The Asian-Australians forging the way forward in football

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Lin Jong’s mother did not want him to play football. She had aspirations for him to be a doctor. Joanna Lin’s parents preferred her to hit the books instead of kicking a ball. Alex Davies was one of few kids he knew with Asian heritage who did not undertake extracurricular studies.

All three went against the grain of the “doctor, lawyer or failure” choice of future professions traditionally expected of many Asian migrants by their families to reach the top level of football.

Gold Coast’s Alex Davies is in his thrid season at the top level.Credit: AFL Photos

Australia’s rich history of immigration from China and eastern and south-east Asia has not been reflected in player or participation levels in the VFL/AFL. In the V/AFL’s 126-year history, only 32 of the 13,000-plus players have Asian ancestry.

This is remarkable for a game that had Chinese involvement as early as the gold rush and had its first player of Chinese descent, Wally Koochew for Carlton, in 1908 during the years of the White Australia Policy. George Tansing played the first of his five games for Geelong later that year.

Ernie Foo lined up four times for St Kilda in 1914. Les Kew Ming, a war hero, played for North Melbourne in the VFA before their admission into the VFL, according to football historian Robert Allen.

Les Fong may well be the best Chinese Australian AFL player of all time. A West Perth premiership player who played 284 games in the WAFL from 1973-87 and a member of the WA Football Hall of Fame, Fong “bludgeoned respect for Chinese Australians in Perth”, author Patrick Skene told guests on Friday night in Sydney at the AFL’s launch of his book Celestial Footy, detailing the history of Chinese heritage involvement in the game.

Sophie Li played in a premiership with Adelaide.Credit: AFL Photos

More recently, Peter Bell – the son of a Korean mother and American father, adopted by an Australian couple at the age of three – is the most decorated player with 286 games for North Melbourne and Fremantle, where he is now that club’s footy boss.

Others with Asian heritage to have made it to the top include Danny Seow (Chinese), Sudjai Cook (Thai) and more recently Connor Downie (Chinese), who played two games with Hawthorn.

Off the field, comedian Sam Pang, who played under 19s for Collingwood, is a co-host of the popular The Front Bar program. At AFL House, Walter Lee is one of the highest ranking administrators.

According to results from the 2021 census, 17.4 per cent of Australians identified as having Asian ancestry, and 1.39 million (or 5 per cent) responded as having Chinese heritage.

Even without official numbers, it is safe to conclude this is not represented in the AFL’s playing or coaching cohort, administration, media or even in the stands – but there is a smattering.

Amanda Ling (centre) during her time at the Western Bulldogs.Credit: AFL Photos

Davies, 21, whose mother is Japanese, is a player of considerable potential for Gold Coast, where he has played 24 games. Mitch Owens, of Japanese heritage, is destined for big things at St Kilda, while Reef McInness, with 11 games, is working to cement a place in flag favourite Collingwood’s senior team.

In the AFLW, Darcy Vescio, of Chinese and Italian heritage, has the highest profile with 58 games for Carlton while Lin, 21, has played 17 for the Magpies. Before them, Sophie Li retired after 21 matches for Carlton and a premiership with Adelaide, and Amanda Ling played for the Bulldogs.

Mitch Owens has starred for St Kilda this year.Credit: Getty Images

The AFL readily concedes the league has historically overlooked the Chinese and Asian communities in Australia.

“We under-index, no question, the statistics tell you that,” the AFL’s head of game development Rob Auld said.

Other major sports in Australia have unearthed very few Asian Australian stars. Richard Chee Quee, who played in the 1990s, remains Australia’s most prominent Asian cricketer not of subcontinental extraction.

In the NRL, Cronulla’s Shaun Johnson, Brisbane’s Payne Haas, Warriors skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Newcastle’s Mason Lino have Asian heritage. Wallabies coach Eddie Jones is of Japanese heritage, as is Winston “Blow” Ide, who played for the Wallabies, but there are few known players with Asian blood in Australia.

Soccer has had success with Socceroos great Alan Davidson, whose mother is Japanese, his son Jason and Jacob Burns (Chinese) all having played for Australia.

The AFL announced on Friday a $560,000 investment in a program aiming to increase participation among Chinese Australians in NSW.

The match between Sydney and West Coast at the SCG on Saturday had a Chinese theme with dragon dances forming the pre-match entertainment.

This masthead has spoken to five people of Asian heritage who are or have been involved at the top level of the game. A common thread in their stories is their family’s greater emphasis on education over sport, how rare it was to encounter other people with similar cultural backgrounds, and their experiences of racism.

Lin Jong

For many football followers, Jong is the face of Asian involvement in the game. Noted for his courage and tenacity, Jong played 65 games for the Western Bulldogs, where he is a life member for 10 years of service. An ill-timed injury – one of many that blighted his career – at the start of the 2016 finals series cost him the chance to be part of the Dogs’ historic premiership that year.

