Last Friday's International Rules record attendance at the MCG has been reflected in the viewing figures for Australian television which were released yesterday. Overall ratings were the third highest for any Friday football match this year.

Melbourne predictably had the highest audience with around 662,000 tuning in - making it the fourth largest viewer-ship among all programmes broadcast in the city last week. Adelaide and Perth weighed in with respectable figures of 203,000 and 210,000. Even in the non-football cities of Brisbane and Sydney, AFL officials were delighted with the response. Because of time differences, the match wasn't shown until late at night, after 11.0, but viewing figures were three times those anticipated.

There have been further claims that but for the unexpectedly heavy traffic, the attendance at the MCG would have topped 80,000. Many of those who decided to take advantage of the fine evening to come and watch the match were deterred by the gridlock leading up to the ground.

Melbourne's curious aversion to pre-booking matches was the reason why everyone was taken so much by surprise. This Friday's second Test in Adelaide will be different because the smaller-capacity Football Park, which can take around 40,000, makes pre-booking essential throughout the season. Already ticket sales have reached 20,000 and the AFL are contemplating a full house.

This would be the first capacity attendance to watch an International Rules match and would mean that the aggregate for the two Tests would top 100,000 - more than three times the total in the 1990 tour when three Tests were played.

Last week's match is also proving the best advertisement for the second Test in Adelaide and the publicity is building earlier and at a greater rate than was the case in Melbourne.

Ben Hart is a four-time All-Australian defender who has won two premierships with the local Adelaide Crows. "These games are great," he says. "I don't know of any player who hasn't given 100 per cent or been desperate to represent his country."

According to Hart, International Rules is quicker and more demanding than Australian Rules. "The game just doesn't stop and you have to be totally switched on the whole time or your player will get right away from you," he says.