A kick to begin the Olympics

(Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-08-04 17:09

5 days before the Olympics opening ceremony, a friendly football match took place in Beijing, between Australia & China. It was officially opened by Australia's Ambassador to China, Dr Geoff Raby.

Dr Geoff Raby - Australia and China have been playing sport together for a very long time. In fact in the AFL (Australian Football League) there was a Chinese player going back to 1908.

Australian Rules football or 澳式足球 Ao Shi Zu qiu is the nation's most popular spectator sport. Every year in September the final attracts up to 100,000 fans to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the venue of the 1956 Olympics. It's a fast, physical sport, not for the feint hearted.

Chinese player - "The Australian players are very good, very professional"

The majority of today's Chinese players are university students, super fast and quick to learn and they seem to fit in well with Australia's multi cultural makeup.

Australian player – "It's controlled aggression Aussie Rules and that's something I think the Chinese are very good at. They are very disciplined. It's instilled from day one – controlled aggression, know when to use your aggression – it's got to be the right time and I think that's why the Chinese guys would be successful in this sport".

Corporate Australia also realizes this potential and later this month will sponsor about 25 Chinese players to travel to Australia to play in the AFL's International Cup with teams from 16 other countries competing.

Master of Ceremony – Thank you very much everybody for coming today. It's great to see so many people here. It's a special day in the history of Australian Rules Football and it's a special day in the history of Chinese Sport.

And while on this day the Australian Beijing Bombers defeated the China Red Demons by 4 goals the winner was the game itself and relations between the two countries. Dr Raby – So let's start the Olympics (this is completely unscripted) - we'll have a kick to begin the Olympics with AFL

Australian player – Aussie Rules in China, it's a novelty, but it's good fun!