Lin Jong played 65 games for the Western Bulldogs.Credit: Getty

As a child, like many Australians with Asian heritage, he attended a Chinese school on Saturdays to learn Mandarin. His mother did not watch him play as a junior.

“She just thought it was a waste of time to be honest,” Jong said. “Which we can joke about now. She wanted me to be a doctor but took a little while to realise I wasn’t smart enough.”

If his father, who drove him around the state, is his No.1 fan, she became a close second.

Jong, whose mother is Taiwanese and father Chinese Timorese, had his first taste of football aged 12, playing for his school and Glen Waverley Rovers. His athleticism was not the only thing that stood out. Through his junior days, he recalled seeing “maybe one or two other Asian faces”.

“It was very evident I was very different to everyone,” Jong said.

Jong copped the usual racist lines when he played – references to going back to China, sticking to table tennis – which cut deep.

“Growing up as a 14-16-year-old male there’s always racism at that age group, I would say,” Jong said. “That’s what I found growing up at high school. I absolutely felt supported by my mates, they were my friends, but there was quite a lot of racism growing up.”

“I was definitely very conscious of it. I wasn’t embarrassed, that’s not the word, but very hesitant just knowing I was Asian and everyone else was white.”

Jong was initially apprehensive to leave his mates for the Oakleigh Chargers in the then TAC Cup, the main feeder competition to the AFL, unsure how he would be received.

“Maybe it’s irrational. It’s hard to explain if you haven’t been through it, or done it, or been in that position where you’re the only person of your kind in a place full of white people,” Jong said.

“I was definitely very conscious of it. I wasn’t embarrassed, that’s not the word, but very hesitant just knowing I was Asian and everyone else was white. It helped at my local team where my friends were there but to go beyond that was fairly intimidating.”

Jong stuck at it to forge a career at the top, but there would be many at that level and below who may have liked the game but did not love it enough to be willing to push through.

“You can easily see why you might not want to keep taking those steps if you continue to feel that way,” Jong said.

Jong did not see himself as a role model for the Asian community until late in his career when he was more comfortable with his identity, as opposed to just wanting to fit in.

“It wasn’t until I grew up a bit more and started to understand the impact I could have, being proud of where I’m from, and wearing it on my sleeve, saying this is who I am,” Jong said. “And it’ll be helpful for other kids watching me play because I didn’t really have that growing up.

“I always talk about kids being able to see themselves in players when they watch them. I always hoped when I played, me being an Asian face and name, kids can go ‘why can’t I do that, why can’t I play footy’.”

Alex Davies

Born in Wollongong to a Japanese mother and an Australian father, Davies was raised in Cairns, where he first played footy as a seven-year-old for the Manunda Hawks.

Gold Coast’s Alex Davies is a Sun on the rise.Credit: Getty

There was a beautiful moment last year when his grandfather Kazuhiro sang the Suns song arm in arm with Davis and his teammates.

Unlike his sisters and many other kids he knew of Asian heritage, Davies did not attend a Saturday school or take part in extracurricular maths tutoring through Kumon.

“It’s something that will bond any person of my heritage,” Davies said. “I was the only kid growing up of my background that I knew not playing a musical instrument.”

He did not feel he was targeted for racial abuse as he was part Asian and, he jokes, people knew his father had been in the army.

Davies believe the focus on study over sport may be a reason why Asian Australians are under-represented at the top level. The lack of heroes to look up to is also a factor, he said. Which is why Jong was a hero to him.

“It fuelled something in me,” Davies said. “I thought that’s pretty cool. Even my people said it to me at the time, I got something out of it. Even though he’s not Japanese, it’s still pretty close.”

The roles have now flipped for Davies.

“I get a lot of messages on socials from Asian kids – ‘I want to play AFL like you’,” Davis said. “It’s mainly Japanese now [in the AFL] but it’d be cool if there were more Chinese, Thai, for example, to kick-start.”

Joanna Lin

Lin, too, has received congratulatory messages from Asian Australian children keen to follow in her footsteps, though she laughs at suggestions she is a trailblazer. Her parents, from Taiwan, wanted her to study so she could find a job with a more stable income than professional sport. The robust nature of football was also a deterrent, she said.

Joanna Lin has playd 17 games for Collingwood in the AFLW.Credit: Getty Images

“When you have a sport like footy where you can get injured easily, they want you to play something else,” Lin said.

Though Lin was racially vilified online by a Magpies supporter on the night she was drafted, she feels welcomed by the inclusive culture of the women’s competition.

“Footy has made me feel like I do belong somewhere. It doesn’t matter what your culture is, you can play. It’d be pretty cool to see other Asians coming through.”

Walter Lee

Walter Lee was, he said, a “tiny little Asian kid who never played much sport”. He’s now one of the AFL’s highest-ranked officials, who, as the league’s strategy, technology and data boss, played an important role in securing the game’s new $4.5 billion TV rights deal.

