Australian rules football in Japan
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| Australian rules football in Japan | |||
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| A Japanese player gets a kick away despite close attention from a Vietnamese opponent. From the Samurai's 2006 tour of Australia | |||
| Governing body | AFL Japan | ||
| National team | Japan | ||
| First played | 1910, Tokyo | ||
| Registered players | 575 (total) 575 (adult) |
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| Clubs | 15 | ||
| Competitions | |||
| Club | |||
| - Tokyo Open League | |||
| - Tokyo University League | |||
| - Japan Osaka Australian Football League | |||
| - Nippon Australian Football League | |||
| Audience records | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Single match | 25,000 (1986). Carlton v. Hawthorn (Yokohama Stadium, Kanagawa) | ||
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Australian rules football in Japan is a team and spectator sport which dates back to 1910.
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[edit] History of Aussie Rules in Japan
Australian rules football was first introduced to Japan in 1910 by a A. W. McLean from Melbourne. He was successful in introducing it as a sport to four large high schools in Tokyo by having the rules translated into Japanese. It is not known what happened to the sport after that time.
Interest was rekindled when, in 1986, the VFL sent two teams to Japan in an effort to encourage the international recognition of the sport. Hawthorn and Carlton played an exhibition match in Tokyo in front of a mix of expatriat Australians and locals.
The following year saw Hawthorn take on Essendon in the second 'Aussie Bowl'. The curtain raiser for this match was played by a make-shift team of Japanese university students. The nation's two most famous private universities scraped together teams of inexperienced Japanese boys to play Japan's first "real" footy match of the 1980s. The two teams, Keio and Waseda, are arch rivals in almost every sport - creating for a classic rivalry along the lines of Carlton v. Collingwood.
That match was the birth of the Japanese Australian Football Association (JAFA). Those two universities still play a large part, together with another private university, Senshu University. Together they came to form the "Japan Samurais".
The Tokyo Goannas formed in November 1991. Their aims were to publicise and promote Australian football in Japan, arrange games on a regular and more organised basis.
There is a league competition and regular one-off games, including the Qantas Cup (a Goannas intra-club, Victoria vs. The Rest Of The World match) and the Ned Kelly Cup (a "Combined Rules" match against the Irish). As well as playing in Japan, the Goannas have disturbed the peace of Hong Kong and Singapore and JAFA has sent a national team to take part in the Arafura Games in Darwin in 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2001, the Narita Cup and later the Australian Football International Cup in 2002 and 2005.
[edit] Participation
In 2004, Japan had four leagues, including a women’s league, with more than 500 registered players around the country competing in league competition and other games. Some 83 per cent of the registered players are Japanese nationals.[1]
[edit] Audience
[edit] Attendance Record
- 25,000 (1986). Carlton v. Hawthorn (Yokohama Stadium, Kanagawa)
[edit] Governing Body
The governing body for the sport in Japan is AFL Japan
[edit] National Team
The national team is the Samurai
[edit] Leagues & Competitions
- Tokyo Open League
- Tokyo University League
- Japan Osaka Australian Football League
- Japan Women's Footy
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php?story=20050301073931568 World Footy Census 2004 - Asia
[edit] See Also
| Countries playing Australian rules football | |||
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Oceania |
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Asia & Middle East |
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Europe |
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Africa |
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Americas |
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