Series set to move to 10-year basis

International Rules/News round-up:The International Rules series is about to move to a long-term arrangement. Details will not be concluded before the end of the tour but it was announced by GAA president Seán Kelly yesterday there is agreement in principle that the series should move to a 10-year basis when the current deal expires in two years' time.

"We are looking at securing the long-term future of the series by agreeing a 10-year extension when the current arrangement runs out in 2005," said Kelly.

His comments were delivered at a state reception for the Ireland and Australia teams hosted by Victoria Governor John Landy, the former middle distance Olympic athlete, and were endorsed by AFL chairman Ron Evans when he spoke.

"The idea is that we will consider a 10-year plan to bring forward the international series," he said. It is also envisaged future series will include an extra Test, three instead of two, which has been the practice since the internationals were resumed five years ago.

The practice on tour had been to announce a rollover of the series for another two years at the end of every second series, which take place in Australia. But given the success of the game to date a longer-term commitment was thought appropriate.

"The AFL and ourselves felt that another rollover announcement wouldn't be satisfactory so we're working on the idea of a 10-year agreement," said one high ranking GAA official earlier in the day.

"The notion of three Tests arose because it was felt that that would give a fairer reflection than the system at present and that whereas you could end up with a dead rubber, the AFL in particular believe that there would still be sufficient interest and pre-sales."

Over the past five years the series has featured two Tests per year and despite the obvious dangers of a split series, that has happened only once, in the inaugural year when Ireland won on aggregate after the series ended one match apiece in Dublin.

Since then, however, there hasn't been such a tight competition but, interestingly given the move towards a third Test, twice the series has been won 2-0, which would have rendered any additional matches in 2000 and 2001 irrelevant.

During the first incarnation of International Rules in the 1980s series ran to three Tests and only in the final year of that phase, 1990, did a team - Ireland - establish an unbeatable 2-0 lead. All the other three years, 1984, '86 and '87, the series was live going into the final Test.

For the past few years the AFL has been the stumbling block to the reintroduction of the three-Test series because the Australian players have such a short close-season that it was felt they couldn't accommodate a third Test. But Australian officials are said to have been impressed by the public appetite for the series, which has consistently aggregated around 100,000 spectators for each series since 1999.

In order to reduce the time commitment, the plan is to extend the current average of two weeks for a tour to two and a half with the third Test being played midweek. This creates a problem for the years when the GAA host the series. Whereas it will be no problem for the AFL to find a floodlit ground for the midweek Test - all of their Tests are played under lights anyway, on Friday evenings - the GAA currently have no grounds of sufficient capacity with that facility.

In private some GAA officials see this as an opportunity to bring the series outside of Dublin to provincial venues. "The beauty of this is that we could plan for the whole 10 years, putting a 2006 Test in Belfast, two years later in Limerick and so on," was one suggestion.

But this still doesn't address the problem of lights. The only intercounty grounds that have been used for even floodlit league matches are Páirc Uí Rinn in Cork and Stack Park in Tralee. Neither would have anything like the capacity to hold an international crowd.

The time of year is also under review with the AFL particularly happy with this year's calendar even though it came about because of the rugby World Cup and the subsequent idea to play the second International Rules Test on the same weekend as the Ireland-Australia match.

Ireland's home series could stay in the same slot in earlier October or move to the end of the month, perhaps allowing some of the club fixtures programme to be played in advance.

Also on the agenda are some rule changes. It is increasingly believed - even in Australia - the game may need some tweaking with the length of matches under review and a suggestion that instead of four quarters of 20 minutes, Tests could be played over four periods of 17 and a half minutes.

Meanwhile on the playing field, Australia manager Garry Lyon announced yesterday that Brisbane's Jason Akermanis had been called up as cover for David Wirrpunda, the latest doubt in the injury, and suspension, hit panel.

Akermanis is notorious in Ireland for his assaults on Ireland's Peter Canavan during the 2000 series in Dublin, which resulted in him receiving a two-match suspension and Canavan ruled out for one. Given the climate of criticism towards incidents of Australian indiscipline, the selection is bound to be seen as provocative. The Herald Sun newspaper ran a back-page photograph of Akermanis grabbing Canavan by the collar under the headline "Remember me, boys?"

Equally unsettling for Ireland is that Akermanis, who trained with Australia yesterday, is an excellent player who was his country's Player of the Series in 1999 and also won the AFL Player of the Year equivalent, the Brownlow Medal.

Finally this is a special day for Ireland captain Graham Canty who as well as captaining Ireland in the second Test at the MCG will be conferred with his degree in absentia at his college, Cork IT. "I would have loved to have been there and seen everyone again," he said, "but it couldn't be helped."

"Graham has had to cope with huge demands in terms of College, club, county and international football, while studying Mechanical Engineering at Cork Institute of Technology," according to Tony Fitzpatrick, head of department. "His achievement of an honours degree in a highly demanding professionally accredited degree course is testament to his exceptional academic commitment and ability."