Both sides must not let Rules be taken for granted

ON GAELIC GAMES:The biggest threat to the series continues to be the prospect of Australia stretching too far ahead of Ireland on the field

THERE WAS always the possibility that the International Rules series might end up like the Railway Cup. The process of obsolescence would involve administrative complacency, loss of interest amongst the public and players and all to the accompaniment of media coverage that spends more time pondering the existential dilemma of the competition rather than the on-field prospects.

Some of these boxes are being ticked even as we prepare for Friday’s first Test in this year’s series. You couldn’t for instance argue with Ireland manager Anthony Tohill’s enumeration of the risks facing the international game’s future during Monday’s media briefing. The series wouldn’t survive, he said, the re-emergence of violent indiscipline, one-sidedness and the development of public apathy.

Indiscipline is a hot-button issue.

The need for good behaviour is constantly acknowledged, as scenes like those which erupted in 2004, ’05 and ’06 would indeed kill the series. The problem is that it takes only a comparatively brief loss of temper for things to go badly off track and at times you sense that the conscious desire to behave, which has maintained the equilibrium of the past two series, definitely takes the edge off the Australians’ natural game and even inhibits the Irish – as acknowledged by Meath’s Kevin Reilly earlier this week.

Trying to recapture what might be termed the controlled abandon of the early years of the resumed series, 1998-2003, looks a very difficult task from where things stand.

Administrative complacency played a role in this awkward state of affairs, although it was little remarked on at the time. In 2004, after Ireland had annihilated one of the least interested looking AFL sides ever to cross the hemispheres in the first Test, two of the home team’s best players, Ciarán McDonald and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, were blatantly attacked before the start of the second Test.

It had all the hallmarks of a cynical attempt to disturb Ireland and maybe it worked in that Ireland’s margin of victory was reduced, but given the deficit from the first match it was as pointless as it was unacceptable.

AFL coach Garry Lyon provided one of the great non sequiturs of our time when bluntly asked had the assaults been pre-meditated.

“I was walking up the stairs at that particular time. I heard the roar, turned around and it was on.”

Incredibly, no action was taken. A cynical view might be that when Ireland win a series there’s not the same zeal to pursue miscreants nor the same need to deflect attention from poor performance but for whatever reason the message went out – you can get away with this.

What followed in 2005 and ’06 put the tin hat on the whole series – nearly permanently – but failure to act in 2004 had been a major lapse of judgment.

Complacency at the moment can be seen on both sides.

The GAA’s inability to see club fixtures concluded by a reasonable deadline has undermined the international ambitions of the past two footballer-of-the-year winners, Alan (Ireland’s 2006 player of the series) and Bernard Brogan, as well as one of this year’s short-listed, Darran O’Sullivan.

As Tohill has pointed out, the fixture issue needs to be addressed anyway for the sake of club players, who have to endure the most erratic schedules, but also if Ireland are to optimise their chances in the international series. Without the competitive depth of the AFL, the GAA needs its best players available each year.

From Australia’s point of view, the desire to win the series through the deployment of young, largely inexperienced players who can run fast and make a decent stab at kicking the round ball is not helping the profile of the series.

“Aussie, Aussie, Aussie – who, who, who?” ran one newspaper story on the low-profile nature of the AFL selection, which then invited readers to identify a photograph of the national squad.

The dynamic driving international involvement in Australia is different to that in Ireland. Whereas the best AFL footballers do become involved, they do so for a series or two rather than for a career commitment, as is the case with Irish players, seven – which can become eight if Steven McDonnell plays in both upcoming Tests – of whose international appearances’ tally runs into double digits.

Australia’s policy of selecting less box-office players who are better suited to the international game has had the impact of lowering interest among the public and Friday’s attendance will be anxiously scrutinised, as three years ago in the last series in Australia there was a definite fall-off in the size of the crowds.

Some of the best Australian players have also been terrific on the international stage, for example last year’s captain Adam Goodes, so there doesn’t necessarily have to be a trade-off between stature within the AFL and effectiveness in the series.

(That interest in the series remains. All Australian forward Travis Cloke was quoted in the Sunday Herald Sunas saying he would have liked to play for Australia in this year's series, but he wasn't asked.)

It all leaves the AFL promotional campaign with plenty to do to generate numbers for Friday night in Etihad Stadium, a task hardly helped by Ireland’s unveiling of a captain unwilling to play his part in that promotion.

The biggest threat of the three identified by the Ireland manager continues to be the prospect of Australia stretching too far ahead of Ireland on the field for the series to retain its competitive integrity.

Ireland have struggled to compete in three of the most recent four series with the Australian teams’ speed and constantly improving ability with the round ball. The concessions made by the AFL to the GAA may well have undermined the sense of shared compromise inherent in the internationals – originally tackle and mark versus ball – as the two associations attempt to keep Ireland competitive.

Ultimately, though, it’s hard to understand what all of the fuss is about. Tohill is correct that apathy is a threat to the internationals but so far that hasn’t been a problem and many of those who affect no interest in the series are in fact curiously agitated in their opposition to it.

As long as players want to participate in it, the public want to watch it and it generates sufficient funds to cover its costs, what’s the harm?

But both sides need to correct the impression that it’s being taken for granted.