We welcome Yoshihiro Imagawa to our writing staff.  Yoshi is a huge St Kilda FC fan and has been a regular contributor to The Footy Almanac the past few years and is now assisting AFL Asia and AFL Japan to get their footy news out to the world. 

 On Friday, AFL Asia announced proudly and with delight that Hayley Leary had been appointed as AFL Asia AFLW Promotion and Development Officer for the 2018 season. Grown up in Melbourne and currently based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Hayley participated in the AFL Asia 2016 Asian Championship AFLW Exhibition match in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

Her great experience in playing footy in the exhibition match drove her in co-founding the Malaysian Warriors Women's team in 2017. On Saturday, 20 January, the Malaysian women club will be playing against the Cambodia Apsaras in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Nat Edwards from the www.afl.com.au website reports on the AFL’s latest bold move to use the new to be revealed AFLX football format as a key weapon in growing Australian Rules football in both China and India in coming years.

THE LEAGUE will use its new high-octane format, AFLX, to make a significant push into China and India in the future.

The fast-paced, shortened format will make its debut in February across three separate tournaments starting in Adelaide on February 15 at Hindmarsh Stadium.

Melbourne will host the second lot of AFLX round-robin matches at Etihad Stadium on February 16, before the game heads to Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

For a number of years the Osaka Dingoes in Japan were one of the mainstays of the national league in the country. For a good few years, the Dingoes were right up there with the Tokyo Goannas as the teams to beat. However, in a world of change, things didn’t stay the same, and the once mighty Dingoes fell on harder times as their club and the league around them looked at changing the footy landscape – for a number of reasons.

The end result saw the Osaka Dingoes stand on the edge of a precipice and look down into the void of footy oblivion. Part of Japanese footy history and nothing more.

But that didn’t happen, and Matt Gale, president of both AFL Asia and now of the Osaka Dingoes, tells the story of how close the club came to extinction and how they have found their way back. It hasn’t been an easy ride, and at times has been fractious, but the end result is one of confidence and potential.

The Port Adelaide Football Club is proud to announce a partnership with Four’N Twenty that will continue strengthening cross-cultural ties between Australia and China.

The iconic Australian brand will be the Presenting Partner for Port Adelaide’s ground-breaking grass-roots program, Power Footy, which uses football to introduce Australian culture to Chinese schools.

Patties Foods Chief Executive Officer Paul Hitchcock says, “Port Adelaide’s engagement in China matches the company’s vision to evolve its sponsorship strategy with a more global focus, while building on the relationship with the club which has already spanned three years.

The Philippines capital city of Manila played host to the 2017 AFL Asian Championship last weekend. Clubs representing nations from across the length and breadth of the Asian continent took part again in the AFL Asia showcase event, with the Warriors claiming the Division 1 title and the Bali Geckos making it back-to-back Division 2 titles.

After taking the 2016 title, and being the host nation for this year’s event, the Philippine Eagles entered the vent as mild favourites. However, the Malaysia Warriors would have none of it, winning their way through the round matches before downing the Eagles in the final and celebrating 25 years as a club in grand style.

Inaugural All-Thai AFL Auskick Match

 Thailand Tigers Australian Football Club announced at AFL website the following news concerning an all-Thai local Auskick Footy match played out in Bangkok. 

Saturday 10th June saw the first ever match between all local Thai Auskickers as part of an AFL Tournament in Bangkok. The day comprised of under 9 and under 12 Auskick matches between the Bangkok Tigers and Pattaya Pirates, the 1st ever All Thai Auskick match between the Thai Blues and the Thai Reds and the AFL Asia match between the Thailand Tigers and Cambodian Eagles

The www.afl.com.au  website reports that a match for premiership points could be played in India as early as next season. The following article gives details of the planned move which follows in the wake of a premiership match in China earlier this year.

GREATER Western Sydney and Richmond appear to have stolen the march in staging an AFL match in India, with the clubs confirming plans for a premiership-season encounter on the sub-continent.

The Giants-Tigers clash is likely to take place in Mumbai during the mid-season bye round, with GWS playing host.

 

"Both clubs have the ambition to play for premiership points in Mumbai as early as next year," Tigers chief executive Brendon Gale confirmed to News Corp.

An international Auskicker announced as the eighth NAB AFL Auskicker of the Year Weekly Nominee

Zac Stewart from the Singapore Sharks Football Club has been announced as the eighth weekly nominee for the 2017 NAB AFL Auskicker of the Year competition.

To coincide with the Round 8 Toyota AFL Premiership Season match in Shanghai between the Gold Coast SUNS and Port Adelaide Football Club, Power fan Zac was announced during an interview with the Seven Network’s Hamish McLachlan in China.

The NAB AFL Auskicker of the Year competition calls for 2017 registered participants of the program, both in Australia and internationally, to enter for the chance to become one of 22 weekly nominees.

It has been a big build up in the football media all week to this historic match in China for Premiership points. Early in the week much of the media seemed negative, possibly because of Rodney Eade’s post-match comments last week when asked about the game.

As the week has gone on though the sentiment has gradually turned supportive of the match and the acceptance that the potential that China offers should be given a go.

Unlike previous matches in Wellington, this overseas match was shown on free to air TV in Australia and late in the week the deal was secured for the match to be shown live in China on various networks (with Mandarin language commentary).

Along with the debut of an AFL regular season match in China - there is also a lot of grass roots Asian footy going on to take advantage of this match as a chance to get together. The AFL Asia Shanghai Cup conducted yesterday - Saturday May 13th - took place at the Wellington College International Shanghai. Many of the players competing Saturday will likely attend the Port v Gold Coast clash today. One of the competing sides is the Vietnam Swans. And while for many people there is a view of expats dominating AFL in Asia - the Swans are among the growing band of footy outposts that are working at developing local footballers; and for the first time the Swans were captained by a Vietnamese local in Nguyen Quang Vinh.