| Sport | International rules football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1967 (Australian Football World Tour) |
| First season | 1984 |
| No. of teams | 2 |
| Country |  Australia Ireland |
| Continent | Australia (Continent) Europe |
| Most recent champion | Australia (10th title) |
| Most titles | Australia Ireland (10 titles each) |
| Broadcasters | Seven Network (Australia) RTÉ (Ireland) |
TheInternational Rules Series is a senior men'sinternational rules football competition between theAustralia international rules football team (selected by theAustralian Football League) and theIreland international rules football team (selected by theGaelic Athletic Association). International rules football is played using a set of compromise rules devised by both governing bodies. While the International Rules Series matches use some rules fromAustralian rules football, the field, ball and uniforms of both teams are derived fromGaelic football.
The competition originated in the 1980s, with four series played in that decade. It was contested annually between 1998 and 2006, and then featured sporadically over next eleven years, with the last series contested in 2017 and no future series scheduled as of September 2024. At the height of its popularity, a series was played over two Test matches in October/November after the completion of theAFL Grand Final and theAll-Ireland Football Final, which were both traditionally played in late September, and the winner was the team with the highest cumulative score over both Tests.
The two teams contest a trophy, which in 2004 was named theCormac McAnallen Cup—after theTyrone team captainCormac McAnallen, whose death that year from aheart condition at 24 years old came after he had representedIreland in the previous three series.[1]
The concept for the series originates from theAustralian Football World Tour, which took place in 1967 and 1968. The tour saw a collection of Australian footballers from theVFL,SANFL andWAFL competitions travel to Ireland for an itinerary of matches played under modified Gaelic football rules.[2][3]
The first proper series took place in Ireland in1984 under a three-match format, whereby the team accumulating the most wins from the series were victors. Following poor Australian crowds and a relative lack of interest in1990, the series was revived in1998 under a two-match aggregate points format.[4] The popularity of the series saw it continue over the next eight years until violent on-field brawling in the mid-2000s saw it cancelled in 2007.
Awomen's series was staged in Ireland in 2006, which to this date remains the only women's series to have taken place between the nations.[5] A series for under-17 boys was held each year between 1999 and 2006 before it was abandoned.
The series returned in 2008, although it featured randomly on the calendar over the next decade, going unscheduled in 2009, 2012, 2016, and in 2018–2019. Since 2014, the Australian team has endeavoured to pick players who have been selected in anAll-Australian team on at least one occasion in their careers. This followed the2013 series, which was notable for the inclusion of an Australian team made up of exclusivelyIndigenous players, known as theIndigenous All-Stars. Ireland inflicted the largest victory in the history of the series, scoring a record-breaking 79-point win in the second Test that resulted in a record-breaking 101-point cumulative victory. The most recent series (2017) was won by Australia.
A series was scheduled in Ireland in 2020, with a return series in Australia scheduled for 2022,[6] but the 2020 series was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[7] In 2024 and 2025 there were ongoing discussions between the AFL and GAA about the revival of the series.[8]
Series results, up to and including the 2017 series.
