World Footy News

The TV promos before the second International Rules Test at Carrara on the Gold Coast were about ‘intensity’, an Australian team needing to ‘settle the score’. They would do it by pressure, tackling and hitting harder, within the rules.

They also tagged key players, including Tadhg Kennelly who was tagged by Sydney Swans teammate Ben McGlynn.

That reality led to numerous spot fires in the third quarter with three Australians and two Irish yellow carded and off the bench for a time.

In fact, it was Irish skill which still trumped the Australians - better high marking! (as when Kieran Donaghy outmarked Ben Griggs near the Irish goal), astonishing evasive skills, lay-offs of the ball under pressure with the speed of the Harlem Globetrotters, and precise kicking.

Although the Irish did not race away in a scoreless first few minutes, they inched towards a slight lead at the time. Steven McDonnell, the highest scorer in the history of the series, kicked an Over (above the cross bar) from the boundary line in the last minute of the quarter, Ireland taking a 12-8 lead into the break.

As an Irish commentator said, the Irish were handling the tackle better than in the past, particularly important for players who normally play a non-tackling game. In contrast, from early in the game Australia’s Mitch Robinson looked like he was angling for a prize fight next year with Barry Hall.
 

An Irish Under (in the net) in the second quarter took the Irish to a 31-22 lead at half-time despite several 3 point Overs from Gold Coast giant, Zac Smith, the Rockhampton recruit who played soccer until his teens.

It was not so much about ‘the power and the passion’, despite occasional Midnight Oil phrases playing in the background, as pressure, push and shove and melees in the third quarter. Spot fires broke out everywhere. Even one television commentator, subtracted from 2012 TV telecasting of footy after the new station contracts, and usually prefers stoushes to footy, thought it had gone too far.

As always, there is uncertainty over the rules of a game which is new to many players on both sides, and the umpires. Different cultural conceptions of legitimate physical pressure, led to moments of push and shove and more. While the Australian players started it with heavy, illegal tackles, the Irish were, as the saying goes, ‘not backwards in coming forward’.  Some fans like a little bit of ‘feeling’, a mild stoush, but as others thought, and as will also be reflected in the Irish press, in that quarter, it went too far.

In the final term, the Irish consolidated their lead, running out comfortable winners, Ireland 1 Under, 13 Overs, 5 points, 50 to Australia 7 Overs, 8 points, 29.

Tadhg Kennelly, effective despite the tag, was one of several Irish players with AFL experience, adding a physical element to the Irish playing style. It seems that hybrids are a stronger species than those who know only one game. Kennelly won the GAA Medal for the best Ireland player and James Kelly, 2011 All Australian and Geelong premiership player, with a good Irish name to boot, won the Jim Stynes Medal for the best Australian player.

After the game, in a group jig the Irish sang another song about passion, Depeche Mode's ‘Just can’t get enough’. 

While the Aussies may have to wait for another day to sing Midnight Oil, all agreed, the captains, coaches and medal winners, that the game should continue. In the words of Brian Stynes, father of Jim, who presented the medal, ‘it should go on indefinitely and it should be every player’s dream to play for their country’. He noted that Jim had played for both and that ‘the team which travels usually wins the series’.  Similarly, both coaches joined in declaring their belief that the Series has a future.

Postscript: The Continuing Story?

All the AFL big boys were there at Carrara, from President and CEO to ubiquitous ground announcer Craig Willis, and the national anthem was brilliantly performed by a female singer who sings ‘Advance’, as do 90% of Australians rather than ‘Advarnce’) suggesting a big event.
However, it is clear that the AFL needs to look at the larger picture.

The AFL usually does short-term promotion effectively, as in its novelty ‘theme rounds’ during the season.

However, it has not put enough work into building a tradition. All traditions are invented such as the ‘traditional’ AFL Grand Final parade dates from the 1990s, and the premiership cup from the 1950s. The AFL, in staging the games, and in selecting and supporting the Australian team, needs to think big. A first match in Perth or Adelaide has usually been a good lead-up to a Melbourne match, while Australian coach Rodney Eade has argued that holding the series closer to the AFL Grand Final would increase public interest.

There is a lot of history, from Barassi to Stynes, and much Irish culture which can be used in the wider media presentation of International Rules as a major international Test series.

Despite several 2011 factors reducing AFL player availability including the long season and the unhappiness of the AFL Players Association with the AFL as they fail to agree on the next collective bargaining agreement, the future of the series requires more work, on and off the field.


Ireland           0.3.3    1.8.4    1.10.5  1.13.5 (50)
Australia       0.2.2    0.6.5    0.6.6      0.7.8 (29)

Ireland: Goals: 6 point Under - Glynn; 3 point Overs -   McDonnell 3, T. Walsh 3, Donaghy 2, M. Murphy 2, Kennelly, Callaghan, McMahon                
Best:   Kennelly, Begley, McDonnell, McKeever, Cluxton

Australia: Goals:  3 point Overs - Smith 3, Green 2, McGlynn, Robinson     
Best:  Kelly, Vince, Frawley, Smith