2020 ASIAN CHAMPS TO BE HELD IN THAILAND ON AUGUST 29th
AFL Asia are excited to announce that the AFL Asia 2020 Asian Championships will be held on Saturday August 29th, 2020 at the Thai Polo & Equestrian Club, in Pattaya, Thailand.
After consultation with AFL Asia Full Members and receiving their positive feedback and solidified support, the AFL Asia Advisory Board decided that the date of the ‘2020 Asian Champs’ would remain on the last weekend in August, which is the Bye Round prior to the AFL Finals Series.
The Thailand Tigers hosted AFL Asia’s showcase event magnificently last year at the Thai Polo & Equestrian Club, which culminated in the the 20th anniversary of the annual tournament. The Tigers have previously hosted the Asian Champs at the same venue back in 2012 and 2013.
The highly successful AFL Asia 2019 Asian Champs saw three male divisions introduced for the very first time in conjunction with the ever-growing AFLW Asian Champs, which grew from four teams in its inaugural year to six teams in 2019.
AFL Asia can confirm that the Men’s Division 2 & 3 will be played again in the morning and that the Division 1 & Women’s Division will continue to be played in the afternoon. The innovative format was overwhelmingly supported by the AFL Asia Full Members who backed the concept being continued in 2020.
Furthermore to the feedback received, the 2020 Division 2 & 3 presentations are planned to take place immediately after the grand finals have been played, which is aimed at honouring the victorious teams at a more appropriate time of the day and reducing the overall length of the presentations at the end of the tournament.
AFL Asia also has the option of utilizing the nearby fourth ground and may look at playing the first round of Division 1 Men’s games instead of the teams playing their five games over five hours, particularly if the upward growth of participating teams continues and/or if there is a long-range forecast of inclement weather on the horizon.
The layout of the three ovals and the location of individual team tents will be strategically altered in 2020 to ensure that Oval 2 will be used as the centre stage during the Grand Final action and essentially create a better atmosphere for spectators and players at the pointy end of the tournament.
AFL Asia also intends on ramping up its social media presence, with a stronger focus to be placed on individual game results and potentially having live coverage of all three main ovals throughout the duration of the day via separate streams.
Either way, we can expect another layer of professionalism to be added to the AFL Asia 2020 Asian Championships & AFLW Asian Championships, as it’ll be back bigger and better in 2020!