| Flag | Icon | Country | Series won | Series lost | Test wins | Test draws* | Test losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  | Ireland | 10 | 10 | 21 | 2 | 19 |
|  | Australia | 10 | 10 | 19 | 2 | 21 |
| *Two draws (second Test, 1999; second Test, 2002) | |||||||
    Australia (1984) |  Ireland (1984) |  Australia (1986) | Ireland (1986) | Australia (1987) | Ireland (1987) |
The following are lists of International Rules Series venues and their locations, ordered by amount of Test matches hosted:
| Venue | City/Town | County | Number of tests hosted and Year/s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croke Park | Dublin | County Dublin | 17[a] |
| Páirc Uí Chaoimh (O'Keefe Park) | Ballintemple | County Cork | 1 (1st Test 1984) |
| Pearse Stadium | Salthill | County Galway | 1 (1st Test 2006) |
| Gaelic Grounds | Limerick | County Limerick | 1 (1st Test 2010) |
| Breffni Park | Cavan | County Cavan | 1 (1st Test 2013) |
| Venue | City/Town | State/Territory | Number of tests hosted and Year/s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subiaco Oval | Perth | Western Australia | 5[b] |
| Melbourne Cricket Ground | Melbourne | Victoria | 4[c] |
| SANFL Park | Adelaide | South Australia | 3 (3rd Test 1986, 2nd Test 1999, 1st Test 2001) |
| WACA Ground | Perth | Western Australia | 2 (1st Test 1986 & 3rd Test 1990) |
| VFL Park | Melbourne | Victoria | 2 (2nd Test 1986 & 1st Test 1990) |
| Docklands Stadium | Melbourne | Victoria | 2 (2nd Test 2005 & 1st Test 2011) |
| Canberra Stadium | Canberra | Australian Capital Territory | 1 (2nd Test 1990) |
| Carrara Stadium | Gold Coast | Queensland | 1 (2nd Test 2011) |
| Adelaide Oval | Adelaide | South Australia | 1 (1st Test 2017) |
The Jim Stynes Medal is awarded to the best player of theAustralian team for each series. It was first awarded in 1998 and named afterJim Stynes, who won theAll-Ireland Minor Football Championship withDublin before joiningMelbourne. With the Demons, he won the1991 Brownlow Medal, set the record for most VFL or AFL consecutive games played (with 244), was named in Melbourne's Team of the Century, and was elected into theAustralian Football Hall of Fame while also playing for both Ireland and Australia in the series. He was also honoured with a state funeral in Melbourne when he died in 2012.
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TheGAA Medal (also known as theIrish Player of the Series) is awarded in similar circumstances to the Australian award, whereby the Irish player adjudged as the best performed from each series wins the medal. It has been awarded since 2004.[9]
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TheHarry Beitzel Medal was awarded to players adjudged "fairest and best" on the field during the 1984 to 1990 series.[10] Beitzel was honoured for his pioneering of the sport and the fact that he arranged the first ever official contact between the two sports ofGaelic football andAustralian rules football.
The Australian team were sponsored until 2006 byFoster's, which also sponsored series held in Australia.Toyota took over both roles for the 2008 series. Australian plastic manufacturer Nylex sponsored the Australian team in 2010, whilst Toyota andCarlton Draught were guernsey sponsors for the 2011 series. Supermarket chainColes and community health groupNational Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) were guernsey sponsors for the 2013 series. Airline companyVirgin Australia andGatorade have sponsored the Australian teams since 2014.
The Irish team, and all series held in Ireland, were sponsored byCoca-Cola until 2008. The 2010 and 2013 series in Ireland was sponsored by theIrish Daily Mail, whileIrish language television stationTG4 sponsored the Irish team in 2010, 2011 and 2013.[11][12] Gaelic games online streaming service GAAGO.ie were sponsors of the Irish team in 2014 and 2015, whilstelectric power transmission companyEirGrid were the title sponsors of the 2015 series in Ireland.
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The International Rules Series has been broadcast on television in Australia and Ireland since the late 1990s. In Ireland it has usually been broadcast onRTÉ Two; from 2010 to 2014 the series was broadcast live byIrish-language channelTG4. RTÉ reclaimed the rights to the series in 2015.[13] In Australia, theSeven Network broadcast the 1998–2001 series, whilst theNine Network broadcast the 2002–2005 series. In Australia the 2006 and 2011 series were broadcast onNetwork Ten, though all other series have been broadcast on theSeven Network and simulcast onFox Sports.[14]
The series has had reach into global markets. From 2005, broadcasting extended its reach to the United States viaSetanta Sports North America and to Hong Kong via theAustralia Network. The 2006 series was broadcast to the United Kingdom viaSetanta Sports 2. Defunct New Zealand free-to-air sports networkSommet Sports broadcast the 2013 and 2014 series.[15] The 2014 Test match was broadcast live in the United States and parts of Europe and Asia.[16]
The series alternates host countries each appropriate year betweenIreland andAustralia. Since the commencement of the modern era series in 1998, the average attendance up to the conclusion of the 2017 series was 34,337. On two occasions, Test matches have sold out in Australia, both in Perth in2003 and2014. The first entire series to sell out was in Ireland in 2006 when a combined crowd record of 112,127 was set. The attendance at the second Test of 82,127 atCroke Park was the largest for an international sports fixture in the country.[17]
