Rules gets ugly again as Australia go down

Time to scrap the concept. If we have to pander to the Irish (round ball, wimpy tackles etc.) so much, we just look silly. Who cares if AFL is only played in Australia? The average American doesn't give a rats about the international status of NFL (the Euro series is laughable). Why can't we be as proud of our own game?

Watched game two and felt the same way as most. Quarters one, two and four were fine. The less said about the third the better. Green looking like he was keen on a career in the UFC with a rear-naked choke attempt, an Irish bloke looked as if he'd kneed or kicked an Aussie guy while down during the all-in scuffle. It was farcial, schoolboy-level stuff that had nothing to do with getting the ball between the sticks. The Aussies scored as many yellow cards as points in 30 minutes of footy... And I am sick and tired of fans of this form of the game calling that brawling stuff brilliant and manly, etc. It is nothing of the sort. Players from both teams simply turn it into a running assault session every year. We all say it won't happen, then when it does we just ignore it and talk up the concept as if it should be around forever. It's really a great shame, and so frustrating, because I am one of those people who happens to think that beneath all the idiotic and pointless violence there is an utterly brilliant form of football trying to get out. I'll say it once again - when played properly - and I mean perfectly hard and tough but WITHIN THE RULES by BOTH TEAMS, it is absolutely fantastic stuff. I'm just so over those players (and I stress, from both teams at times) who think it's okay to thump others in front of the cameras, thousands of fans and so on. It would NOT be accepted in the AFL OR GAA, so why is it always seemingly accepted (nay, talked up as fun) by the media when it's under the IRF banner? Natural justice still prevailed across the fortnight. Australia simply does not deserve to win if it persists with these pathetic and cringe-worthy 'physical' tactics every time. Glad it's taking a year off, but have to ask..if they can't play within the rules together, why keep bothering with it?

@ stabpass I actually think that as a game IR has a lot going for it as well. What's plainly obvious though is that afl players aren't very good at it. I'm not having a go at afl players - they are the best in the world lol at afl but their skills (or lack thereof) and lack of genuine toughness definately don't translate to IR. On another note someone talked about some player called eastern wood. sorry never heard of this guy but got to say best name ever for asian porn star.

Well, no surprises, the Aussie bully-boys are back... An ugly and embarrassing spectacle again! If I was one of the players Id feel embarrassed about beating up those amateur Irish teachers, plumbers, taxi drivers... Time to bring back the state vs state concept, as another poster pointed out.... Although, may I just correct him: the original football matches between states in Australia were neither league or AFL, but Rugby Football, of course. Actually, these matches were first played before the games of AFL and League were even invented....

AFL players big fish in a small pond mentatlity shines through again.

Far better to recruit those playing amateur Gaelic footy in Oz, of which there are plenty, to play the Irish at their own game me thinks. You will never please both parties under this IR farce. Intotouch - I believe the standard has fallen on the Australian side a bit because the cream are really not interested. It is also fairly obvious that the hybrid is even more weighted towards the gaelic code since this was the concession made by Australia to have the Irish re visit this contest.

I don't get it. Last year Australia won the series in Ireland and the unfamiliar ball was not an issue. Where are those players this year? How could the standard from Australia have fallen so much?

Yes, please enlighten us. Australia and hmmmm Australia?

I did not think the aussies were poor athletes, guys like Easton Wood and many others are extremely athletic, far more athletic than many soccer players, and if as you say you were a nuetral, then you would have seen quite a number of cheap shots on both sides. All i can say is that i enjoy the game, cut through all the code war rhetoric and the game is good fun to watch, even it obviously does not carry the weight that a cricket test, rugby or soccer international most of the time. The Irish boys obviously were serious, and yes they embarrassed us, remains to be seen if Austraia will return to taking it seriously.

