Compromised Rules

It seems the GAA and AFL (Austalian Football League) are meeting next week to discuss the resumption of the "International Rules" series.

The arguments you will hear is that the players really enjoy representing their country, it increases the profile of the game internationally and is a reward for players from some of the smaller counties to play at a higher level.

While there is some validity to the above arguments I dont think they outweigh the negatives of this doomed series.

The main problem is the game itself. It is not very skillful, exciting or good to watch. I have attended a few of the games and they are largely very boring. While Gaelic Football and Aussie Rules are great to watch, the combined game is not.

The violence of the encounters in recent recent years is certainly another downside and there is little that could be done about it when you have 30 physical and fit players, playing a full contact, high speed sport that they only have limited time to practice for. Add to that referees who are similarly inexperienced and it is a recipe for disaster.

The life of a professional Austraian Rules footballer is already appealing enough for young men here, God knows you would not begrudge anybody going over to try it.

So I would rather Nickey Brennan was meeting the Australian authorities to ensure clubs and counties who invested in young players here were compensated adequately for their time and effort rather than give our best players the opportunity to get seriously injured on an annual basis.