But when the Western Bulldogs read out the Asian footballer's name at No.9 in the 2012 NAB AFL Rookie Draft, social media saw a significant spike in activity.
I'm sure if we were able to read the demographics of users discussing the pick, it would report similarities in their cultural background.
For more than 100 years our game has flourished and captured the imagination of those living in this sunburnt land. During the gold rush Australian football helped communities, including Chinese migrants, come together.
Historians proudly displayed pictures and writings about early Chinese settlers playing our unique game in country towns to help raise their profiles in the community. Naturally, some excelled in the sport. Wally Koo-Chew is a prime example, having worn the famous navy blue in the VFL in the early 1900s, albeit only for a handful of games.
Then came a change of policy in Australia, and all of a sudden Wally and his countrymen were lost to the society. World turmoil followed and a country in desperate need of growth saw an influx of Europeans.
While it took time for them to be accepted, it wasn't long before the names of Barassi, Jesaulenko, Kekovich and the like rang from footy commentators' mouths.
Today the football world barely flinches when a name like Fasolo rolls off their tongue.
So how will the Dennis Comettis of the footy fraternity go with a one-syllable name like Jong? Surely it's not so difficult - after all, there was a Ling running around for the past 12 seasons.
Asian immigration to Australia once again took off towards the end of the 20th century. This time however, the new arrivals weren't settling in gold mining country towns, rather entrenching themselves in the suburbs of major cities.
When Australia's 2011 census data is released, there is no doubt the number of people in the Asian community will be significant.
So why has it taken more than a century to produce another Asian footballer? (Former Fremantle star Peter Bell and ex-Crow Sudjai Cook were both of Asian background).
To answer the question, one has to understand the migrant life and their community values.
Let's talk about first generation Asian migrants. For them, life is all about survival and making a future for themselves and their offspring.
Often, sport is far removed from their daily life while many have the added difficulty of not understanding English. As such, migrants look for comfort in a foreign environment and tend to gravitate towards people of similar backgrounds, creating a community of their own and meaning that whole communities can become detached.
Within these communities they have their own social standards, norms and values. These values differ from community to community and play a big part in the upbringing of children, which is why migrant kids can have differing values. It often takes a couple of generations before they branch out and mix values and the kids start to follow a mainstream trend.
This answers why it took so long for another Asian footballer to emerge. In the early years of Asian immigration, very little was done in introducing Australian football to their communities.
At the time, the League did not have an aggressive plan in place to introduce it to Asian communities, which led to the under representation of its members participating at grassroot level, and consequently ensured almost no representation in the higher levels.
This, coupled with the values of Asian culture where sport often doesn't take priority over other pursuits such as music, art and academic excellence, provides a barrier for young kids taking an active part.
The landscape has changed in recent years. With the emergence of China as a world power and Asia as a new economic nucleus, a change has come about in Asian people's mindset.
With their basic needs fulfilled such as food and shelter, more focus has been put on achieving success on the world stage. Sport, all of a sudden, has the spotlight.
The success of Yao Ming in the NBA achieved fundamental changes within the Asian community, while sporting bodies of all codes saw the benefits of engaging with its members.
This shift perhaps led to the drafting of Lin Jong (in no way am I suggesting that Jong's success is because of a community that can bring great commercial benefit to the League and club because that is unfair and not true). The shift in his parents and the community's mindset may have contributed to Jong being able to focus on developing as a sportsman and not deviate to rocket science or piano. This is a focus that the League should explore further.
In the meantime, there's no doubt a lot of pressure will be felt by Jong, from the day his name was read out the cameras have been in his face.
Undoubtedly, a lot of people would have spoken to him about the significance of his addition to the AFL landscape, realising that the biggest story of all was not how many games he played, but the moment his name was read out.
From that moment, Asian kids around the country were talking about Jong, telling their parents an Asian kid just like them had been drafted to the AFL, just ever slightly altering the attitudes of this community.
The time has come, Asian migrants have now settled in this land. Their offspring are now growing up and making decisions for their next generation. Now is the time to engage the Asian community through pioneers like Jong.
Soon, the Dennis Comettis of this world will be calling out one-syllabled names much more often.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
