Sudjai Cook, the first and only Thai to play in the Australian Football League (AFL), will emcee AustCham Thailand’s AFL Grand Final Event this Saturday.
Sudjai was adopted and flown to South Australia when he was only 10-weeks-old after he was abandoned in a hospital in Ubon. He grew up with a Greek mother, Australian father, their three daughters, and an adopted child from South Korea.
At 17 Sudjai played in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and at age 21 played in the 1997 Norwood Premiership. In 1998, Sudjai was invited to train with AFL team the Adelaide Crows, who he played for seven times.
Asked how he thought life would have been different had he grown up in Thailand, he said: “If I was not adopted and had grown up in Thailand I would have probably been a kickboxer or tennis player. But in saying that, I also believe that if I was not adopted, I wouldn’t be alive today because I was very sick while the adoption was being processed.”
Sudjai and his wife Vicki are currently in the process of trying to locate Sudjai’s biological parents, “This is our second attempt, so hopefully current investigations will be successful. I will be so happy if I get to meet them” said Sudjai.
The annual AFL final is traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Australia. This year’s final is between Hawthorn and Fremantle and the AustCham Thailand’s AFL Grand Final Event runs from 10am to 3pm at the Imperial Queens Park Hotel.
