Wellington/ Hutt Valley Gaelic Football club to host party for international Rules test game between Ireland and Australia

Wellington Gaelic Football Club are organising a party to show the first of this years two International Rules test games between Ireland and Australia this coming Friday, 24th October, in the Irish Club on Fyfeshire St just off Cambridge Terrace in Wellington.

"These games are the latest in a bi annual series of two games involving a selection of top Irish Gaelic footballers versus a selection of top Aussie Rules players, with this years games taking place in Australia", said Columba Cryan president of Wellington / Hutt Valley Gaelic Football club, "These game are notorious for their physicality which I know will appeal to kiwis as much as the Irish and Aussies. Hopefully it will live up to its expectations"

Doors open in the Irish Club at 8pm and entry is $10 at the door. The theme of the night will be an 'Aussie' theme with people having to come dressed in suitable Aussie attire. There will be music, food and drinks before the test, which will be shown live at 11.30pm that night.

"We are looking forward to a great nights 'craic', as we say in Ireland, we know that any proud Aussie will want to attend, party and shout on their countrymen and you can be sure the Irish will be out to support their men", said Columba, "We are also inviting Kiwis to come along and join the party and obviously support the Irish team"

Wellington / Hutt Valley GAA club are planning huge developments over the coming 12 months. They are building a women's Gaelic football team with the intention of sending them to next 2009's Australasian games in Melbourne. They are running a 7 side tournament starting on Wed Nov 12 2008 to entice Kiwi men and women to take up the sport. They are also running the inaugural New Zealand push up championships on St Patrick's Day 17 March 2009.

Wellington/Hutt Valley Gaelic Football and Hurling Association

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The rules of 'International Rules' football
The rules of the International Rules test games are designed to provide a compromise between those of the two codes, with Gaelic footballers being advantaged by the use of a round ball and a rectangular field, as Australian rules uses an oval ball and field, while the Australian rules football players benefit from the opportunity to tackle between the shoulders and thighs, something banned in Gaelic football. The game also introduces the concept of the mark, from Australian Rules football, with a free kick paid for any ball caught from a kick of over 15 metres.

The game uses two large posts and two small posts, as in Australian rules, and a crossbar and goal net as in Gaelic football.

Points are scored as follows:
· In the goal net (a goal): 6 points, umpire waves green flag.
· Over the crossbar and between the two large posts (an over): 3 points, umpire waves red flag.
· Between a large post and a small post (a behind): 1 point, umpire waves white flag.

Scores are written so as to clarify how many of each type of score were made as well as, like Australian football, giving the total points score for each team; for example, if a team scores one goal, four overs and 10 behinds, the score is written as 1-4-10 (28), meaning one goal (six points) plus 4 overs (4 × 3 = 12 points) plus 10 behinds (10 × 1 = 10 points), for a total score of 28 points.

An international rules match lasts for 72 minutes (divided into four quarters of 18 minutes each). Gaelic football matches also go for 70 minutes, divided into two halves, and Australian rules matches typically go for 4 quarters of 30 minutes each (while the official duration varies between 15 and 25 minutes depending on the league, for AFL it is 20 minutes).

As in Gaelic football, teams consist of fifteen players, including a goalkeeper, whereas eighteen are used in Australian rules (with no keeper).

History of International Rules Football

The first visit of an Australian Rules team to Ireland took place in October 1967 when a team called "The Galahs", organised by Harry Beitzel, defeated All Ireland champions Meath 3-16 (25) to 1-10 (13) and later Mayo 2-12 (18) to 2-5 (11) in exhibition games played in front of attendances of over 20,000.

The driving force behind this initial tour was former Victorian Football League umpire (referee), Harry Beitzel, who had umpired the 1955 Grand Final between Collingwood and Melbourne. A decade later he was managing director of his own PR and Management Consulting firm and was also well-known as a TV panellist and radio commentator. Struck by the similarities between Gaelic Football and Australian Rules organised the 1967 trip to Ireland with the help of Legendary Aussie Rules star Ron Barassi, who captained the tourists.

The first venture by an Ireland team to Australia came in March of the following year and former Meath All Ireland medal winner Peter Mc Dermott was at the heart of it's organisation as the Royal county recorded five wins in five matches over the host teams. Beitzel was back in Ireland with another squad in October 1968 for games against Kerry, Meath, Down and the Combined Universities. Kerry toured Australia in March 1970 and another Beitzel group returned in October 1978 to play UCD, Dublin and Kerry. Kerry then visited Australia in October 1981 as part of a round-the-world tour.

However, it wasn't until Australian schoolboy teams toured Ireland in 1981 and 1984 and a Dublin Colleges team toured Australia in 1983 that talk of a fully blown international series led to a senior tour.

In 1984 the first of a series of "Compromise Rules" matches (later named "International Rules) were played between Ireland and Australia. Initially, the series was played over three Test games. The very first full international between the countries was played in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork on October 21st in front of just 8,000 spectators, in a game won by the Australians on a scoreline of 70-57. Ireland won the second test in Croke Park (12, 500 attended) setting up a Series decider at GAA headquarters on November 3rd. In front of 32,000 spectators, Australia inspired by the likes of Terri Danaher, James Platten, Stephen Malaxos and Robert Di Pierdomenico (the Big Dipper) won the first ever series between the two countries, winning the final test by 76-71.

Two years later, in 1986, Ireland visited Australia for the first, recording a 2-1 series victory in tests played in Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide. The Australian public however were slow to take the new game to their hearts and no more than 10,000 attended any of the fixtures.

When the series returned to Ireland in 1987, it was again the Tourists who triumphed 2-1. In the 4th series, played in Australia, the excellent record of visiting teams was maintained when Ireland regained the series with victory over the host nation. 18,000 had paid to see the first test, but attendances in the region of only 7,000 at the 2nd and 3rd games necessitated a change in policy for the GAA and AFL and the two countries would not clash again in competitive fare until the International Rules series was revived in 1998.

Almost immediately, the reception for the 2nd coming of the Rules game was positive. An extensive marketing campaign and a huge improvement in the overall quality of the play as both countries concentrated on adopting to the "compromise" rules hooked the public in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The series would now be played over two tests, and aggregate score from the games would be used to decide the eventual winner. The 35,000 who saw Ireland become the 1st team to win the Series on home soil was a record for an International between the two countries and when 64,326 people came to the 1st test in Melbourne in 1999, it was clear that this time the series would have a future.

In 2002, a new record attendance of 71,521 was recorded in Croke Park for the 2nd Test of that year's series.
The trophy presented to the winning team is the Cormac Mc Annallen Cup, named in honour of the former footballer, who represented his country in International rules before his tragic death in March 2004.
Australia were the winners of the last series of test matches which were held in Ireland in 2006.