Not for the first time the future of the International Rules is in doubt as the GAA comes to grips with Australia’s decision to send a team of exclusively indigenous players to next October’s series.
For now the decision has been greeted with some mild surprise and thinly-veiled concern within Croke Park, if not in the competitive sense then certainly in the promotional sense, as indigenous players account for only 11 per cent of the AFL playing population, and automatically rules out some of the better known non-indigenous players.
While that will significantly lessen the international dimension to the series, it mightn’t necessarily lesson the competitive edge: but with public interest already waning, especially after Ireland won out easily Down Under in 2011, it can’t help that Australia will now be fielding a team that’s not representative of all of the best players in the AFL.
How the GAA promote that remains to be seen – but the idea first surfaced back in May, without any consultation with the GAA, and was confirmed at an AFL press conference in Melbourne yesterday, that their team for 2013 will be known as the “Indigenous All-Stars”.
Indeed the Australians are already billing it as the first all-indigenous team to represent a sporting code at senior level overseas since their first cricket team toured England in 1868: The term “indigenous” is widely inclusive and includes those of Aboriginal descent and also the Torres Strait islanders, but account for just 2.5 per cent of Australia’s overall population.
It was AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou who first aired the idea, back May, having first canvassed the views of indigenous players.
“All the soundings were pointing that way, that it was their intention to go with indigenous players, and we certainly didn’t hear that anything had changed in the meantime,” said Pat Daly, Croke Park’s director of games development and research, who is also the principal technical liaison with the AFL in respect of the international series.
“There has also been talk from their end about trying to reinvigorate the series, and whether this will take from it, or add from it, really depends on what way you look at it.
Competitive team
"But the critical issue from a GAA perspective is that we want a competitive Australian team. It's no secret that we didn't get that the last time. At the end of the day, as long as the team is competitive, that's the only thing that matters to us."
There are currently 79 indigenous players on AFL teams lists (11 per cent of the total), although this does include some of the most successful names, including Sydney’s dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes, who already captained Australia against Ireland in 2010, and also star Hawthorn forwards Lance Franklin and Cyril Rioli.
Speaking at the AFL press conference yesterday, Michael O’Loughlin, Australia’s coach for the series and also one of their most successful indigenous players, suggested the all-indigenous team would help reinvigorate the series: “They’ve all confirmed, pretty much,” said O’Loughlin, a former Sydney Swans forward. “They were the guys who brought it up and really desperately wanted to play.”
AFL deputy chief executive Gillon McLachlan backed that up further, suggesting that non-indigenous players hadn’t always been fully committed: “I don’t think there’s any disguising the fact in 2011 there weren’t many of our senior players available to play,” he said. “As we’ve looked then to reinvigorate the series, the fact that the Indigenous All-Stars wanted to come together and represent Australia was exciting.”
The AFL Players' Association acknowledges and recognises the diversity of indigenous cultures, with more than 250 distinct language groups across Australia: the 2013 indigenous AFL players represent 48 of these language or cultural groups.
Possible controversy
McLachlan was also asked about any possible controversy by effectively making non-indigenous players ineligible for selection: "The players have had plenty of chances historically to represent Australia in the International Rules series and haven't been available."
He also said the AFL would assess this year’s series before making a decision on whether the Indigenous All-Stars would continue to represent Australia against Ireland. It was also confirmed that Kerry All-Ireland winner and former Sydney Swan Tadhg Kennelly with form part of the Australian coaching team.
The first 2013 Test takes place on Saturday October 19th, in Breffni Park, Cavan with the second game at Croke Park on Saturday October 26th.
Attendances at the series in Australia have been in decline for the past 10 years. From a position where aggregate crowds of over 100,000 attended the two Tests in Perth and Melbourne in 2003, the numbers fell by almost two thirds to 35,466 when the series was last played there, in Melbourne and the Gold Coast, two years ago.
GAA director general Páraic Duffy also said in Melbourne in 2011 that the series would not have a future unless interest amongst the AFL public picked up because Irish crowds wouldn’t continue to attend in numbers if it became clear that there was no longer reciprocal interest.
