AFL given more time on International Rules

laoisgaa · May 23, 2008, 12:58:30 PM

GAA Press Release

23 May 2008

GAA Press Release
International Rules Tour

As previously announced today was the final date acceptable to the GAA in terms of the AFL confirming arrangements for two International Rules Test games between Australia and Ireland in October next. The AFL stated however that they are close to finalising venues and logistics for both Tests but require a few more days to confirm arrangements. The GAA has agreed to accede to the AFL request for a little more time and is hopeful that the Series will resume in October and that relevant details can be announced by next Thursday.

stpauls · May 23, 2008, 01:00:56 PM

fingers crossed the games are going to be played along the East coast in October as i will be out there for 3 weeks around then!!

Aerlik · May 24, 2008, 05:26:02 AM

More than likely it'll be Melbourne and Perth again. The former as the home of the AFL, the latter cos ~~we're here~~ of the huge support in preceding years for the game and the large Irish community.

magickingdom · May 24, 2008, 10:21:22 AM

really looking forward to these games so i hope the afl can get the 2nd test sorted out. i really believe these games with the right approach can become huge - look at the hype about munster (and rightly so imo as a munster man!) today and 10 years ago no one cared..

Tankie · May 24, 2008, 05:50:40 PM

Its not football, hybrid games generally don't survive. i cant see myself amking a re-appearance to watch these games again after the last series.

INDIANA · May 24, 2008, 07:32:33 PM

waste fo time- let the aussies play a few lads from mountjoy , a kind of ancestors rematch. that would cool their interest a bit.

magickingdom · May 24, 2008, 07:40:48 PM

Quote from: Tankie on May 24, 2008, 05:50:40 PM
Its not football, hybrid games generally don't survive. i cant see myself amking a re-appearance to watch these games again after the last series.

its is football, just like soccer rugby union/league or gaa. you just dont like it...

INDIANA · May 24, 2008, 08:18:19 PM

not really it's a bastardised version of wwf and boxing with a football thrown in to make it legal. i don't know why they don;t go the whole hog and organise a ring in the middle of the telstra dome and invite the undertaker and co over form the States. Sooner the experiment is abandoned the better, wouldn't watch it if they put it on in my backgarden.

Moose · May 24, 2008, 09:30:59 PM

Quote from: magickingdom on May 24, 2008, 07:40:48 PM
Quote from: Tankie on May 24, 2008, 05:50:40 PM
Its not football, hybrid games generally don't survive. i cant see myself amking a re-appearance to watch these games again after the last series.

its is football, just like soccer rugby union/league or gaa. you just dont like it...

It isn't football, its a hybrid of gaelic football and aussie rules, went to see it in Croke Park, saw what I came to see and what everybody else came to see, fights, it was crap otherwise. Complete waste of time, don't know anybody that actually plays the sport outside of this so I don't see the point, to be honest the GAA look desperate the way they're hoping it'll continue

magickingdom · May 25, 2008, 03:37:56 PM

Quote from: Moose on May 24, 2008, 09:30:59 PM
Quote from: magickingdom on May 24, 2008, 07:40:48 PM
Quote from: Tankie on May 24, 2008, 05:50:40 PM
Its not football, hybrid games generally don't survive. i cant see myself amking a re-appearance to watch these games again after the last series.

its is football, just like soccer rugby union/league or gaa. you just dont like it...
It isn't football, its a hybrid of gaelic football and aussie rules, went to see it in Croke Park, saw what I came to see and what everybody else came to see, fights, it was crap otherwise. Complete waste of time, don't know anybody that actually plays the sport outside of this so I don't see the point, to be honest the GAA look desperate the way they're hoping it'll continue

every sport has to starts somewhere and 80k turned up in croke park that day. they werent all there for the fights..

