About AFL Asia

AFL Asia is the representative body for Australian football in Asia, who support over 20 countries across the continent to grow the game.

AFL Asia’s purpose is to progress the game and share its heritage and possibilities across Asia, with a vision to be the AFL’s leading international growth region.

Through game development initiatives and events such as the Asian Championships, the Shanghai Cup and the Indochina Cup, we are continually looking to provide more communities across Asia with an opportunity to participate in our programs and competitions.

The Advisory Board

Simon Highfield

Development Manager and Chair

Simon joined AFL Asia as the Development Manager in August of 2019. He has extensive experience working with the AFL, and prior to working across Asia he spent several years living and working across the Pacific and developing Australian football across many island nations. Now based at AFL House in Melbourne, Simon heads up AFL Asia operations under the AFL banner.

Judy Gao

Board Member

Judy is a Melburnian with Asia capabilities, board governance and multicultural community engagement skills. Judy won the 2019 AFL Best First Year Multicultural Community Ambassador Award. Judy is board director at Australia China Young Professionals Initiative on strategic governance leading a global leadership team to serve over 3,000 young professional and entrepreneurs members across nine cities in Australia and China; she is also elected Victoria Divisional Councillor at CPA Australia where she serves and represents around 40,000 CPA Victoria members. Judy is one of the 46 successful Victorian women for the Victoria State Government Change Our Game Women in Governance Program 2022 as well as one of the 47 global leaders for the Asialink Leaders Program 2022.

Jake McIntosh

Board Member

Jake has played footy in Australia, North America, Europe and Asia and currently captains the Thailand Tigers, where he has previously held roles of coach and various committee roles. Jake works as a Senior Leader in a leading international school and has been based in Thailand for six years. Jake has a wealth of experience in the administration of international Australian Football clubs and competitions, having been involved in several ground level initiatives across Europe and Asia focused on growing the game and increasing participation numbers for Aussie expats, local players and juniors.

Steph Smith

Board Member

Steph is a lawyer and diplomat with experience in corporate events, marketing, government relations and corporate governance. She first worked with AFL Asia to deliver the inaugural Shanghai Cup in 2017. Steph is currently based in Shanghai working as an Australian Trade and Investment Commissioner to Greater China, leading Australia’s education sector teams across mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Rob Spurr

Board Member

Rob’s long association with AFL in Asia goes back to his six years in Jakarta, where captained Indonesia to the 2002 Asian Championships and was instrumental in the establishment of a fledgling local development program. Transferred to Chile in 2005, he quickly established an AFL footprint with the formation of the Santiago Saints, South America’s foundation club that continues to play international fixtures and promote the code across the continent. Currently based in Melbourne. Rob is a CFO who remains heavily involved in his childrens’ junior sporting clubs and enjoys watching the Blues play on weekends.

Rod White

Board Member

Currently residing in Taiwan, Rod was elected in 2020 to the AFL Asia Advisory Board and brings a wealth of international corporate executive experience working within a FTSE Top 30 company across Sales, Marketing, Commercial and Operations which links in with his 7+ years living and working across multiple AFL Asia countries. This is complemented by his 25 years of AFL involvement as a player, coach and executive whilst living in Melbourne and Sydney, across country and metro leagues and most recently his time with AFL Vietnam Swans.

Digital Media Team

Bill Crang

Bill is a 10-year plus player and former captain of the Vietnam Swans whilst plying his Digital Marketing trade in Vietnam. Through his company X Digital he has provided digital marketing services including web hosting, site management and graphic design to AFL Asia and its clubs for several years. In 2020 he joined Matty Gale as the co-host of the AFL Asia Podcast – How good is footy in Asia! shining a light on some of Asian footy’s biggest personalities

Documents & Policies

AFL Asia Charter

AFL Asia Strategic Plan 2021-2025

About AFL Asia

The Advisory Board

Simon Highfield

Judy Gao

Jake McIntosh

Steph Smith

Rob Spurr

Rod White

Digital Media Team

Bill Crang

Documents & Policies

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