NORMALLY, Nathan Buckley needs no introduction. But on Monday morning, perhaps for the first time, he met a group of football players unschooled in his achievements. Presented as “a champion of the game”, to the Australian Football International Cup captains the former Collingwood captain and Brownlow Medallist was just another bloke who loved his footy.

Sixteen teams from around the world will play games in Melbourne and Warrnambool over the next two weeks, culminating in the International Cup grand final, to be played in Melbourne as the curtain raiser to an AFL final on September 6.

India, China, Finland and Sweden will field national sides for the first time, and the Peace Team will see players from Palestine and Israel unite for a common cause.

Buckley said football was a great teacher, and the concept of the International Cup exposed other nations to a game that instilled valuable qualities in its players.

“I love the game and I’ve grown up with it. It’s something I have a real passion for. It’s a great game – not just the fact that I’ve enjoyed a great career through the AFL – but how much it has taught me and how important discipline is and self-sacrifice for the team and how much you rely on other people within that environment,” Buckley said.

Football had the same impact on players from the other side of the world as it did in Australia.

“I just met the Finnish captain and he described his team as a bunch of misfits who were brought together from all over the place and were looking forward to playing,” Buckley said.

“I notified him that’s no different to football over here. We really drag people from all over the place, from all different walks of life, and make a football team out of them and ultimately, a football club.”

AFL talent and international manager Kevin Sheehan said football was played by 40,000 people in more than 30 countries outside of Australia. The expectation of a non-Irish international recruit breaking into AFL ranks was a by-product of numbers.

“If you get your participation to 100,000, there’s going to be someone elite within 100,000, there’s no doubt,” Sheehan said.

“It’s a bit hard to put an exact timeline on it. It might be a youngster that’s 12 at the moment in South Africa, for instance. He’ll emerge at 16 or 17 as a very talented player. Someone will emerge.”

Sheehan said the current crop of international players would share their skills and passion overseas as coaches of the next generation.

“You only have to look at the Peace Team and the way it’s been pulled together. The power of this game is quite enormous and you wouldn’t underestimate us getting to 100,000 very, very quickly in the next couple of years,” he said.

The Peace Team have met unique challenges in adopting their new code, including gaining special access through military zones to enable the Palestinians and Israelis to meet for training sessions. The game has been taught in two languages to accommodate the Hebrew and Arabic-speaking players, with coach Robert “Dipper” DiPierdomenico rumoured to be struggling at times because of language barriers.

“He’s got interpreters. I think that we need a third one,” Sheehan quipped. “We’ve got the Arabic and Hebrew interpreters. We need an interpreter for Dipper, to work out what he’s saying.”

Sheehan and Buckley said the internet and television had brought Australia closer to the rest of the world, and it wasn’t uncommon for international players to embrace Australian football through these mediums.

“What stands out to us is how much they love this game and we’re surprised because we’re another part of the world. We shouldn’t be surprised because the world is such a small place now.” Sheehan said.

International Cup matches begin this Wednesday, August 27 at Royal Park North, Parkville kicking off at 11am with New Zealand versus Japan, Ireland versus Sweden and Canada versus Finland.