User:AFL ASIA

AFL Asia is the official Association for Australian rules football in Asia

Governing body:	AFL Asia

Registered players:	4000+

Countries: 12

Clubs:	35+

Competitions:

Australian Football League Asia (AFL Asia International League), AFL Asian Championships (Annually since 2000)

South China Australian Football League (SCAFL), Guangdong Australian Football League (GDAFL), Philippine AFL (PAFL), AFL Japan Top League, AFL Indonesia Jakarta League (Lofty Cup), Hong Kong Junior AFL.

Australian Rules Football has been played as an organised sport in Asia since the late 1980s with teams based in Australian expatriate communities and around universities, such as in Tokyo, Japan.[1] Before this time, informal matches had been played in some countries, the majority involving Australian servicemen, such as a 1941 game held in Port Dickson, British Malaya.[2] The first international games in Asia started in the early 1990s (the Hong Kong Dragons played their first match the day after the 1990 AFL Grand Final.) [3] Since the 1990s footy in the region has boomed with Australian Rules Football Clubs developing in most Asian countries. Played initially by expatriate Australians, however in some countries such as Japan, China and Indonesia there is a larger portion of locals in the playing base.[4][5][6][7]

There existed an informal association for various Asian based AFL clubs for some time, but on 27 July 2013 a meeting of Asia’s Club Presidents was held in Bangkok to discuss the future of footy in Asia. In all, 13 countries / clubs attended and submissions were received from a further four clubs. This was the first time representatives of Asian Australian Rules football had ever met with the sole purpose of preparing a road map for Asian footy. This meeting lead to the formation of AFL Asia, the official Association for Australian Football in Asia.[3][8]

For further information see Link to Australian Rules Football in Asia or www.afl-asia.com