IT WILL ONLY END IN TEARS
GAA must resist any further attempt by the AFL to drag it around as a front for its own plan for global expansion
I was bruised and battered, I couldn’t tell what I felt. I was unrecognisable to myself. Saw my reflection in a window and didn’t know my own face. Oh brother are you gonna leave me wastin’ away On the streets of Philadelphia. MAYBE the GAA and the AFL should adopt the opening verse of Bruce Springsteen’s Streets of Philadelphia if the mooted test on American soil ever comes to pass.
It might make for a gloomy, downbeat accompaniment, but the words seem strangely apposite.
For a long time, the AFL have had an eye on the lucrative American market, been tinkering with the idea of marrying the series to their own commercial interests.
Back in 2014, Australia floated the idea of a pop-up stadium in New York hosting a test, Central Park being suggested as a venue. It wasn’t as far-fetched as it sounds.
The pitch limitations of American stadia mean that a 15-a-side game simply doesn’t fit.
That’s the reason last weekend’s AIG Fenway Hurling Classic was played out in Super 11s format with an 11-a-side, goals-only format.
A possible future test in Philadelphia is the latest attempt to gain a foothold in the American market.
The question lingers, though, as to why the GAA would be happy to play the part of pawns for the AFL in terms of trying to ‘break’ America. How does that align with the principles of the organisation, with its core aims, ideals or any sort of long-term strategic plan?
It’s hardly going to wash, playing the International Rules in an 11-aside format, given that the game would be bastardised beyond recognition. Or could it?
Interestingly, the AFL are currently putting time and energy into their own seven-a-side version of Aussie Rules, a modified form called AFLX.
The history of the International Rules Series, though, is that Ireland are happy to go along with the whims of Australia. It feels like a relationship where one party is besotted with the other who just happens to have eyes for someone else. The third party in this case is the US.
Play this one out and it’s easy to see Ireland being dumped. Say for example, the ‘leg’ in America is a success, then it only throws up more complications for the GAA. It’s easy to imagine the AFL wanting it to become a regular part of any future series. So roll forward to 2019 – if the GAA suddenly revert to a year-onyear series – and a two-match series meant to take place Down Under suddenly spans two continents, America and Australia, say with one match in the likes of Philadelphia or Boston and the other in the prime AFL base of Melbourne. Or further still, when the costs and logistics are tallied up of such a displaced venture, then the obvious next step would be to play both tests on US soil, perhaps in both of those venues where there is a strong Irish-American base. New York is another obvious option given that it is already on the AFL radar.
Before Joe Kernan’s squad jetted off to Australia, the GAA privately admitted that the logistics of any possible future test on US soil didn’t really add up. Yet after a GAA-AFL dinner in Adelaide, suddenly a new agenda emerged, as GAA director general Páraic Duffy spelt out.
‘The whole issue has been getting a venue in the US, because of the size of the American football pitches, but there are a couple of things we’re going to explore and we said that we’d try and tie this one down before February. One of the possibilities is Philadelphia.’
Talk of expanding to a three-test series is already coming from Australia. As an example of trying to break markets, the AFL this year staged the first-ever game for Premiership points outside of Australia or New Zealand in China last May.
The recent series ticked the right boxes in terms of competitiveness and entertainment, Ireland hauling back a 10-point deficit from the first leg before their professional opponents powered home.
Yet it’s worth scratching beneath the surface to see how much this really meant to Australia. The first leg was fixed – not in the AFL
stronghold of Melbourne but in Adelaide, the afternoon throw-in meaning that it started just after 5am in Ireland. Clearly, the AFL cared so much about the game’s promotion at home that they staged it at a time to virtually wipe out any potential audience in Ireland.
One wonders what the Aussies made of Ireland flying Darren Hughes half-way around the world as a replacement for the injured Pearce Hanley when they couldn’t be bothered to fill the gaps in their own ranks. A squad of 23 is allowed, yet Australia initially named just 17.
A few more faces were added but a tight squad dropped back to 19. In a game where the use of the bench and interchange of players are deemed critical, the Aussies took the approach ‘Ah, we’ll be grand.’
How seriously did they treat it? While the travelling Irish contingent stayed on ‘the dry’ on the Thursday night before the first test, the Australians had a few drinks.
Then there was the fact that the crowd of 30,116 at the Subiaco Oval in Perth for the decisive second test was 8,146 down on three years earlier. That was after reports of free tickets being handed out in the city.
The simple fact is that the best players weren’t playing this year. For a host of valid reasons – most particularly club and work commitments – All-Ireland champions Dublin had no representative.
That is representative of a muchneeded shift in priorities, with club commitments taking precedence, when too often in the past clubs were deemed second-class citizens.
Australia, too, were without any of the Richmond players who won the AFL. Yet there’s no disputing the enthusiasm of the players selected.
‘It’s an incredible honour to be asked to play for your country,’ said Clare’s Gary Brennan. ‘If it’s on in Jupiter, we’ll go to Jupiter.’ That attitude seems to sum up officialdom as well. Remember Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin? Australia’s 10-million-dollar man, the AFL poster-boy who signed a record deal with Sydney Swans. When Australia toured Ireland in the 2013 series, he was the visitors’ talisman, the team leader with the celebrity wattage to really sell this thing. Except there was just one problem: he vamoosed after the first test in order to attend a wedding back home.
Stories of various squad members partying until 5am in Dromoland Castle in Clare and team training taking place on a tennis court hardly suggested a travelling party in full battle mode. The decision to bring an indigenous team resulted in the ignominy of a 101-point aggregate defeat over the two tests, which nearly killed the series stone dead.
When Franklin departed, it was left to Australia captain Daniel Wells to explain: ‘We have to be respectful. He’s also a very private man as well and we don’t want to pressure him into doing anything he doesn’t want to do.’
There’s a lesson in those words perhaps for the GAA.
13 Australia won the recent International Rules Series by 13 points with an aggregate score of 116-103