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Newly-appointed Australian coach Mick Malthouse has promised that his players won’t descend to on-field violence and jeopardise the future of international rules football again.
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The hybrid game will return this year when Australia host Ireland in two matches, at Subiaco Oval on either October 24 or 25 and at the MCG on October 31.
The series was suspended last year and cast into long-term doubt after Ireland were appalled by the Australians’ violent tactics in 2005 and 2006.
In reviving the series, the AFL and Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) agreed that any players needing punishment would serve suspensions in following domestic seasons, hopefully a deterrent against playing the man.
“We will play to the rules, we want to have a pleasant taste to this game,” said Collingwood boss Malthouse, who succeeds former Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy as national mentor.
“I’m a great believer in sportsmanship – always have been – and that’s first and foremost when you’re playing a game like this, that sportsmanship is never left out.
“It’s OK to win, it’s OK to go as hard as you possibly can within the rules, but I will never coach outside the rules, particularly with young men who have an opportunity to represent their country at the highest level in Australian Rules that we have.
“I’ll be ensuring that that does take place.”
AFL football operations general manager Adrian Anderson was confident both countries would play in the right spirit, regardless of the violent past.
Malthouse said he and the next group of Australian players were responsible for the game’s future.
“We are charged with the responsibility of ensuring this game goes on for as long as the AFL and the GAA see fit,” he said.
“We don’t want it compromised because we’ve broken rules or played the game in such spirit that is not in the spirit of play.”
Malthouse, who coached Western Australia in state of origin games in the early 1990s, was looking forward to working with star players from other clubs.
Seated next to Anderson, he also joked he would enjoy the luxury of having an expanded interchange bench for the first time in his coaching career.
Anderson said Australia would visit Ireland for two games next year, but that the AFL and GAA were keen to stage the series every two years after that.
The MCG game will be played amid a block of major events in Melbourne, with Derby Day the following day, the rugby league World Cup match between Australia and England on Sunday, and the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.
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