Well I was just reacting to Lachlan who said "Its not an exciting game, like soccer, perhaps, its fun to play but boring as hell to watch" Does Lachlan really think that the Chelsea v Arsenal game was "boring as hell to watch", because millions of people found it entertaining and far more people find Association Football more interesting to watch than AFL, or is it just that he likes AFL and nothing else(including IRF). The fact is, to people who don't watch much of either, this game is more interesting to watch. Whether fumbling around for the ball is a skill or not, it is not that interesting to those outside of the Aussie Rules domain. And perhaps this is why an international aspect is necessary because people outside of the AFL culture (and that includes NSW/QLD/NZ) aren't just going to start watching AFL because people in half of Australia are sure that it is the most exciting game in the world. As a neutral I watched more of that game than I would of an AFL game and the Irish impressed me in both their skills and honest toughness. The Aussies were embarrasing in the fact that they were pretty poor athletes(if kicking a sherrin is the only skill then sorry if I'm not impressed) and they were terrible sports who lacked the genuine toughness of a Rugby/League player even though this appeared to be the cornerstone of their game. They did however, have some of the most up to date muzza haircuts, perhaps a large part of their training is spent on image and training to deal with being considered the most important people on earth by Victorians.

I am not defending the way Australia approached the game and series, but the game itself for mine is a good game involving many aspects of play that appeal to me. I really think realistically, that this game tweaked here and there, would have great marketing appeal to many countries around the world. Not as physical as AF, but more so than soccer, far more easier to pick up than AF (because of the ball), less physical than RL/RU, but also open, high scoring and the ability for soccer skills to be utilised. Miss the Sherrin and high marking though.

It will be interesting to see what happens .... something has to.

What the gaelic ball does is make the game faster, but there is still plenty of fumbling, but the ball is far easier to judge after making a mistake, some of the fumbling you see in Austalian football is really fumbling on purpose, to attempt to draw a free kick for being tackled without the ball. There is no doubt that soccer skills can come in very handy in IR, but i would imagine that a gaelic footballer would tell you that they are gaelic slills, not soccer ..... perspective !. The irish have developed a wide array of skills to suit their game, just as Australian footballers have developed skills with the sherrin. Judging/kicking a sherrin is the hardest skill to pick up for a irish player, some players have a inate ability to do it, most AFL players dont.

The Irish are free to have a go at the Sherrin one day - but it aint' going to happen is it. It's the Australians who are accepting to play with an unfamiliar ball, with 5 days training, for the sake of the game. But it's got to the stage where we shouldn't bother anymore, clearly.

So what it all boils down to is that AFL players can't kick a perfectly spherical ball straight? 100% correct. However what hope do they have when a lot can't kick a sherrin straight either.

But the round ball is what makes the game more interesting. With the Sherrin its very hard to pick it up, so large parts of the game are devoted to fumbling the ball around in a pack until someone dives on it, ball up and repeat. With the round ball there is the potential for a faster game where the player can kick acurately off the ground, dribble, or flick the ball up with their feet to the hand. I even enjoyed seeing the odd backheel from the Irish. The fact is that because the Irish play with a round ball they have developed a wider array of skills and can adapt to the faster, more continuous flow of this game. The AFL has evolved to be mostly a physical contest.

So a gaelic football is not a true round ball ??. .... um what !. So if it wasn't a round ball, you would have a need to belittle it ....are you for real !.

Way off the mark, it's all about the ball, the gaelic/round ball is much easier to adapt to than the Australian indigenous ball, but the Irish boys have had a lifetime of judging, kicking, handling it, the Australian footballers know exactly where and when to run, to create space, time etc but if your teammate cannot put the ball on the spot, then it's pretty disheartening, and frustrating .... hence the biff. Play the game with our native ball, and the score would be far more lopsided, any one with even a limited knowelegde of sport would see this.

I actually find it more interesting than AFL. The problem is that because the Aussies don't have the skill to match it with the Irish or the intelligence to utilise space and make clever runs, they just start scrapping.

Agree 100%. AFL players have fitness that's for sure however nothing much else. Toughness - def not. Skill - hahahaha. Sportsmanship - what a disgrace