(Sports) Roundup: Australia takes national game to China with landmark TV deal

Australia will take its national sport into the homes of millions of Chinese, with the Australia Football League (AFL) brokering a deal for two games to be broadcast into China in coming weeks.

Late on Sunday night, Port Adelaide announced an agreement with the China Central Television (CCTV) to televise two of the AFL club's games throughout the Asian powerhouse in April.

CCTV will now showcase the South Australian club's Round 3 game this Friday night against Essendon, and its Round 5 fixture against Geelong on April 23. Only the second game will be televised live.

Under the terms of the agreement, a 25-part documentary series about the Port Adelaide Power's 146-year history - among other AFL football-related stories - will also be broadcast to the Chinese audience.

The television series, called "The AFL Show", made its debut on CCTV over the weekend, and will be screened every Saturday night for the rest of the season.

Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas said the partnership could prove to be a landmark event for Australian Rules football, which is yet to establish itself on the international sports scene despite its popularity domestically.

"This is the first time that AFL will be broadcast on CCTV, the world's biggest television network, and it could be the moment that we reflect on in 20 years' time and say 'that's when China first fell in love with our great game'," Thomas said in a press release on Monday.

"We anticipate our weekly documentary show and broadcast games will attract an audience of nearly 2 million given they'll be screened in prime time."

Australian Rules football was invented in Melbourne more than 150 years ago, The main aim of the game is to kick an oval-shaped ball through goalposts for six points. Kicks which are slightly wayward are awarded one point.

The AFL is the elite Australian Rules football competition.

It's not the AFL's first foray into the Chinese market. In 2010, Melbourne and Brisbane played an exhibition match in Shanghai's Jiang Wan Stadium, which drew about 7,000 fans.

Port Adelaide has also dabbled with the idea making the most of the region's enormous talent pool, awarding Chinese-born athlete Chen Shaoliang an AFL scholarship earlier this year.

Chen, originally from Guangzhou, migrated to Australia in 2012 and gave up basketball to pursue an AFL career.

The 23-year-old will play in Port Adelaide's reserves side this season, but could make his way up the ranks to become an AFL-listed rookie.

Chen will feature in a weekly segment of every 'The AFL Show', keeping his fans back home up-to-date with his progress.

"During our discussions over the last six months CCTV has gained an understanding of Port Adelaide and the AFL in general and they are very excited about the prospect of broadcasting football content to their mass audience," Port Adelaide's China and government relations manager, Andrew Hunter, said in the press release.

"The team at CCTV is particularly fascinated by Chen's story, his passion for Port Adelaide and his dream to one-day play AFL."

Hunter said China's eagerness to show Port Adelaide games in peak TV times was a "massive tick" for the sport and "very much legitimizes our indigenous game in the eyes of their audience".

He expected Australian Rule's raw physicality and fast-pace to prove a huge hit with the people of China.

"Given China has a population of over 1 billion people CCTV has an extraordinary reach. We anticipate our weekly documentary show and broadcast games will attract an audience of nearly 2 million given they'll be screened in prime time," Thomas said.

"We are confident this figure will grow once the Chinese audience gains a greater understanding of our game and the AFL competition in general." Endit