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College Tribune | November 12th 2008
News
Sport
Pete Mahon
Basketball Confident Marian send Ulster packing
Page 18
Page 18
DOWN THE LINE
Bring back the bite? Last Friday week saw an amateur Irish team defeat their professional Australian counterparts in the first International Rules series since the farcical series of 2006. The Irish achieved some sense of sporting revenge on their opponents for the thuggery and barbarity the Australians displayed in ‘05 and ‘06 where the action on the pitch seemed more akin to a WWE Royal Rumble contest than an International Rules series. However, despite agreement from both the GAA and the AFL that this year’s series was a success, the question still has to be raised over whether this competition has a future. Whatever might be said of positive attitudes coming out from both sides towards the series, there can be no doubt that an underlying tension was in place throughout the two games. If an incident similar to those witnessed in Croke Park in ‘06 and Perth in ‘05 were to happen this time around, the GAA would surely hammer in the final nail in the International Rules coffin. However, the reality is that if these incidents were ever to repeat themselves, the likelihood is that the series will come to an end then. Surely the constant walking of a tightrope is not the atmosphere that a weird hybrid sport, troubled from its very origin, can thrive in and become beneficial for both the GAA and the AFL. The lack of violence this year was even seen as a disappointment for
With the International Rules competition after coming to a relatively calm conclusion Eoghan Glynn asks, “Whats the point?” many. Phone-in shows after the first test were inundated with texts from people who were of the opinion that the bite had been lost. The over-aggression had been replaced by a complete lack of aggression which led to the match being a rather dull contest. Although nobody should want a repeat of the violence witnessed before, the lack of aggression and the somewhat morbid atmosphere at the first game did make it an almost surreal and mundane encounter. Players seemed overly-cautious going into the tackle as to whether it would be deemed acceptable in the new rules, the Irish team being particularly guilty of this by recording only six legitimate tackles in the whole of the first test. There is such a fine line over what is acceptable in a tackle and what isn’t that, as a result, there will always be a level of ambiguity surrounding it, leading to the lack of aggression displayed in this year’s contest. However, the potential for violence and how to deal with it are not the only problems. While the GAA sends out its most able Gaelic footballers for two weeks to take part, it has a detrimental effect on some the competitions back home. This year’s Railway Cup, which clashed with the two tests down under, saw the worst attendances in recent years for the finals and were
affected by the absence of the players that chose to represent their country in Australia instead of their provinces in Portlaoise. Although the International Rules can obviously not be held responsible for bringing about the probable death of this competition, it can be accused of accelerating its death somewhat. The Club Championships have also been hit badly by the International Rules as clubs all around the country lose or have severely disrupted players that play a key role in their teams at a crucial time of the year. Surely one would think the GAA should have more of an interest in promoting itself at grass-roots level instead of a sport which only has two games a year (and it seems even these two games are dependent on the Australians being nice to us). The well-respected Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has been one of the strongest critics of the series, claiming recently that players were “in it for the trip more than the competition”. Although players will obviously never actually admit this, it would not be surprising to find that this is indeed the case with the majority of these players who claim that the honour of playing for their country is what drives them. Although it’s hard to blame these people for wanting a trip down under every
two years, it does taint the reasoning behind the ressurection and continuation of this series somewhat. It also instantly takes away the effectiveness of the argument often used in defence of the International Rules that the players want to play so they have an opportunity to represent their country. Harte is also of the opinion that the International Rules is not the way to go if the GAA wants to promote their games internationally, saying “There’s no point in fooling ourselves into thinking we’re giving ourselves an international outlet with that other stuff. We should be promoting Gaelic games on a world stage, and if that has to start at club level, so be it.” Once again, it is hard to disagree with the Tyrone manager as, when you actually look at it, the GAA are trying to promote their association by playing a different sport. By having compromised rules, the AFL and GAA have failed to showcase both their sports on an international stage, but have instead created a new nonentity of a sport which fail to show what makes both their sports great in the first place. It’s not as though the foundations are not already in place for the GAA to go international. At present, there are twenty-nine GAA clubs to be found across Europe with pan-Europe-
an Championships and Shields taking place on a regular basis. GAA competitions are also in place across the globe, such as the Asian Games which took place in Penang, Malaysia a week before the International Rules series. The GAA could easily put the resources they currently use for the International Rules, both human and monetary, and use them for the international GAA competitions and clubs already in place. Surely this would be more effective in marketing GAA internationally as they would actually be marketing Gaelic Games, not a troubled hybrid game. Next Year is the 125th anniversary of the GAA. It’s understandable if the GAA wanted some sort of a showcase to show off their best GAA players on an international stage for this occasion. However, the fact of the matter is that the International Rules is a flawed experiment. This year’s series was the second revival of a game which does not and will not showcase what is good about the GAA. Even worse, the GAA is neglecting its grass-roots in favour for a trip to Australia every two years. After the two games in Casement Park and Croke Park next year, it would be better for the GAA and for all of us if this flawed experiment was brought to an end.