International Rules Series:There is a certain irony in the fact that two months before Croke Park is thrown open to international fixtures in other sports, the GAA should abruptly withdraw from the one mass-interest outlet it has on the international stage. But there was no great surprise at the decision of Central Council to suspend the 2007 International Rules series scheduled to take place in Australia.

It's heartening, though, that after the initial hysteria that followed the second Test in Dublin five weeks ago, moves are afoot to analyse issues that affect the future of the series with a view to resuming talks on getting the international project back on track.

The statement released after Saturday's meeting in Croke Park was more conciliatory than expected: "It was agreed that a document would be prepared by the GAA," ran part of Saturday's release, "which would put on record the basis of the structure, rules, their implementation and penalties on which the future of any series must be considered. This document will be brought back to Central Council for decision after which it will be forwarded to the AFL for their consideration. If the GAA's terms, as outlined in this document, are acceptable to the AFL, then discussions on the future of the series could take place."

It was clear that although arguments had been advanced to scrap the series altogether there was a reluctance to pull the plug.

This reticence is explainable for two reasons. Firstly there seems to have been a sense both on Saturday and at the previous evening's Management Committee meeting that it would be reckless to trash the whole Australian connection, which goes back officially nearly a quarter of a century and unofficially nearly 40 years.

Secondly with the issue surfacing at county conventions there was no need for Central Council to go out on a limb over the continuation of the series when next April's Congress will probably debate the subject.

Back in 1991 when the internationals were suspended for the first time, it was because of lack of interest, particularly in Australia. The question of indiscipline and violence had largely been addressed and the gothic excesses of 1984 and 1986 cleaned up but there was no way of forcing people to watch and so the idea lapsed. Its resumption was on the grounds that the ruling body of Australian Rules, the AFL, would be fully behind the project, something that hadn't been the case from 1984 to 1990.

Now public interest or the potential for it has been proved time and again but indiscipline has brought the series to a halt.

It might be thought creating an interest in the games was a more daunting problem than sorting out discipline but no one observing the GAA's experience in this area would be quite that sanguine. The notion that disregard for rules and indiscipline can't be addressed is an easily accepted one in Gaelic games.

It's a further irony that if one sport confirms the possibility of confronting a culture of violence and anarchy, that sport is Australian Rules. The AFL managed this feat by the simple strategy of making punishments not worth risking for any advantage that might accrue from breaking the rules. The infamous scenes in the first quarter of the recent second Test were all the more depressing because no red card was shown. The rules weren't being obeyed and neither were they being enforced by the match officials - so how anyone could say that the new disciplinary structures didn't work is baffling.

It's clearly time to act on an old idea, circa 2000, that referees from other sports be brought in to enforce the rules. This would address two current problems: one, that the present system of appointment doesn't work and two, that the ambiguity frequently trotted out - "that's actually, errr, legal in our game" - would no longer afflict match officials as well as players.

But this could all be done without scrapping next year's series. There are, however , too many within the GAA (disproportionately) furious with the Australians for anything other than a drastic gesture to be feasible and there is also a perceived need to draw a line in the sand with the Australians in order to let them know you can't have scenes like the second Tests of the past two years and simply patch it up again in January. In the circumstances, it's easy to accept GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell's view that the decision to take a break was "probably a wise one".

The players remain the most significant constituency overwhelmingly in favour of continuing the series. Realistically those views have to be taken seriously.

Explaining on Saturday he had consulted widely, including with the AFL, GAA president Nickey Brennan outlined the conditions for the survival of the series and the statement quoting him read: ". . . any continuation must be contingent on a structure, rules and an implementation process and procedure be put in place to ensure that any future series is conducted to the accepted norms of sportsmanship. The president stated that the Australians appeared to accept that this was a necessary prerequisite to any consideration of the future of the series."

Meanwhile, Central Council have agreed to an IRFU request that two familiarisation sessions for the Irish rugby team take place in Croke Park in late January and training sessions in the week prior to the games. A request from the FAI to use Croke Park for a training session on February 5th could not be accommodated because of the National League game on the 3rd and the rugby international on February 11th. Brennan stated any request for an acceptable alternative date would be accommodated.