The Australian Embassy Tokyo is pleased to announce that sixteen local governments and organisations have been recognised as official partners of the AUS+RALLY campaign, an Australian Government sports diplomacy initiative in Japan in 2019-2020. Grassroots initiatives and events by Australian and Japanese groups took place across Japan in the wake of the world’s biggest rugby event. Local governments and organisations are now preparing to welcome Australian national teams from a busy business schedule of sporting competitions in 2020.
Launched in April 2019 in partnership with Rugby Australia, the Australian Olympic Committee and Paralympics Australia, the AUS+RALLY sports diplomacy initiative celebrates Team Australia in Japan in 2019 and 2020. AUS+RALLY brings together new and existing sports diplomacy activities through a communications and events program. The program aims to support Japan’s hosting of the world’s greatest sporting events and their legacy.
AUS+RALLY partner organisations are called “Friends of Australia”, recognising their valued support for Team Australia ahead of Japan’s hosting of the world’s largest sporting events. The local governments are Odawara City, Kanagawa; Fuchu City, Tokyo; Nagaoka City, Niigata; Saitama Prefecture; Ageo City, Saitama; Urayasu City, Chiba; Musashino City, Tokyo; Chuo City, Tokyo; Ibaraki City, Osaka. The recognised organisations are: Club Australia, Gateway, Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan, Kanto District University Junko Baseball Association, the Executive Committee for the Australian Patrol Competition Project, the Tokyo Goannas and Australian Football League Japan (in order of application).
In Odawara, the Wallabies held a training camp ahead of the Rugby World Cup 2019 and enjoyed an enthusiastic reception with the local community. Urayasu hosted a rugby exchange with Australian rugby academy students and Musashino welcomed a friendly match between the Classic Wallabies v Classic Brave Blossoms. Some Australian national teams have already touched down in their host towns, including the Australian swimming and diving team in Nagaoka, hockey in Ibaraki, judo in Saitama and baseball and wheelchair basketball in Fuchu for a training camp in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The AUS+RALLY Australia-Japan Sports Diplomacy Initiative is welcoming new Friends of Australia. Come, rally around the best of Australia in Japan! Visit the AUS+RALLY website (https://australly.jp/en/) for more details on the campaign and how to become a Friend of Australia.
Events and activities hosted by “Friends of Australia” local governments
|
Prefecture/ Cities |
Events and activities |
|
Odawara |
Rugby training camp |
|
Fuchu |
Baseball and wheelchair basketball training camp |
|
Nagaoka |
Swimming and diving training camp |
|
Saitama Pref. |
Judo training camp |
|
Ageo |
Judo training camp |
|
Urayasu |
Rugby and wheelchair basketball training camp |
|
Musashino |
Rugby Classic players exchange |
|
Chuo-ku, Tokyo |
Support of the Paralympic team |
|
Ibaraki |
Hockey training camp |
Events and activities hosted by “Friends of Australia” organisations
|
Organisations |
Events and activities |
|
Club Australia |
Australia-Japan sports exchange |
|
Gateway |
Youth football exchange between sister cities |
|
Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan |
Development of Australia-Japan business relationships through sports |
|
Kanto District University Junko Baseball Association |
Baseball exchange by university semi-hardball baseball teams and Australian professional team |
|
The Executive Committee for the Australian Patrol Competition Project |
Surf Lifesaving competition |
|
Tokyo Goannas |
Participation of the Australian Football League Japan and AFL related events |
|
Australian Football League Japan |
Organisation of Australian Football games |
AUS+RALLY Background
AUS+RALLY is a sports diplomacy initiative of the Australian Embassy Tokyo, run in collaboration with the Rugby Australia, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and Paralympics Australia in 2019 and 2020. The AUS+RALLY campaign name combines the Japanese name for ‘Australia’ with a rallying call for Team Australia as the world’s sporting attention turns to Japan. The AUS+RALLY communication and events program brings together new and existing sports diplomacy activities to support Japan’s hosting of the world’s largest sporting events.
As one of Japan’s closest regional partners, Australia already enjoys a deep sporting connections and a healthy sporting rivalry with Japan. Through the Australia-Japan Foundation, Australia played a leading role in the introduction of life-saving and touch football into Japan in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, Australian and Japanese sports people have enjoyed a steady exchange of competitions and players. In 2017 and 2018, national teams from Australia and Japan played each other 23 times in Japan and around the world. Over the same period, eleven Australian teams visited Japan, and many elite Japanese athletes travelled to Australia to train and compete in baseball, tennis, golf and surfing.
