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The Western Bulldogs are open to the possibility of one day playing a game in India for premiership points as they seek to become the club of choice for AFL supporters from South-East Asian backgrounds

The Western Bulldogs are perfectly placed to be at the front of the queue after Andrew Dillon’s call to arms at the recent CEO’s meeting for AFL clubs to grow the game in an increasingly multicultural setting.

Dillon and the AFL’s strategy boss Walter Lee were excited by the possibilities of a recent fact-finding mission to India, reporting back that there were 10,000 Indians participating in AFL football.

But the bigger desire for the league is tapping into the diverse communities in Australia which have so far been slow to embrace AFL football.

Western Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains told the Herald Sun on Tuesday the Dogs were uniquely placed for that task given many years of work growing their Indian and multicultural fanbase.

The club’s community foundation is also the largest of its kind and has almost 6000 people participating in health and education programs that include health and wellbeing, youth leadership and empowerment, and equity and inclusion.

Of those participants, 83 per cent are multicultural and 58 per cent speak a language other than English.

The club’s Sons of the West and Daughters of the West health programs have also run Hindi and Gujarati (Indian languages) streams in Tarneit since 2023, directly supporting the local Indian community.

The club also hosts Indian Diwali celebrations annually at Mission Whitten Oval and of its next generation academy six per cent identify as Indian.

More than 150 boys and girls playing football in the Western Football Netball League have one or both parents born in India.

“We want the Indian community to associate the AFL with the Western Bulldogs and support our football club. A lot of clubs will see an interest in growing their fanbase but we have been doing impactful work in the community in a non-football sense for some time and are now looking to supercharge the connection in a football sense,” Bains said.

“I think there are a series of milestones that would mean an enormous amount to the local Indian community. When a game is eventually played in India in the future, and to have a player of Indian origin make their debut in senior AFL or AFLW football.

“And then even thinking about other parts of the industry. Seeing that representation flow through to clubs and the media and other key stakeholders. All of those things would give the Indian community an enormous sense of pride.”

The league will in 2028 have nine extra games of football after the introduction of Tasmania that could allow the league to consider an international game in a country like India.

The last premiership game played overseas was in China in 2019, with India’s cricket fields ideal for a potential AFL game.

But before that the league is keen to build participation numbers in multicultural communities across Australia.

Bains said the Dogs were realistic about how quickly the AFL would green-light an AFL game in India but keen to be at the front of the queue.

“We have aspirations for sure. Will it happen in the short term? There are a number of things we have to get right first on a more fundamental level so the immediate focus is in our own backyard. But at some point in the future it would be wonderful to have a game there. The cricket infrastructure exists and it would be wonderful to have a game there,” he said.

“It’s a significant opportunity for the industry and as a club we want to be at the forefront of that. The AFL put it formally on the agenda at last week’s CEOs and Presidents meeting as an important strategic consideration so all clubs are on notice of the opportunity.

“We have always had a longstanding connection to our community in the west – our heartland – which has always been very multicultural. The opportunity now is to connect and engage a growing and changing population within the west. There are something like 370,000 people with Indian ancestry in Victoria and almost 100,000 in the west of Melbourne in the areas of Brimbank, Melton and Wyndham.”

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/western-bulldogs-open-to-playing-an-afl-game-in-india-for-premiership-points/news-story/ebe1e7597adeb68251c5d09b616815a9

Geelong is eagerly wooing the political field ahead of the Victorian election as plans to build an indoor facility at Kardinia Park carry on a full speed.

The Cats have flagged before its hopes to build a new training hub outside of GMHBA Stadium, where its four teams would be able to train indoors, taking regular craft sessions off the grass.

Geelong CEO Steve Hocking revealed the Cats had sought donations for the project with the aim of raising $15m and had topped $25m, with pitches ongoing to election hopefuls.

A donation of $10m came from the Costa family in the early stages of fundraising.

Having regularly sat in a swinging seat, the Cats and the Kardinia Park Stadium Trust have raked in funds from state and federal governments to build up and redevelop GMHBA Stadium this century.

The club held a “Spring Street Cats” networking event at Parliament House this week, with Liberal leader Jess Wilson among the politicians in the room as November’s state election closes in.

The impending indoor facility could squeeze the Kardinia Park precinct that is home to Premier Cricket club Geelong, Geelong Football and Netball League powerhouse St Mary’s, Geelong’s local football umpires, a netball association and an aquatic centre.

The Cats host 10 AFL games a year at Kardinia Park and all AFLW home matches but are forced off the ground in pre-season to train at Deakin University as cricket takes over.

A film also booted the Cats out of home this summer.

Hocking said taking some training sessions off GMHBA Stadium would “free this up for more concerts and other content as well”.

“Our next project is … an indoor facility that would be a community centre,” Hocking said on SEN.

“We think we’ll get to $30m (donations) and hopefully we’ll get some support from government and build that in the next couple of years.”

Geelong president Grant McCabe told K rock “no matter who is in government we’ll make sure that we’re partnering well with government to do the best for Kardinia Park”.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/geelong-cats-pushing-for-another-upgrade-to-kardinia-park-ahead-of-novembers-victorian-election/news-story/051fa93dab842c9d9c2554a37bbba54c

Geelong coach Chris Scott and Cats football boss Andrew Mackie enjoyed a boutique Sydney stay with a club sponsor who has since been accused of masterminding a $14.5 million fraud, with complimentary hotel upgrades requested for the trio by an-ex-Crown casino supremo.

