International Rules

Having viewed the first International Rules game of 2008 on TV it was time to take in the all important second leg at a rainy wind swept MCG.

For those unfamiliar with the International Rules game a very long ( and boring :)) in depth description can be found here.

In short, the International Rules series is a hybrid/compromise game between the professional Australian Rules football code and the amateur Irish Gaelic Football code. Mixing rules from both codes the teams are pitched against each other over two legs with an aggregate score deciding the victor of the Cormac McAnallen Trophy. With the first game in Perth finishing in a nail biting 45 to 44 in Irelands favour the second game meant there was still all to play for on both sides.

What appeared to be a small crowd turned out to be 43,000 strong, perhaps a testimony to the size of the venue. The game itself started off at a pretty fast pace with the home team doing a lot of the early running, a number of overs saw Australia finish the quarter with a 15 to 12 lead.

The second and third quarters saw the visitors come to the fore with a number of goals in either quarter seeing finishes of 21 to 36 and 33 to 50, respectively. An all action finish to the final quarter saw a number of further goals traded with Irish team running out victors with a final score of 53 to 57.