GAA’s ‘friendship’ with AFL is hard to stomach

THE International Rules Series will be back with us next November, picking up where it left off in 2017.

Surprisingly, we have coped well in its absence over the past couple of winters, but it appears such is Gaelic football’s desperate desire for an international outlet, others have not fared so well.

And so its return was greeted warmly both here and down there this week.

‘We look forward to reconnecting with our friends and colleagues in the AFL, both on and off the field,’ claimed the GAA’s director general Tom Ryan this week.

We appreciate that Ryan is duty-bound to be polite, but the suggestion that somehow the GAA and AFL enjoy a special bond based on shared values sticks in the craw.

Particularly given that a member of the GAA family Conor McKenna is set for a dressing down from his Essendon club when he returns to the AFL this week.

His crime? Playing for his club Eglish earlier this month where the goal he scored secured his club’s Division 1 status but did not impress his AFL club coach, who revealed he would be discussing the matter when he returns.

This comes hot on the heels of Geelong expressing their fury at Mark O’Connor (right), when he togged out with Dingle in the Kerry Championship last year.

We can’t argue with the AFL clubs – that is their professional right, but let’s not then pretend that the AFL are ‘friends’ of the GAA.

Because if they were, they might just realise that the players they get for free are developed by clubs, who they demand should not have access to those players in the off season.

‘The club is where you came from and that’s what brought you up and I wouldn’t really be in the position that I am in with the AFL unless it was for them and for the county,’ said an unrepentant McKenna this week.

It would be nice if Croke Park echoed that sentiment this week just to let the AFL know that it places a value on its player which goes beyond a monthly pay slip.

And if the

AFL don’t like it, they know where they can take their hybrid game. Trust us, we’ll cope with the loss.