It's football finals weekend, but for Australia's Asian communities, the ball being kicked around in yesterday's match-up between Geelong and Port Adelaide at the MCG is the wrong shape. The national sport of Aussie rules football has so far failed to attract the kind of numbers that turn out to play soccer. In the AFL today, there's only one player of Asian heritage. But there's a revolution taking place in the suburban football competition in Melbourne, where for the first time an almost all Asian team has taken to the field. Michelle Fonseca reports.

Michelle Fonseca: It could be any suburban football ground in Melbourne, with players doing battle on field and coaches screaming advice from the sidelines. But in a 150-year old sport, these men are the new pioneers - the first Asian team in a game Asian Australians have so far been largely missing from.

Tri Thoi, Player: Our guys are passionate, and although they've only been playing though for the last year or so, you know, a lot of them have only started playing footy this year, so their passion, you can really see the passion when they play football.

Michelle Fonseca: This is the first year the Elgar Park Dragons have played in the local competition. Tri Thoi is the driving force behind the team, inspired in part by his own bittersweet experiences as a teenager.

Tri Thoi, Player: When I was a little kid running around, and it was a little bit hard for, I think, the western guys don't understand there's this little Asian kid running around playing footy and doing OK. So it was a little bit tough, you know, you get called names and everything else.

Michelle Fonseca: That's why other teammates like Searn Ear stayed way from the game. He felt he'd never fit in with the Australian football culture, which seemed macho and foreign [to] him.

”When you go into a football club….of course it’s intimidating.” Searn Ear

Searn Ear, Player: I come from a neighbourhood where it's all Asians and, you know, it's easier for me around here. But when you go into a football club, you have bigger guys, guys who come from different backgrounds, they speak differently, of course it's intimidating.

Michelle Fonseca: As well as harbouring their own doubts, most players faced another bigger battle with parents. Andrew Do's mum and dad were happy for him to play sports like lacrosse, but weren't so keen on Australian rules, a game notorious for high injury rates.

Andrew Do, Player: Just seeing it on TV, how rough it is. I mean, you sort of have to reassure them that, you know, the league you're playing in isn't going to be as rough and the guys aren't going to be as big.

Michelle Fonseca: Like other teammates, Tri Thoi also convinced his parents his studies wouldn't suffer.

”Your parents……they don’t understand how important it is for you to grow outside your academics.” Tri Thoi

Tri Thoi, Player: Being of Asian background, there's a lot of emphasis on academics. You know, your parents want you to grow up as a doctor, or an engineer, or a lawyer or something. But they don't understand how important it is for you to grow outside your academics.

Michelle Fonseca: Despite the barriers, Tri Thoi felt sure there were plenty of young men like him who'd be interested in joining a team. He and Searn Ear sounded out their mates and soon signed up 30 people.

Searn Ear: I've spoken to them all in the past about joining a club and they never have, and it wasn't until we started the Dragons team they actually did come out of their shells.

Michelle Fonseca: Then there's the size factor - or more precisely, the lack of it. In a sport dominated by big men, the Dragons have been forced to make the most of their smallest.

Tri Thoi, Player: We've got our own attributes. It's what makes us better footballers as well. We're a lot nimbler, you know, we run a lot quicker, and you know, agile.

Michelle Fonseca: And so far their tactics seem to be working. While the Dragons are covering new ground in the suburbs, the game at the highest level already includes players from other ethnic backgrounds, mainly European. They had role models, men who burst onto the scene in the 1960s and 70s and are now considered legends of the game. Ukrainian Alex Jesaulenko, Italian Ron Barassi, and the man known as the Macedonian Marvel, Peter Daicos.

”The thing which has broken down prejudice has been their brilliance.” Rohan Connolly

Rohan Connolly, Football writer, The Age newspaper: You can understand why some of the pioneers from the ethnic communities found it so hard, and really, I guess in a lot of cases, the thing which has broken down prejudice has been their brilliance, because people just haven't been able to go past that.

Michelle Fonseca: The League itself has recognised the value of forging links with Australia's ethnic communities. Michael Nguyen is not only the Dragons' coach, he's also one of the Australian Football Leagues' most multicultural officers. He promotes the sport in schools with big migrant populations but says he's teaching the children with more than just football skills.

Michael Nguyen, AFL Multicultural Officer: I went to a school that was predominantly an Anglo Saxon school and being involved in footy helped to overcome those barriers and hopefully this will assist those kids who are newly arrived to the country to, I guess, fit into Australian society.

Michelle Fonseca: And perhaps to take football as a career. Could one of these children be a champion of the future? Football writer Rohan Connolly thinks anything is possible.

”It's probably only a matter of time before you're hearing about a Wong or a Nguyen, and that would be fantastic.” Rohan Connolly

Rohan Connolly, Football writer, The Age newspaper: It's been 30-odd years now we've been talking about Jesaulenko and Barassi. I think it's probably only a matter of time before you're hearing about a Wong or a Nguyen, and that would be fantastic. A tantalising thought, but Searn Ear for one isn't aiming quite that high.

Searn Ear: I've seen the guys from day one, so I know where they've come from, and I know how much hard work they've put in, so I'm extremely proud of them. They've come a long way and I hope they continue.