Up where Cazaly? The globalisation of football

In one of Australia’s great films, Gallipoli, there is a famous scene when the ANZACs play a game of Aussie Rules by the pyramids. It’s Western Australia versus Victoria, and the great playwright David Williamson, who wrote the screenplay for the film in collaboration with Peter Weir, in a rare acting role, plays a lanky Victorian ruckman who the West Australians can’t budge. It was a great scene, (based on an actual event), combining Australia’s brave ANZAC spirit with our carefree love of sport, and in particular, our homegrown game of Australian Rules football. The film, especially in this scene – was a great symbol of Australia and our values and ‘brand’ that we show to the world.

However, as unusual as it was to see a game of Aussie Rules in the deserts of the Middle East, it did happen some 80 years later, when Collingwood played Adelaide in a pre-season NAB Cup Game on a makeshift polo ground halfway between Dubai and the Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This was not just an exhibition game, but a fair dinkum NAB Cup game, the first one played outside Australia.

The game was the brainchild of Australia’s (then) Senior Trade Commissioner to the Middle East, Peter Linford and the AFL to showcase the game to Dubai’s large expatriate Australian community and to help support the global strategies of the game’s sponsors. Given Collingwood’s relationship with Emirates and Adelaide’s links with Toyota, the Crows/Magpies duel was a perfect match.

But the big men fly not just in Dubai. In fact, in my travels as The Airport Economist around the world, I have noticed a new phenomenon. Wherever there are Australian exporters there are expatriates and wherever there are Australian expatriates there is sport and it’s often Aussie Rules.

For example, when I was in China, the Shanghai Tigers played the Beijing Bombers at China’s own MCG. In Hanoi, the Vietnam Swans played the Laos Elephants in a special match to raise funds for the Craig Senger Indonesian Memorial (Craig, an Austrade official who was a victim of the Jakarta terrorist attacks this year, was a keen sportsman and he played sport as one way of getting to know his Indonesian friends as well as his fellow Australian expatriates).

In addition, this year the South American Aussie Rules competition kicked off with a game between Brazil and Chile, with Austrade Sao Paulo’s Greg Wallis (who is a keen South Adelaide supporter) leading the charge. And at this stage, most of us football types would rather “go to Rio”, than “go to Freo”, given the Dockers recent performances). Of course, there have been strong expatriate leagues in the UK, USA and Europe as well for some time.

But it’s not just expatriates playing for fun; the AFL itself is organising matches around the world on a regular basis now. As well as the UAE, there are regular matches in South Africa, as there are almost as many AFL footballers in South Africa as in Tasmania. In fact, according the AFL, South Africa leads the charge in terms of home grown players playing Aussie rules outside Australia.

There are also plans for games in India (spearheaded by Peter Linford, now based in New Delhi) and in China as part of the Shanghai 2010 activities. In fact, Richmond and Essendon legend Kevin Sheedy now plays an important role as a global ambassador for the AFL, and recently toured China with Ken Gannon to promote the activities for next year. This comes on the heels of a strong involvement by Melbourne in China with Ron Barassi, Max Walker and former Melbourne Lord Mayor John So doing their bit.

Is this a plan for world domination by the AFL? Not at all. According to Gillon McLachlan, the AFL’s Chief Broadcasting and Commercial Officer, the AFL wants to grow international participation in the game, serve the Australian expatriate market and grow the game financially too among Australian and international business interests. The financial side of the game is increasingly a global proposition.

“We need to support the global ambitions of our corporate sponsors and partners and the international matches are an important part of this strategy,” says McLachlan. “The international matches help us to showcase the game and build the Australian brand among potential foreign investors and sponsors and give our global Australian partners some good leverage in new markets.”

But McLachlan emphasises that the main focus of the AFL is on national development of the game: “our main focus is on being the national code, hence our work in New South Wales and Queensland and regional areas. But the international program is a good investment in the game’s development – particularly given the global focus of many Australian exporters.”

Of course, as well as the international business objectives, the game does have a development objective as well. The work by Fremantle Dockers in the townships of South Africa has helped reduce smoking and other anti-social activities.

Kevin Sheedy and Indigenous leader and Essendon legend Michael Long have emphasised the strong indigenous participation in the game and taken that message offshore. And the Shanghai Tigers football club have raised funds for the Half the Sky foundation that helps Chinese orphanages. Football is, in a sense, part of Australia’s unofficial diplomatic efforts in many counties that Australia engages with.

Of course, there are economic benefits to a whole range of football codes and other sports. Austrade’s Business Club Australia (BCA) program leverages sporting events to help forge trade and investment links for Australian exporters and investors.

As well as the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, the Melbourne Cup, the FINA Swimming championships and the Rugby World Cups, BCA is now involved with FIFA and the FFA in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the possible hosting by Australia of the Football World Cup in Australia in 2018 or 2022, and the Asian Cup in 2015.

There are obvious synergies between the world game and world trade. And sporting events do generate big bucks for Australia. Since the Sydney Olympics in 2000, BCA has generated over $1.7 billion in trade and investment deals for the nation.

So whatever code of football you follow, and whether you’re watching in the desert in the Middle East or at the MCG on Saturday, remember that sport, like a wonderful Australian film like Gallipoli, is part of who we are and how the world see us. And ultimately, it can help us as Australians to engage with the world, and make it a place fit for peace, harmony and the return of the long-range torpedo punt.

Tim Harcourt is the author of THE AIRPORT ECONOMIST. Thanks to Ken Gannon, David Matthews, Kevin Sheehan, Kevin Sheedy, Bill Kelty, George de Crespigny and Gillon McLachlan of the AFL and Peter Linford, Ashley White and Tom Calder of Austrade for their assistance.