Walter Lee is the AFL’s Executive General Manager – Strategy, Technology and Data.Credit: AFL Photos

Born in Malaysia, Lee, 39, came to Australia with his family aged seven. He followed the sport as a kid but did not play. This proved a help more than a hindrance to his career.

Seconded from Booz Allen Hamilton, where he was a strategy consultant, to the AFL in 2008 to help with expansion, Lee’s lack of a football background was seen as vital in growing the game in a new market. He helped set up Gold Coast, securing the club a stadium, and Greater Western Sydney. He was there on the Giants’ first night, helping the cheer squad lift the banner.

His parents were bewildered with his change of career, but have become keen Giants fans.

“It was pure confusion for them,” Lee said. “They didn’t quite understand the appeal of what it was. They’re one of the Chinese community who has come to Australia, but footy never really got a grip on them.

“They didn’t want me to play because it was too rough. The time commitment to do something like that, they’d rather I studied and be in the books.”

Lee, the youngest on the AFL executive, stands out in a game where many of the top office bearers are white but by no means is his appointment tokenistic.

“The fact I get to be involved in shaping the future, I am the person shaping the future of the AFL and helping make big decisions, that’s a credit to the AFL and their forward-thinking at the time,” Lee said. “People like [AFL CEO] Gill [McLachlan] and [AFL Commission chairman] Richard [Goyder], who have been so supportive.

“For me, the biggest highlight has been laying the groundwork for the broadcast deal. Jumping on planes, late-night meetings, calling people in New York, they left it up to me to do all of that.”

He has noticed more involvement from Asian Australians in the game. Recently, he asked Lin and her manager Jamie Pi to speak at an event to the Chinese Australian community.

“I go back five years ago, I would not have been able to put together a panel like that,” Lee said. “It surprises a lot of people how many Chinese-Australian people are involved – there’s more work to do. It certainly doesn’t represent the proportion of population here.”

Anthony Tang is the list manager of St Kilda’s AFLW team.

Anthony Tang

Newly appointed list manager for St Kilda’s AFLW side Anthony Tang was the only Asian kid in his football team at university.

His understanding of the sport started with learning how good a kick Brendan Fevola was for Carlton in the AFL 99 video game. It came in handy. In grade six, there was a teacher at his school coaching with Werribee, who were playing the Blues that weekend. Recognising Tang’s passion, his teacher asked him to arrange the Carlton magnets on his whiteboard as to where they would be selected.

A qualified osteopath, Tang’s off-field football career kicked off with the Western Jets’ girls program, leading to a role in analytics for the Saints. “I knew I wasn’t going to play AFL … I knew if I would make a difference, it would be in front office using strategy – what it takes to understand a skill again and again,” Tang said.

He’s not the only Asian Australian working in this field in the AFL. His brother is the Data/GPS analyst for the Saints AFLW team, while Vincent Chungue is an analyst for Melbourne.

As a recruiter, he has noticed more players of Asian descent in junior girls’ competitions.

Jamie Pi

Pi came to Australia in 1993 as a 12-year-old who could not speak English. Football became his passion. Adopting the game in 1994, Pi, 43, still plays at his original club Keysborough.

He was part of the Southern Dragons team, made up largely of players from Asian backgrounds, which competed in the Southern Football Netball League but is now defunct due to a lack of numbers.

A financial advisor and player agent, Pi manages several players, including Lin and Gold Coast skipper Tara Bohanna. Essendon’s Massimo D’Ambrosio was also on his books.

Pi, who has also called games in Mandarin as part of the league’s multicultural round when it existed, wants to see the AFL link with Australian universities to attract female players from sports universities in China.

Under his initiative, there would be the dual attraction of playing AFLW while completing their degrees, potentially setting them up for a career away from football.

“There’s no reason we can’t get someone from overseas with the ability for AFLW, like a Mason Cox,” Pi said. “That’s not impossible to think about.”

The AFL

The league has set a goal of having proportional representation in participation numbers

Recognising the growth potential of the Chinese market in Australia, the AFL is piloting two school village models in Parramatta and Hurstville in Sydney to attract more people of Chinese heritage to the sport.

The program aims to raise awareness and accessibility across five schools in each of the two suburbs, both of which have a high population of Chinese Australian residents.

The league has made a three-year commitment to a future stars program to identify up-and-coming talent, particularly of Chinese heritage, to take part in coaching sessions with the AFL and Swans development coaches.

“We’ve always held ourselves to the watermark you want to have at least participation that’s equal to the percentage in your population,” Auld said. “That’s a lofty goal. You have to set yourself those targets.”

Aware of the challenge it faces in breaking down cultural barriers, the AFL will push the benefits of being physically active and offer shorter alternative formats over about six weeks that do not require as long a commitment as traditional seasons.

“With a lot of Chinese Australians that I talk to, seeing someone like Lin Jong play for the Bulldogs and doing so well, it really meant something to them,” Lee said.

“You can’t be what you can’t see.”

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