It’s not just mad dogs and Englishmen that come out in the midday tropical sun. A hearty breed of sportsmen in Hong Kong have taken a traditionally winter sport and thrown themselves into it through the midst of Hong Kong’s oppressive summers.

The Hong Kong Dragons have for 20 years plied their unusual brand of football known as Australian Rules. An extremely physical and fast-paced game often dubbed by outsiders as “Australian No-Rules”, it a unique Australian game with mass appeal. A crowd of almost 100,000 will converge on the hallowed turf of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (known universally as The G) to watch the nation’s two best teams go at each other for “100 minutes” on Sept 25.

While the best of Australia’s domestic footballers generate acres of media coverage and soar to national stardom, the Dragons’ will be staking claim to the grander title of international footballers, as they continue training towards to the annual Asian Championships.