| Total attendance | 1,442,161 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average attendance | 34,337 | ||||
| Average Australian attendance | 31,504 | ||||
| Average Irish attendance | 37,171 | ||||
| Highest attendance | 82,127 11 May 2006 |
Up to date as of 2017 Series
The series has sustained criticism from several high-profile figures in its parent sports. Three-time All-Ireland-winningTyrone managerMickey Harte has repeatedly called for the series to be disbanded. He stated in 2008 that the tours to Australia are simply a free holiday for the players involved, before repeating the claim in 2011 and calling on the GAA to withdraw from the Series because it does a"total disservice to the development of Gaelic games on the international stage".[18] Australian journalists such asMike Sheahan have argued that the relevance of the series diminished once the Australian side was no longer made up primarily ofAll-Australian players, although the team returned to exclusively using All-Australians in 2014.[19] Ex-Kerry footballerTomás Ó Sé panned the GAA in 2019 for continuing to maintain friendly relations with the AFL, arguing that the series was primarily responsible for AFL clubs scouting emerging Irish talent and leaving clubs and counties with no compensation for their efforts.[20]
The future of the series was brought into doubt in2005 and2006, mostly through the on-field actions of some Australian players and excessive physicality by both teams. In December 2006, the GAA decided to abandon the 2007 series, issuing a public statement: "On the recommendation of the Management Committee, it was agreed that there would be no Junior or Senior Series of games in 2007 ...Dessie Farrell, the player's representative[,] stated that while there would be some disappointment amongst players that the 2007 Series will not take place, the decision was, in his view, probably a wise one."[21]
Talks between the two organisations resumed in 2007, and the2008 series went ahead without incident. Since then, despite an Australian withdrawal from the2009 series due to "economic concerns", the series appeared to have a strong future.[22] However, following the2011 series, concerns were raised over relatively small crowd attendances. The small crowds were blamed on a lack of high-profileAFL players being selected in the Australian team as well as a longer AFL season. The series' temporary future was assured byGAA director generalParaic Duffy.[23] During the2013 series, the possibility of expanding future International Rules games into a tri-series was mooted, in such a way that the series would incorporate theIndigenous All-Stars team that participated in 2013, possibly against an AFL All-Star team for the right to play off against the Irish.[24] Though this idea never eventuated, the AFL has expressed interest in staging anexhibition Test match in theUnited States, likely inBoston orNew York City.[25]
Whilst an extremely lopsided result occurred in the 2013 series and the Australians were accused of demonstrating apathy to the concept,[26] a2014 series featuring current and formerAll-Australian players occurred, one that was nevertheless regarded as a demonstrable success.[27] During a successful training camp inNew York City ahead of the2015 series, Australian coachAlastair Clarkson gave his strongest pitch yet for the expansion of the series to include a Test match in America and even an actual American international rules team, to facilitate a tri-nations format.[28] In May 2016, the GAA and AFL announced an agreement to not have a Test match in 2016 and instead renew the 2-match aggregate series in2017 (in Australia), with a view to conducting further series in the following years in both Ireland and the United States.[25]
The associations agreed to series in 2020 and 2022,[6] but the 2020 series was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic; and, via announcement on 25 December 2022, the 2022 series was delayed, with Mick Malthouse expected to be re-appointed coach of the Australian team.[29]
In May 2023, GAA president Larry McCarthy ruled out a return of the International Rules Series for the foreseeable future, citing that the current GAA calendar would ask players to choose between their local club and representing their country.[30]
A masters series featuring teams made up of players aged 40 and above and Ladies' series, selected from the respective AFL and GAA Masters leagues, have sporadically been played. In 2024, an over-40 men's, over-50 men's and over-40 women's series was played in and won comprehensively by Ireland in each division; it featured former AFL playerJason Akermanis as head coach of one of the Australian teams.[31][32][33][clarification needed]
In October 2024, it was announced that AFL and GAA officials were exploring the return of the International Rules series.[34]
The hybrid game has always had its detractors, and the heavy-handed tactics that Kevin Sheedy's victorsdeployed in front of 82,127 Croke Park spectators – a record crowd for an international fixture held on Irish soil – will only add to their number.