Time to Cancel a Great Series? (from the archives)

Much has been made of the continuation of the International Rules series between the GAA and the AFL. A recent fall in interest in the series had led to attempts to reinvigorate the format. Australian changes culminated in 2013’s farcical series, in which an all Aboriginal side represented Australia in international sport for the first time since a cricket tour of England in 1868, and were duly beaten by an aggregate of more than one hundred points. This led GAA President Liam O’Neill to express his‘genuine fears’ for the future of the series. So how did we get here?

The Glory Years

The tests of the late 1990s and early 2000s were great sporting contests.The 1999, 2002, and 2003 were especially competitive, with fewer than ten scores between the sides following two games. I can remember reading of the 2006 test at Croke Park that it was the most attended international sporting contest in the world that weekend.

But 2006 was also the year that, ironically, did the most damage to the series as huge crowds witnessed Australian aggression of the worst kind. In retribution for an alleged stray knee in the first test, Graham Geraghty was knocked unconscious in front of over 82,000 people during the second test at Croke Park the following weekend. Regular flare ups led to Kieran McGeeney’s famous quip that

If you wanna box, say you wanna box and we’ll box. If you wanna play football, say you wanna play football and we’ll play football.” – Kieran McGeeney, 2006.

The GAA’s response was to pull out of the 2007 series, and seek clarification of what exactly was needed to see a player sent from the pitch. Changes came with the 2008 series, and initially these changes seemed to have worked, with Ireland and Australia winning a series each, in close contests, over the following two years.

While they were competitive, the 2008 and 2009 series lacked intensity, and this in turn led to diminishing crowds in both hemispheres. While the 22,000 attendance for the first test at Melbourne in 2011 wasn’t exceptionally low, the attendance of 12,000 at the second test in Queensland was. Irish fans followed suit and only 28,000 turned up to the second test in Croke Park in 2013, little more than a quarter of the attendance at the same venue seven years previously.

2014

This year saw the confirmation from the GAA and AFL that the series would now be a one off game, in the hope of attracting greater interest for a one off international. There have also been rule changes which, the Australians feel, will better suit their players. AFL Director of Football Operations Mark Evans spoke between the two games of last year’s series, and echoed what Colm Begley had said earlier in that week, that his country was seeking to return some of the physicality to the game that had been lost in the attempts to clean up the discipline since 2006. Now, the ball must travel at least forty five metres after each wide, behind, and over. This is designed to bring Australia’s taller, stronger ball winners to the fore.

Whereas the Australians had admitted, even before the second test, that they had sent a weakened side to the 2013 series, the confirmation of their 2014 squad has raised the prospect of a really interesting series. Coach Ross Lyon has called it “an unbelievably talented squad“, and all 24 squad members have won All-Australian Awards. This seems to be a return to the Australia of the period 2000-2006, when they won five of the seven annual series.

The 2008 rule changes still stand, including a change to permissible tackles, and thepotential for suspensions to carry over to GAA and AFL competitions. The sheer quality of the Australian squad means that even if they can’t use the obvious physical advantages they have as professional athletes to attempt to intimidate the Irish, in the manner that they did in 2006, they should have the requisite skill required in spades to really make the series competitive.

From an Irish point of view Colm Keys, writing in the Irish Independent, suggests that the winners of the last six All-Ireland Football Finals have no interest in continuing the series beyond 2014, no matter what way it pans out. This is dispiriting, because the series unquestionably has appeal if both organising associations can make it competitive. It’s a particularly important event to organise given the recent upturn in Irish emigration to Australia, providing a link to home for the Irish in Australia.

Unquestionably 2014 is a do-or-die year for the series. A competitive series this year would surely reinvigorate interest in the series in Ireland, at least to some degree. If the series is to remain a one off annual match, a 2015 or 2016 series in Ireland could see the GAA continuing the tradition of moving games outside of Croke Park. The newly refurbished Casement Park is due to open in the autumn of 2015, and it could provide a great setting for the 2015 series. The new Pairc Uí Caoimh is due to open towards the end of 2016, and it could similarly prove to be a fantastic venue if the series returns to Irish shores in 2016. A big international match could provide a great occasion for the official opening of either stadium.

It remains to be seen what the 2014 series brings, but hopefully it’s a competitive series that can save the experiment. All will be revealed in the early hours of November 22nd.

This article was originally published at fourmenandaball.blogspot.com