THERE HAVE BEEN quite a few nadirs during the life of the International Rules series over the years.
Too many fights to mention, along with assaults on players that called the future of the series into question. Incidents which saw Philip Jordan and Graham Geraghty on the receiving end of hefty abuse are the two which readily spring to mind, but, to borrow from the Noel King phrasebook, there have been umpteen examples.
The series was re-introduced in 1998 so has been running for 15 years now, surely long enough to have set down firm roots in the psyche of sports fans if the product is up to scratch. The evidence would suggest that the peak in interest in the series occurred several years ago during the stormiest clashes.
The public was slow to get behind the series when it was first reinstated. The two-test series played in Croke Park drew just under 23,000 in for the first game, with an additional 12,000 turning up for the second test. Ireland, who many will remember turned out in flimsy shirts that were torn to shreds in game one, won the series by 10 points on aggregate.
The tests ran on an annual basis all the way up until 2006, when the fallout from the second test in Croke Park prompted a re-think about the viability of the sport and the series as a whole. From inception to 2006, the attendances grew steadily in the main.
From that initial combined crowd of 58,000 in 1998, Croke Park hosted a total of 95,000 in 2000, 115,000 in 2002, 106,000 in 2004 and 117,000 in 2006 – with a whopping 82,000 turning up for the 2nd test that year following a week of Australian rhetoric which promised sparks would fly.
The series was equally well-supported in Australia. The MCG hosted 64,000 in 1999 and 60,000 in 2003. However, in 2008 the attendance in Melbourne had dropped to 42,000 as interest seemed to wane a little. By 2011 the combined crowd for the two tests down under was just 35,000.
2006 was undoubtedly the watershed for the series. Following a lively first test under lights at a packed Pearse Stadium – which Ireland won by 8 points – the Irish media decided it would be a good idea to rub some Aussie noses in it and call into question their manliness, something which was answered unequivocally a week later.
Speaking on Off The Ball on Friday night, former Meath captain and Ireland player Anthony Moyles recalled those 2006 tests:
“The first game in Galway was one of the proudest moments of my career. There were a lot of legends playing that time, McGeeney was playing and really wanted to win… and Australia had brought over a pretty decent team. It was a good game, it was pretty open.
“Now there was a fair bit of clipping in it, but not as much as the second test. I was marking Barry Hall, big bad Barry. There was a little bit of niggle in it, but we went out with the Aussie lads that night and it was a great bit of craic. But literally when we woke up the next morning it was all this kind of ‘Aussie ladyboys’ and that kind of thing.
The media really stoked it up. So when the Aussies woke up and read this, things bigtime changed. I remember we had a few team meetings, and word back (from the Australian camp) was that this was gonna be pretty horrific.
“I remember Bomber Liston telling me that for one of the tests in the 80s, the Aussies just turned around and boxed their man just as the ball was being thrown up, and the same thing happened in that second test. There were just fights everywhere.
“We lost about three or four players in the first five minutes and after that it was a joke. I remember I didn’t really sleep the night before and it was the first time I’ve ever gone into any game that I was genuinely worried I was going to get my jaw broken. I had a genuine fear that, you know, anything could go on at this – who knows what tomorrow will bring.”
The fall-out from that 2006 test prompted a raft of rule changes aimed at cleaning up the games. Some of the changes included:
- Suspensions could carry over to GAA or AFL games if The Match Review Panel sees fit
- A dangerous “slinging” tackle will be an automatic red card
- Physical intimidation can result in a yellow card
These changes, while well-intentioned, meant that many of Australia’s top players opted out as they felt that the risk of picking up a suspension in this hybrid sport wasn’t worth the reward of playing in the games.
There is no doubt that the physical nature of the games was what drew the crowds in such numbers, and sanitising the sport to the point where we are at now has greatly reduced the interest. More on that later.
The decision by Australia to field an all-indigenous side this time around was met with some concern and surprise by the GAA when it was announced on 4 July. Pat Daly, Croke Park’s director of games development and research said of the decision:
“The critical issue from a GAA perspective is that we want a competitive Australian team. It’s no secret that we didn’t get that the last time. At the end of the day, as long as the team is competitive, that’s the only thing that matters to us.”
After Saturday night’s relatively facile win for Ireland, it would appear that Daly’s worst fears have been realised. Australia weren’t competitive in the way we’ve come to expect, and had Ireland really hammered home their advantage, the series would already be over.
Realistically, the 22-point lead established in Breffni Park on Saturday night should be more than enough to see Ireland reclaim the Cormac McAnallen trophy. This Australian side doesn’t look capable of turning around such a deficit, if anything one would expect Ireland to run out even more comfortable winners next weekend in Croke Park.
There are many arguments for and against the series, which are revisited time and again. There is no disputing that the players love representing their country and pitting their wits against professionals, but the tenets that made the game somewhat attractive over the years have been watered down so much that what we are left with bears little resemblance to what was started with 15 years ago.
The rules had to be tightened up, there’s no hiding from that. The second test in 2006 brought everything to a head and steps were taken in the aftermath to tidy things up. Did the authorities go too far? Possibly, but they had a very difficult job to do.
The rules as they are now still allow for plenty of physical contact, albeit maybe not as much as people became accustomed to – nay demanded – in years gone by. The rules aren’t even the biggest problem though.
The underpinning draw of any international competition is simple – it’s our best against your best. Rugby, soccer, cricket – whatever. We send our best out against your best and let’s see who comes out on top.
That most basic, fundamental principle has gone from the international rules. For several reasons, Ireland don’t have all their star names on show, while Australia have completely sabotaged whatever integrity was left in the series by fielding under-strength sides for several years running now.
While some will point to the large crowd in attendance on Saturday night as evidence that the series is still popular, these games will always draw a crowd to provincial grounds which haven’t hosted a game like this before. There is a novelty factor attached and it’s unlikely that Breffni Park or Pearse Stadium will host another game like this again in the near future, if ever.
There will no doubt be a decent crowd in Croke Park next weekend as well, which will be padded out by bus loads of school children getting in at a reduced rate. This shouldn’t disguise the fact that, as mentioned earlier, crowds have been on the wane for many years now, particularly in Australia.
No doubt the series will come under review after next Saturday night, but with a return trip pencilled in for 2014, there will be at least one more attempt made to apply the defibrillator. The fact that we are 15 years down the road and the future of the series is still up for debate says it all.
Between rule changes and disinterest from Australia, the series has been neutered and is now devoid of any personality or real identity. It’s time to call a halt.
This article by David Sheehan was re-published with the permission of The Sports Diaries
