide and the Gold Coast Suns in Shanghai, China on Sunday May 14th 2017.
However, the anticipation and excitement within Asian Footy circles about the Team China versus the AFL Asia Lions game is being held in a similar regard, as the game will for the first time showcase the best Asian-born footballing talent on the big stage at Jiangwan Stadium, directly after the Port Adelaide Power and Gold Coast Suns game.
You can find this article and more at Joe's Blog here.
This week over a year’s worth of groundwork and preparation come together as Port Adelaide and Gold Coast take the field for a Round 8 match at Jiangwan Stadium (capacity 10,964) in China on Sunday, May 13.
This game is the first ever to be played for premiership points in China, and it became official in April 2016. Last October we learned the Gold Coast Suns would be the opposition.
This is the crown jewel in a new agreement between Port and China, but it’s far from the only element. The Power’s Round 3 match with Essendon and Round 5 match against Geelong were both televised nationwide as part of the TV agreement with Chinese Central Television. CCTV is also televising the 25-week series The AFL Show.
In addition to AFL scores and highlights, the Power’s Chinese international recruit Chen Shaoliang is featured regularly on the 30-minute program to share his experiences into Port Adelaide, the AFL, and living in South Australia.
There’s more.
The following story originally appeared on Frederick's Blog and the original article can be found here. This is very timely given the first match for Premiership points will be played in Shanghai this Sunday.
As one of the biggest media markets in Asia, China has long been a target for Aussie rules as authorities look to spread the sport abroad to new nations. Given the large Chinese population and their well-established enthusiasm for many different sports, they would seem to have a fertile ground for a grassroots footy following.
China has embraced footy at a breakneck pace, as the first recorded game of Aussie rules was played only 13 years ago. The Beijing Bombers – a team made up of Aussie ex-pats in the Chinese capital – were established in 2004. They eventually grew a big-enough audience to help kickstart a local competition with three other teams in the Beijing area.
Women's footy in Port Moresby is up and running for 2017 and The Gerehu Magpies are leading the way being unbeaten after three rounds. All five teams in the competition have had at least four points (Oilmin Kokofas four points thanks to the bye).
On the weekend the Magpies had a 41 point win over Concept Koboni. The Cats had their first win of the season with a 29 point win over the Oilmin Kokofas. The Lamana Dockers had the bye in the five team competition.
The full results for the season so far and the current ladder are below.
Round three of the Port Moresby footy season got underway on the weekend. Concept Koboni secured top spot on the ladder with a 61 point win despite kicking twice as many behinds as goals. The other team on three wins out of three is the Cats. They had a narrow 2 point win over West Eagles.
The Oilmin Kokofas were the other winners on the weekend with a 44 point win over the Central Bombers. The round will be completed this coming weekend with the Lamana Dockers a chance to also go 3-0 when they come up against the Defence Hawks.
University Tigers were unable to field a team in Round 1 due to lack of players and have subsequently withdrawn from the 2017 season. Hopes are that they will return in 2018. Taurama Suns will also take no further part in this season after playing just the first round of the season, so the competiion is back to an even eight teams for the rest of 2017.
Below is a full wrap of the season so far.