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Sydney: Sport is what Australia excels in. Now the government is using the Australian Football League (AFL) to deepen sport and business links with India. For the first time, an Indian football team is in Melbourne participating in the AFL International Cup. It kicked off on Wednesday, featuring 15 international teams including from the US, Britain and Japan. Welcoming the teams to Australia, Minister for Trade Simon Crean said, "The International Cup is an excellent platform to build sport and business links with India. I would like to congratulate the AFL for this initiative. The government will continue to work with them to assist in promoting our great game overseas."

AFL general manager David Matthews said that he was delighted, that an Indian team was competing in the International Cup. Balraj Singh, a former AFL Crows player and mentor to the Indian team, said that he was excited to be sharing his passion for AFL football with the Indian team. "I have been working with the Indian team to hone their skills on the football field. The side shows great promise and as the sport gains popularity in India, more people will want to be involved and this will lift the standard of play," he said.

India played Samoa in its first game on Wednesday. The Indian team will train with the Essendon Football Club on Thursday and play against New Zealand on Friday. "We see it as a great opportunity to introduce Australian Rules Football to India. We are hosting the Indian team at our home ground in suburban Essendon. They will watch our senior team train and then train themselves," Essendon Football Clubs' chief commercial officer, Mark Anderson said.

"Indians are now the number one immigrants into the state of Victoria and Indian overseas students are the second largest cohort of international students in the state. We are encouraging students and immigrants to play AFL as it will help them integrate with the community by getting involved and connected with this very Australian cultural activity," Anderson added.

Essendon Football Club, one of the largest clubs in Australia with a membership base of 42,000 and over one million people attending their games in a season, are working with the AFL with a view to playing an Australian Rules Football match in India early next year.

The AFL has grand plans for expanding its presence into India with two exhibition matches to be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla Cricket ground in New Delhi and the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in early 2009. (IANS)