The Irish Experiment - Fierce But Friendly

AFL Record, International Rules Series, October 1999

Ron Barassi’s well-thumbed passport offers an intriguing insight into AFL Football’s push into the international arena. By Stephen Phillips.

In the space of four years in the mid-1960s, Ron Barassi found himself leading a Melbourne side to Honolulu and San Francisco, an Australian side to Bucharest, Romania, and a team that would become known as the Galahs to Ireland and New York.

While Melbourne’s 1963 battles with Geelong in Honolulu and on the mainland at Golden Gate Park did little to foster our game in the US, just as the exhibition game in Bucharest failed to ignite the passions in communist eastern Europe, the Irish experiment did work.

Now, some 32 years after former VFL field umpire and entrepreneur Harry Beitzel took his team of Australian champions to Ireland, the rivalry continues as fierce as ever.

Trailblazer Barassi was captain-coach of the first team. If the truth be known, he seems to remember those moments with more clarity and fondness than his last full season playing Australian Football with Carlton.

There are photographs of Barassi and his men about to embark on their tour into the unknown. Decked out in green blazers, they made a fine sight, but it was the hat that capped it off. Beitzel had his players wear slouch hats. "The hats turned out to be a sensation," Barassi recalls, but before memorabilia collectors start knocking on his door, he has no idea where his went.

The team had training sessions under a local Gaelic football expert, had a full-scale practice match at Royal Park and then set off to Darwin to play the Northern Territory en route to Europe.

It was there that they read with horror of the nickname that had been bestowed on them. "Harry had been giving Jack Cannon, of the Melbourne Herald, all the scoops. We got to Darwin and were absolutely furious when we read that he had christened us the Galahs," he said. The name stuck.

Among the players on that first foray were future AFL Legends Barassi, Bobby Skilton and John Nicholls. Hall of Famers Royce Hart, Alex Jesaulenko and Barry Davis and players of the calibre of Ian Law, John Dugdale, Laurie Dwyer, Paddy Guinane, Norm Brown, Don Williams, Billy Barrot, John Jillard, Ken Fraser, Hassa Mann, Roger Dean and Bob Keddie.

For 19-year-old Hart, it was an eye-opening experience. The young Tasmanian’s overseas travelling experiences had been limited to crossing Bass Strait. In 1967, he starred in a VFL Premiership, played in Bucharest, toured Ireland and played in New York.

"Jezza and I were the youngsters on the tour. We didn’t know much about the Gaelic game apart from those training sessions behind the Royal Children’s Hospital in Royal Park. We arrived at Croke Park and saw these little five-foot-nothing Irish blokes run out, little spindly legs, and thought what have we got here? But they were as tough as hell," Hart recalled.

More than 23,400 turned up at Croke Park to watch the Australians take on All-Ireland champion Meath. None expected any serious challenge from the Galahs.

"They scored in the opening seconds," Barassi said. "You could tell from the look in their eyes that they wondered why we were there." That point from Oliver Shanly gave the Irish the lead for the only time in the match.

Just six weeks after guiding Richmond to the premiership, it would be Hart who shone for Australia up forward. He kicked two goals before half-time and with Bob Skilton kicking a third, Australia built its lead to 3.7 to 0.3. (The first figure refers to goals - under the bar between the goal-posts - and the second to overs - over the bar but between the goalposts - and behinds.)

Meath’s Matt Kerrigan set up Murty O’Sullivan for his side’s only goal six minutes before the end, to make the final score 3.16 to 1.10. The Irish crowd was amazed at the goalkeeping skills of Melbourne’s Don Williams, the cool of Essendon’s Barry Davis at full-back and the sheer bulk of Carlton powerhouse John Nicholls.

Less than a week later, the men of Mayo were treated to another impressive display from the tourists. The Connacht champions were overwhelmed by the superior fitness of the Australians with Skilton and Hart again scoring goals in a 2.12 to 2.5 victory.

The Australians amazed the locals with their basic ball-handling skills, their passing and, of course, after a tough VFL season, their fitness.

Mick Dunne reported on all the Australian matches in Ireland stretching back to 1967. This is how he described the visitors: "Those who were there at the beginning recall that they appeared to be colosally oversized giants of men, all rippling muscles and bulging pectorals, as they trotted confidently, brazenly out from under the old Cusack Stand on that murky day in late October 1967. Those sleeveless, dark green guernseys and tight, hip-hugging shorts accentuated the imposing physique of the pioneering squad of Australians Rules footballers..."

