Rules set to resume before the end of year

GAELIC GAMES: DESPITE A motion to the contrary set for April's annual congress, the International Rules Series is expected to return to the GAA calendar before the year is out.

Resumption of the series can be confirmed on March 15th when Central Council delegates vote on the new rules and format agreed recently with the Australian Football League (AFL), whose commission meet the same day.

Delegates were told at last week's Central Council meeting to seek a mandate from their clubs ahead of the March meeting in Croke Park, after they were presented with a 18-point revision plan that was agreed with the AFL. The negotiations were conducted recently in Dubai by GAA president Nickey Brennan, head of games Pat Daly and former Irish captain Anthony Tohill.

The AFL are keen for the two-Test series to resume as part of their 150th centenary celebrations. Croke Park supports a resumption after two years as it provides players with an international outlet and the need to regulate the increasing number of players taking up professional contracts with Australian clubs.

The Kildress club in Tyrone have drawn up a motion for congress calling for a complete severing of relations with the AFL on the grounds it is of no benefit to the progress of Gaelic games.

If club delegates vote to resume the series before congress such a motion could potentially be sidelined or even ruled out of order.

"The motion is still there but it would be difficult to reconsider if Central Council delegates - on a mandate from their clubs - vote to accept the new agreement," said Daly. "It's back in the hands of the county boards for now."

Tyrone have long been opposed to International Rules with manager Mickey Harte an outspoken critic on the basis that it hinders the development and promotion of Gaelic games.

Another theory is it provides a shop window for AFL teams to Ireland's best football, and hurling, talent - especially the underage series, which the GAA would be less interested in re-activating.

The Croke Park line has been consistent; a good relationship with the AFL means retention of some form of control over the flow of players and at the very least scope to seek an age cap and other barriers against the scouting process that is leading to a steady exodus of young Irish talent.

"If we don't maintain a relationship with the AFL then it becomes just like players going to play soccer in England or choosing professional rugby. We relinquish all control," said a GAA spokesman recently.

Daly foresees only one difficulty in resuming the series: "If the issue of player recruitment and re-activating the series gets mixed up, it could become a problem."

The issue wasn't officially discussed in Dubai but the AFL have since publicly spoken against an increased recruitment drive in Ireland.

Two teenagers who left Gaelic football for Aussie Rules in recent months, Kevin Dyas (Armagh) and Pierce Hanley (Mayo), made their debuts over the weekend in pre-season games. Dyas, an Armagh minor and All-Ireland colleges winner with Abbey CBS in 2006, featured for Collingwood against West Coast Eagles, while Hanley played for the Brisbane Lions against the Kangaroos.

That former Aussie Rules player and sports agent Ricky Nixon is proposing a Aus$30,000 (€18,600) fee for AFL clubs to receive a personalised scouting channel in Ireland is a major concern. "If he is offering 30 grand for that service there is more money in the game than sense," added Daly. "Aussie Rules scouts in Ireland is hardly a new thing. But yes, as it stands there is no restriction to prevent them coming over and taking our players."

In putting the International Rules series back on track the GAA can insist on some ground rules with the AFL, but that doesn't stop the clubs approaching players.