International Rules - The show must go on | Pagriag Martin

In the aftermath of the 2011 International Rules series I wrote in this very paper that the hybrid game was worth persevering with despite question marks over its significance beyond affording players the opportunity to represent their country.

Two years later I am of the same view, though at this juncture it seems abundantly clear that those question marks have vanished. Despite this, the fact that the Australians sent yet another team short on big names, followed up by this team’s appalling performance in both tests confirmed that the AFL views the sport as a literal game of no consequence.

As if the lack of interest from the Australians wasn’t enough, it has now become apparent that the general public has little interest in the sport as a spectacle. The attendance of nearly 18,000 in Cavan wasn’t bad, but 28,526 for the second test in Croke Park was abysmal – a decade or so ago the sport attracted crowds in excess of 100,000 in Australia.

In its heyday talks of South Africa fielding a team in the future, taking the series to the United States and making it a three test series did not seem all that outlandish. Then, the Irish advantages of the round ball and the goalkeeper were offset by the gap in conditioning and size enjoyed by the Australians. This made for some thrilling encounters between the two countries, with a generation of players from both codes getting an opportunity to play at the international level in front of bumper crowds.

The modern day GAA player is essentially an unpaid professional, the result of this being that the gulf in strength and conditioning is now non-existent. This very fact was evidenced by the ease with which the Irish shrugged off the Australians tackles in Breffni Park and Croke Park over both legs – with the Irish team even having a higher tackle count than the Australians in the first test. What was surprising was the fact that the Irish were much quicker than what had been touted as a fast, lively and exciting indigenous Australian side. To put it bluntly, the whole thing became a farce, as the Irish team railroaded through their opponents to earn an aggregate victory in excess of one hundred points.

 The total and utter domination by the Irish resulted in Kerry’s Kieran Donaghy to suggest that the oval ball should be introduced at some stage in future tests to even the odds. His peers in the Newstalk studio more or less laughed off the suggestion, but it did get me thinking that perhaps getting rid of the goalkeeper and reverting to the scoring system used in Australian Rules whilst retaining the round ball might not be such a bad idea. A change to the four hand-pass rule is badly needed. Allowing an unlimited number of hand passes might make for less entertaining viewing, but the Australians would not have to kick the alien ball unless they chose to do so.

What is certain is that International Rules will not survive beyond the 2014 series unless the AFL can entice the sport’s top players to line out. At the very least, eight or ten of its top twenty players need to make themselves available if the games are to have a competitive edge to them.

It is equally important that there is some continuity in the Australian selections so that the players will be more experienced with the round ball. In recent years the Australian selections have contained only a handful of players with experience of the hybrid game.

 The potential for future series will largely hinge on what transpires in Australia next year. At its best, the sport can be fast, physical and highly entertaining. It has provided GAA players a chance to test themselves against professional athletes, which has resulted in a bigger, stronger and faster style of player becoming the norm in our own game. This, above all else, will be its lasting legacy.