On the way home, the Australians called in to New York for a taste of the famed Irish hospitality. It was here that Barassi came face-to-face with a tough narcotics detective named Brendan Tumulty in front of 9000 wildly enthusiastic fans. "He just upped and whacked Ron. He didn’t know what hit him. Then Ron took off after him and Tumulty high-tailed it," Hart said of the most famous incident of that first tour.

Barassi has often told the story of how the Irish-bred detective belted him in the nose: "I caught up with him later in the casualty ward at the hospital. He broke a bone in his hand on my nose. There was another New York policeman being treated and Hassa Mann, who had a broken jaw."

The Australians lost the match 4.8 to 0.5. Tumulty and Barassi would become great mates. Hart said that apart from the ferocity of the match, the thing that was still vivid was the memory of the curtain-raiser. "They put on a display of hurling. If you thought the main match was tough, this was tougher. A lot of blokes belting the daylights out of each other with big sticks.

In 1968, with humiliation fresh in their minds, Meath visited Australia for a five-match tour. The All-Ireland champion would play five state sides and win the lot scoring 26.43 to 3.29 - a convincing answer.

At the end of 1968, Barassi celebrated his coaching success in the VFL - he had taken Carlton to its first premiership in 21 years - by again accepting the post as captain-coach of the Australian touring side. Beitzel had cast his net widely and among the team would be the ironman of South Australian football, Neil ‘Knuckles’ Kerley. "I roomed with Barassi on that trip and had to take over as captain when he got injured," Kerley said. "It remains one of my greatest sporting memories."

Among the Australians in that side were Kevin Bartlett, his Richmond teammate Hart, who by this time regarded himself as a fully fledged international traveller, Bryan Quirk, John Dugdale and Peter Hudson.

"The opening game was against Kerry at Killarney. We jumped in the bus and drove to the ground. There was not a soul there. the pitch was covered in sheep. I asked the bus driver where the crowd was and if it was normal an hour before the game for the sheep to be grazing," Kerley said.

"The crowd will get here; they’re at church," I was told. "And the sheep? Well they’re mowing the pitch. That’s the way they do things here."

"Sure enough, a huge crowd turned up and we drew the game."

Before the match against Meath, the Australians were marched to the ground behind a band. There was a ball the night before. It was here that Kerley ran into Peter Rooney, an Irishman he likens to the Eagles’ Peter Matera of today. " ‘Hi, my name’s Peter Rooney and I’ll be standing you tomorrow,’ this bloke says. I gave him a few beers and didn’t have any myself," Kerley said.

"The next day we walked out on to Croke Park and this bloke runs over. ‘Hi, Neil, it’s me Peter Rooney’, and he thrust out his hand. I told him that wasn’t the way we played in Australia and I picked him up and dropped him over the boundary line. He didn’t get a kick.

"After the match, we went in for a beer and there was Peter sitting in the corner looking terrible. He looked up at me and said ‘Ah, Neil, how could you have done that in front of my own people?"

The big match of the 1968 tour was against Down, the All-Ireland champion, fresh from beating New York in the second leg of a world cup tie. The Australians won 1.11 to 2.7. The star up forward was Peter Hudson, who kicked 1.3, and Kevin Bartlett, who kicked four points. Again the Australians were undefeated.

On the way home, they again detoured through New York and, wary of the turbulent nature of the match the previous year, Beitzel had cautioned his men about rough play. "Under no circumstances were we to retaliate," Kerley said.

"The ball was bounced and John Dugdale had his nose broken - all inside the first minute. They were big Irish coppers who worked the Bronx. You can imagine how tough they were. I sent a message to Harry. It’s time to have a go."

Needless to say, the Australians and New Yorkers tangled, but Kerley said the reception afterwards was quite stunning.

In 1970, friendships were rekindled when Kerry went on a world tour, playing games in San Francisco, New Zealand and Australia. Kerry won all seven games on tour thanks to the brilliance of Mick O’Dwyer, who scored 9.30 himself.

Beitzel returned one more time in October 1978 and his team played UCD, Dublin and Kerry.

It wasn’t until Australian schoolboy teams toured Ireland in 1981 and ‘84 and a Dublin Colleges team toured Australia in 1983 that talk of a fully blown international series led to a senior tour.

