Former Australian International Rules coach Kevin Sheedy has said that the AFL and the GAA should re-vamp the current hybrid game’s format to create a ‘tri-series’ between an indigenous Australian team, a non-indigenous team and Ireland.

Having taken a break in 2009, the regular two-test series between the two countries will take place in Ireland in October, but Sheedy thinks that future series would benefit from a change of format.

“What I’d really love to see is an international rules tri-series played between indigenous Australia, non-indigenous Australia and Ireland,” Sheedy said. “It would be great for the development of the series, if the Australians and the Irish have the courage to do it.”

The boss of the AFL’s newest franchise, Greater Western Sydney, said he believed that the ‘tri-series’ would not only benefit the indigenous community in Australia but also help to educate the Irish community about Australian indigenous culture.

“It’s an opportunity for Indigenous people to be leaders of their own people on a tour to Ireland where they have never toured before. Irish people don’t know much about Indigenous Australians. It should be the next step in the development in the series.

“It would be fair to say that the two groups have a lot in common. Irish people and indigenous people have had a pretty tough life.”

The former Essendon coach revealed that he had tried to make the series a more global event during his time as coach.

“I met up with the secretary of the Gaelic Association on the East Coast of America about three years ago to talk about bringing the Australian team.

“I’ve always looked for ways to play International Rules in America on the way to Ireland. At that time I just couldn’t get a game up but I’m always looking for the chance.”

Sheedy is a polemic character in the history of International Rules.

He defended what were seen as rough-house tactics by the Australian team in 2006 dismissing Irish manager Sean Boylan as a leprechaun.

“At no stage was I concerned about the way the game was played,” he said afterwards.

“Sean Boylan didn’t see it that way and he ranted and raved for an hour after the match in Dublin.

“I almost fell asleep waiting for my turn and it was the first time I thought I had met a leprechaun.”

Sheedy is of strong Irish background with two of his four grandparents Irish-born.

He says he is very proud of his Irish heritage and loves visiting the country.

by Catherine Murphy

Wallabies skipper Rocky Elsom

Irish-Australian sporting clashes in recent years have been undermined by acrimony.

The International Rules series has been white-anted by fundamentalists on both sides, by Australian ambivalence on the one hand and by Irish hysteria on the other.

The affection with which the Wallabies were once welcomed to Ireland – so evident during the 1991 Rugby World Cup when the Aussies dramatically beat the Irish at Lansdowne Road – disappeared in the 1990s.
The professional era brought a new coldness to international tours. Midweek games against provinces, for so long the source of great local myth-making (Alone It Stands for instance) were consigned to history and it became business as usual. Like visiting executives, players came and went and the community did not engage with them very much at all.
Earlier this month, we saw a new bonhomie between the Irish and the visiting Aussies. Much of the credit for this must go to Wallabies skipper Rocky Elsom, a hugely popular figure in Ireland after his successful sojourn with Leinster.
Also key to this new friendly atmosphere is Wallabies assistant coach Jim Williams who played and coached at Munster.
Appropriately, given the new-found common ground, the test match at Croke Park ended in a spirited draw.