The Australian Football League's Port Adelaide "will play an official match against the Gold Coast in Shanghai in May, with a game that is only played professionally in Australia beating the likes of the NFL and the NBA to the punch" as the first foreign professional league to stage a regular-season game in China, according to Sam Agars of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. Port Adelaide GM of Marketing & Consumer Business Matt Richardson said, "The NFL are looking to play a game in China in 2018 and the AFL are playing a game there in 2017, it’s incredible." It has all happened "remarkably quickly" for Port Adelaide and the AFL. The idea "began to take shape" when the club held a business lunch in Hong Kong in May '14. Richardson: "In Hong Kong, we're relevant because there is such a large Australian population here compared to China, so we thought we could use Hong Kong as a base to then leapfrog across into China." Port Adelaide built its presence in Hong Kong "through functions and coaching clinics" and is into its third season as the major sponsor of the South China AFL -- a six-team league containing four teams from Hong Kong and two from Guangzhou. Port Adelaide is now using the knowledge acquired by the Chinese in Guangzhou as a "vehicle to drive participation growth in Shanghai and beyond" (SCMP, 2/4).