AFS · May 25, 2008, 11:50:25 PM

Quote from: magickingdom on May 25, 2008, 03:37:56 PM
Quote from: Moose on May 24, 2008, 09:30:59 PM
Quote from: magickingdom on May 24, 2008, 07:40:48 PM
Quote from: Tankie on May 24, 2008, 05:50:40 PM
Its not football, hybrid games generally don't survive. i cant see myself amking a re-appearance to watch these games again after the last series.

its is football, just like soccer rugby union/league or gaa. you just dont like it...
It isn't football, its a hybrid of gaelic football and aussie rules, went to see it in Croke Park, saw what I came to see and what everybody else came to see, fights, it was crap otherwise. Complete waste of time, don't know anybody that actually plays the sport outside of this so I don't see the point, to be honest the GAA look desperate the way they're hoping it'll continue

every sport has to starts somewhere and 80k turned up in croke park that day. they werent all there for the fights..

Aye but most were. The only reason this is continuing is because it makes the GAA a million or two a year, it serves no sporting purpose.

Hardy · May 26, 2008, 09:03:08 AM

It's junk sport. The fact that people turn up in their thousands to watch it is no recommendation of quality. People watch Gladiators in their millions.

I used to be a fan of IR too, but I copped on and now I hate it with the zeal of the convert. Most of all it's dangerous and unsupportable to put amateur players, untutored in shipping the tackle, in against professionals, professionally conditioned, who are experts at it. I can't think of any physical contact sport where effectively untrained amateurs are allowed to compete with the very top level professionals in a game where physical contact is of the essence.

Worse, these professionals have proved their propensity to behave like an indisciplined rabble and there is no incentive for them not to so behave, nor any effective sanction when they do. In essence, they are licensed to commit assault with a dangerous weapon against people who have no effective defence against it. I strongly fear it will end in a serious injury or worse.

This is not some sort of soft whining about physicality. I deplore the fact that the physicality is being systematically removed from gaelic football. This is something completely different, because of the inequality in physical conditioning, but more importantly in expertise and preparedness. The gaelic player is not habitually braced to take the tackle and the result could be catastrophic. That only finally came home to me when we all feared Graham Geraghty's neck had been broken in Croke Park.

AZOffaly · May 26, 2008, 09:07:37 AM

Hardy, I'm with you 100% on this. I have no interest in exposing our players to such risk when they are in no way prepared for it. Where are the GPA on this issue? Have they made a statement about it? I think they have, but I can't really remember what they said.

Obviously, all players would love to represent Ireland, but they are not representing them in GAA in this game. Because there is no real competitive outlet for international representation, they have settled for this bastardised game which is neither fish nor fowl.

No doubt the Aussies have committed to clean up their act a bit, which is good, but the central tenet of the game is still a tackle which is completely alien to GAA players, and in the heat of a game, you will revert to type. Which means they won't be looking for the hits, and won't expect the sort of tackle they will be on the end of.

I think it's madness myself.

magpie seanie · May 26, 2008, 10:58:11 AM

Couldn't agree more with the previous two posters. There was a time when I thought this game had a future but I must admit I was gravely mistaken. Its simply a pointless exercise and may in fact be damaging to the GAA.

QuoteWhere are the GPA on this issue?

My take on it is that they think its helpful for their case in achieving their ultimate aim so they're happy for it to go ahead.

Lar Naparka · May 26, 2008, 10:59:27 AM

I know lots of our players love to get a chance to represent our country, but at what?
It certainly isn't Gaelic Football.
If this hybrid game ever stood a chance of going anywhere it would been firmly established by now. Is there even one single club in either Oz or in Ireland that actively plays the game?
I think it is as far back as 1967 that an Aussie team came here first and played both Mayo and Meath in an early version of the game and what progress if any has been achieved since then? (Is it really that far back? I may have my year wrong but it certainly was decades ago.)
Whatever about the crowds that turn up at games and their motives for attending, does this game itself show any signs of catching hold in either country?
Has the GAA ever shown the slightest readiness to develop our own game in, say, London or New York and give it a genuinely international dimension? Both cities have a large enough Irish base to build on both there are many other centres worldwide where the GAA would stand a realistic chance of establishing viable centres.
I honestly see little or no merit in continuing with this international series of dust ups and donnybrooks that is leading to nowhere after more than 40 years of messing about.