The AFL this week hosted representatives from one of Indias largest media conglomerates as the league continues to take strides towards building a serious footprint in the worlds second most populous country.
As Port Adelaide and Gold Coast prepare to resume hostilities in China later this month, officials from four clubs recently visited India as part of an AFL contingent that explored opportunities for games there in coming years. Essendon, Adelaide, Richmond and Greater Western Sydney were the four clubs represented.
While the league has ruled out the possibility of playing a game in India for premiership points next year, the AFLs general manager of China and India, David Stevenson, said the trip had allayed fears from clubs about the possibility of health issues that could be suffered by their players on the subcontinent.
Essendon and Adelaide are among the clubs that have shown an interest in India.
Photo: AAP
Discussions with former Indian cricket team and long-time Rajasthan Royals physiotherapist John Gloster highlighted to the clubs that with good management, stomach bugs need not be an issue in India.
“There was a bit of concern from clubs on the health of players and any risk around player health. You hear all the stories,” Stevenson told The Age on Thursday.
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“[Gloster] was saying you can count on one hand the amount of lost days that foreigners have had in the 10 years of IPL.
“That was all of a sudden a bit of wake-up call for the clubs to say, actually if you do the right things and you prepare accordingly then theres not a risk.
“And we had those same concerns heading into China. We were a bit unsure about food, pollution, whats it going to look like. I think if you prepare enough, youll be OK. So that was really encouraging.”
Stevenson revealed that the league had this week been visited by officials from Star Sports, part of the Star network that reportedly reaches around 720 million viewers a month. Star Sports last year bought five years of IPL rights for $AU3.2 billion.
“Broadcasters have shown some willingness. We actually hosted Star Sports, just on Sunday and Monday just gone. Took them to a couple of games and had a whole lot of meetings here on Monday. Were having some conversations with broadcasters.
“Were not going to be taking a regular season game over there next year. Weve got a lot of work to do. But were feeling pretty optimistic about what those opportunities could be in India, but even more importantly with the more than 700,000 people with Indian descent living in Australia.”
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Daniel is an Age sports reporter.
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