A leaked email reveals that former Crown Towers chief Peter Crinis arranged the accommodation and free upgrades for Mr Scott, Mr Mackie and former Crown VIP and accused fraudster Sy Giang Nguyen at the Oxford House hotel in Paddington in 2023.

Asking his personal assistant to make the group booking, Mr Crinis instructed her to seek an “upgrade to best suite you have” for Mr Scott, an “upgrade if possible” for Mr Mackie and “the same upgrade to suite 201” for Mr Nguyen on the night of April 10, 2023.

At the time Mr Crinis was running the Public Hospitality Group, which owns the hotel.

Asked about the trip, Geelong sources confirmed Mr Scott and Mr Mackie went to Sydney “for list management/recruitment purposes” which “included a meeting with a player manager”, adding “Mr Nguyen had no involvement in this” and “travel/accom for club staff was paid by the club”.

The club did not explain why Mr Crinis arranged the accommodation and upgrades, or why Mr Nguyen was on the same booking.

Across two decades, regional IT worker Mr Nguyen was given unfettered access to a $4000-a-night Villa at Crown where he hosted dozens of lavish parties for Melbourne powerbrokers, glamorous women and sports figures – many from Geelong.

Mr Nguyen was banned from Crown in 2022 for “reputational issues”, according to casino sources.

Mr Nguyen was close to numerous Cats premiership stars including Joel Selwood, Gary Ablett Jr, Matthew Scarlett, Harry Taylor, Mr Mackie and former premiership coach Mark Thompson.

Mr Nguyen was photographed in happy snaps with Ablett Jr at the dual Brownlow medallists buck’s party and Thompson has confirmed their friendship to the Herald Sun, calling him “a great little guy”.

The alleged fraudster was also a member of the high-priced and exclusive Coaches Club coterie group, which included AFL commission chairman Craig Drummond, who was Geelong president from January 2021 to December 2024.

Mr Nguyen is reported to have paid more than $3300 towards luxury accommodation in Munich for Selwood and Mitch Duncan in 2018.

And he reportedly offered to pay for suites at Crown Towers for several emerging Cats players for the club’s best and fairest event in 2019, while organising free upgrades and access to the exclusive Crystal Club lounge for established Cats stars including Selwood, Tom Hawkins, Tom Stewart and Patrick Dangerfield.

The AFL investigated Geelong’s compliance with league salary cap and football department soft cap rules last year, fining the club $77,550 ($40,000 of which was suspended) over a failure to declare gifts from club sponsors and associates.

The investigation considered the club’s financial arrangements between 2019 and 2024 – which takes in the key period of Mr Nguyen’s alleged fraud – but the league has refused to answer questions on the shadowy high-flyer’s association with the Cats.

Rival clubs have expressed dismay at the limited nature of the AFL’s salary cap probe and questioned whether it considered Mr Nguyen’s 20-year link with Geelong, which included during four premierships between 2007-2022.

One club president told the Herald Sun: “The AFL has let them get away with it, while the Cats lord it over everyone”.

Mr Nguyen was arrested by Victoria Police financial crime squad detectives just eight months after the Sydney trip with Mr Scott and Mr Mackie, with an investigation into his alleged theft of millions of dollars from one of the nation’s biggest disability providers ongoing.

In the email sent from Mr Crinis to his personal assistant five days before they were due to stay at the hotel, he requested that she book three suites with upgrades at Oxford House for the trio.

Mr Scott was booked to stay for two nights – at a nightly rate of $299 including breakfast – while Mr Mackie and Mr Nguyen had rooms reserved for just one night.

The trip followed the traditional Easter Monday clash at the MCG, in which Geelong had dominated Hawthorn to claim an 82 point victory.

Mr Scott and Mr Mackie did not respond to questions about the trip or the extent of their past dealings with Mr Nguyen.

It is not suggested Mr Scott, Mr Mackie or Mr Crinis had any knowledge of Mr Nguyen’s alleged frauds.

Mr Crinis became a trusted confidante of Melbourne elites and megarich-visitors during his 25-year stint at Crown Melbourne. He was also a regular at the A-list parties hosted by Mr Nguyen.

A hunt for millions of dollars of funds allegedly embezzled by Mr Nguyen and his co-accused, the late Keith Greenwood, from NDIS charity GenU has led investigators to Crown, the Cats and high-profile horse racing syndicates.

The Herald Sun revealed in March that former Melbourne Football Club chief executive Paul Guerra and Mr Nguyen co-owned several race horses, with a handful of other movers and shakers.

Mr Guerra was sacked by the Demons last month and replaced by former Geelong CEO Brian Cook, who was ultimately responsible for managing Nguyen’s substantial donations to the Cats.

Mr Crinis – who was also a co-owner of racehorses with Mr Nguyen – was recently let go from his position at property developer Gurner, as revealed by the Herald Sun.

Links between Geelong players and officials and Mr Nguyen date back to the early 2000s.

An internationally acclaimed athlete said Mr Nguyen had a remarkably close relationship with many key figures at the Cats.

“He was basically treated by Geelong as their unofficial #1 ticket holder. He had access to the rooms, all the players knew him. He ran the roost at Geelong and got access to whatever he wanted,” the athlete said.

Mr Nguyen is accused in an ongoing civil trial of defrauding $14.5m from GenU while he lived a high-roller lifestyle.

Police are yet to lay any criminal charges.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/the-integrity-unit-episode-1-leaked-email-links-cats-coaches-hotel-stay-with-accused-fraudster/news-story/ba2c9fe65753146e36573cf4e21d5b83