International Rules football

International Rules football is an amalgamation of Gaelic football and Australian Rules football, which was created by the combined Irish football league and Australian football leagues in order to have purpose to their international teams (All-Ireland and All-Australia) in their respective codes. While the rules are theoretically meant to be an equal mix of Gaelic football and Australian Rules football, in reality they are much more similar to Gaelic football. As a result, in spite of Australian Rules football being much more popular and much more professional, Ireland usually win the international matches. Matches are usually played in 2-match series every year, alternating between being played in Australia or Ireland, with the winner being the side that has the highest combined score between the two matches.

International Rules football was primarily the concept of the Australian Football League and their original intention was to have a combined league with American football, a sport that is much more similar to Australian Rules football than Gaelic football is. The American Football leagues, however, refused to the agreement, due largely to the significant degree of difference in money that American football earns compared to Australian Rules football, the great difference in populations between the United States and Australia and a general refusal by the Americans to change their rules in any way to suit the Australians. After negotiations fell down, Ireland was approached, who were more than happy to agree and International Rules football began.

Features taken from Gaelic football

• Round soccer-style ball.
• Goals.
• Overs.
• A goalkeeper.
• If it goes out of bounds, it is always a free kick.
• Ball stays in if it hits the posts.
• Players bounce the ball in the same way.
• 4 paces per bounce.
• Hand passes in the same way.
• 15 metre penalty for severe penalties, instead of 50 metres in Australian football.
• Use a soccer-length and size ground.

Features taken from Australian Rules football

• 1 point for behinds if you miss the goal to either side (in Gaelic football this would not count for anything).
• Tackle in a bear-hug manner.
• The game stops when the ball is marked (caught on the full).

Features that are a combination of the two

• 6 points for goals (in Australian football this would be 6 points, while in Gaelic football it would be 3)
• 3 points for overs (in Australian football this would also be 6 points, while in Gaelic football it would be 1)

Criticism of the concept

As this was primarily an Australian invention, the major criticism is that the Australian Football League compromised too severely on the rules, as they made it very similar to Gaelic football and not very similar at all to Australian Rules football. The only 2 major things that are similar to Australian Rules football are the bear-hug tackles and the game stopping on a mark, while everything else is similar to Gaelic football. Whilst the Irish, particularly when learning the difference, were initially shocked by being tackled with bear hugs, after the first few seasons they soon got used to it and it has ended up being heavily favoured towards the Irish. Many in Australia have petitioned for the ball to be changed to be an oval-shaped ball to balance the rules further but to date that suggested rule change has not been agreed to by the Irish.

Another great criticism is that in actual fact American football is far more similar to Australian Rules football than Gaelic football, due primarily to the fact that both American football and Australian rules football are based on rugby while Gaelic football is based on soccer and that it would be a lot easier to formulate a combined Australian-American football international rules game than it would be to formulate a fair Irish-Australian football international rules game. While the Americans were initially invited by Australians to this concept prior to the Irish being asked, and they refused, many feel that the Americans could have been asked further, perhaps compromising on the suggested rules further, so that it was closer to American football than Australian football and that surely eventually Americans would agree to a combined rules system.

Some also feel that a 2nd version of International Rules football, that is based on a combination of Australian-American football should be attempted in addition to the combined Irish-Australian football version (in addition, potentially, to an Irish-American football code).

Support of the concept

In Ireland, International Rules matches are very popular, while in Australia they have minimal interest. This is due primarily to the fact that the rules are very similar to Gaelic football yet they are very different to Australian Rules football. As Ireland tends to win these encounters more often than Australia do, Ireland are quite keen to see their national team win.

A lot of Australians regard Ireland as a better option than America because traditionally many Australian convicts were from Ireland and Australia as a country has a very close bond with Ireland, much closer than Australia's bond with the United States.

While American football is more similar and United States were contacted first, they refused to agree to negotiations and they broke down, while the Irish were happy to agree to the concept and very keen on the idea. As such, many feel that Ireland should be the team for Australia to play against.

While American football in many ways looks similar to Australian Rules football, it is very stop-start with incomplete passes and time outs dominating, while both Australian Rules football and Gaelic football are much more free flowing.

American football players wear helmets and copious amounts of padding, while players in both Gaelic football and Australian Rules football wear no helmets or padding at all, which may make translation difficult.

While American and Australian football both use the same sized ball, they are slightly different size and shape and are made out of different material, which may actually have made the concept more difficult than changing from an oval to a round ball, because when two are so similar yet distinctly different, it can actually make it harder to work out. Kicks with an Australian football compared to an American football go different distances and bounce differently.

While Australian Rules football players have occasionally gone onto play American football, it is relatively rare, with less than 1 player per year making it to the American major leagues. In comparison, around 3-5 Irish Gaelic football players per year end up playing Australian Rules football at the elite level, which makes the bond a lot stronger with Irish-Australia relations than with American-Australian relations. To date, no Australian Rules footballers have played Gaelic football at the elite level and no American footballers have played either Australian Rules football or Gaelic football at the elite level.