The tour of 1984 is not remembered fondly in many quarters in Ireland. The three match series was part of the Gaelic Athletic Association’s Centenary Year celebrations. The games were played under compromise rules, with four 20-minute quarters. The touring party included Gerard Healy, Robert Flower, Craig Bradley, Maurice Rioli, Garry McIntosh, Michael Aish, Robert Wiley and Peter Motley and a 19-year-old Dermott Brereton.

The Australians, under coach John Todd and captain Steve Malaxos, beat Ireland in the first international. The play of Gary Pert, Bradley, Ross Glendinning and, of course, the man the whole country wanted to see, Robert ‘Bertie’ DiPierdomenico, set Australia for a 70-57 win. The game was marred by an ugly third-quarter brawl that threatened the future of the series. Some 18,000 saw Ireland win the second match and 32,000 were at Croke Park to see the Australians win the decider.

Caroline Wilson, the chief football writer for The Age, was at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork in October 1984 for the Melbourne Herald. She wrote: "Several physical incidents and an angry third-quarter brawl involving players, officials and runners horrified the local camp, which claims Australia’s tackling had broken the compromise agreed on before the start of the Test series."

Irish team manager Peter McDermott had to be ordered from the ground, a stretcher was required to remove Ireland’s Michael Lyons, who was concussed after an incident with Mark Lee, and officials met afterwards to discuss the rules for the remaining matches. "I’m concerned at the outlook of the Australians," McDermott told the Irish Press. "Their win-at-all-costs attitude is not good. They are professionals and we are amateurs."

Ireland levelled the series by winning at Croke Park in Dublin. Misses by Steve Kernahan and Gerard Healy and a misdirected kick by John Platten allowing the home side an 80-76 victory.

The final at Croke Park five days later was a heartstopper. Tough and stirring. DiPierdomenico created history by becoming the first player to be sent from the field after a ferocious tackle and Bradley would follow. Coach Todd had to be removed from the field after things became overheated later in the match. He was particularly upset throughout the series at the manhandling of his players by the Irish umpire. In separate incidents, Craig Holden and Russell Greene were grabbed by the throat by one umpire.

Some 32,000 saw Australia come from behind with two minutes to play and win by five points.

The Irish came down under in 1986 and opened their series in front of 24,000 at the WACA Ground in Perth. It would be another tough physical game with Terry Daniher and Chris Langford both scoring 11 points in a 64-57 Australian win. Two Irish and three Australian players were sent from the field.

Wins in Melbourne and on a stormy night in Adelaide gave Ireland another series win. DiPierdomenico had some revenge for his handling in Ireland by winning the Beitzel Medal as the best player of the series.

There were two Irish exports starring for the Australians when Kerley took his side on the 1988 tour. Jim Stynes and Sean Wight had both played Gaelic football as boys and were stars of the Australian game. Both would figure prominently in a clean sweep by the visitors.

"We were met at Shannon airport by the mayor in all his robes," Kerley recalled. "They were absolutely adamant they didn’t want a repeat of the previous visit. I told them we were here to play tough and aggressively. If they start it, we will retaliate. There was a little dust-up in the last game when Gary Pert got decked and Paul Roos retaliated and was sent off."

Ireland came out in 1990 and was again successful in Australia, this time being deprived of a whitewash when the Aussies, under skipper Terry Daniher, won in Perth.

In 1999, such is the prestige associated with the matches against the touring Irish team, that the All-Australian side named on August 30 will form the backbone of the Australian team. It will be coached by Brereton, a five-time Hawthorn premiership star.

Kangaroos and 1999 All-Australian captain Wayne Carey led the Australians on their trip to Ireland last year. "It was sensational," he said. "They are not as physical as our boys, but are very quick. It’s pretty much Aussie Rules with a round ball. They’ve had the benefit of watching our game on television the last year and know what to expect." Unfortunately, this year Carey is recovering from post-season surgery.

Australia won the first of the two match series at Croke Park and lost the second with Ireland taking the series on points.

Among the Australians this year will be Ben Hart and Scott West, members of the first youth side to visit Ireland in 1991 under Rod Austin. The under-17 series will continue next year when the AIS/AFL Academy team visits Ireland under Kevin Morris.

From Kerley to Carey, Barassi to DiPierdomenico, there has been a common thread when talking about the international matches against the Irish. For all of them, it has been a pinnacle of their footballing careers, a chance to play not at club or state but at international level. Sensational has been the most common adjective when talking to any of them.