International Rules Series
| Sport | International rules football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1967 (Australian Football World Tour) |
| Inaugural season | 1984 |
| No. of teams | 2 |
| Country | Australia Ireland |
| Continent | Oceania Europe |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Ireland |
| Most titles | Ireland (10 titles) |
| TV partner(s) |
Seven Network (Australia) Raidió Teilifís Éireann (Ireland) |
The International Rules Series is a senior men's international rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team (selected by the Australian Football League) and the Ireland international rules football team (selected by the Gaelic Athletic Association). The series is played close to annually in October or November after the completion of the AFL Grand Final and the All-Ireland Football Final which are both traditionally played in late September. The matches are played using a set of compromise rules decided upon by both the two governing bodies; known formally as international rules football. While the International Rules Series matches use some rules from Australian rules football, the field, ball and uniforms of both teams are all from Gaelic football.
The two teams contest a trophy, which in 2004 was named the Cormac McAnallen Cup—after the Tyrone team captain Cormac McAnallen, whose death that year from a heart condition came after he had represented Ireland in the previous three series.
The concept for the series originates from the Australian Football World Tour, which took place in 1967. The first series took place in Ireland in 1984 under a three match format, whereby the team accumulating the most wins from the series gained victory. Following poor Australian crowds and relative lack of interest in 1990, the series was revived in 1998 under a two match aggregate points format. In a bid to revitalise the public interest in the concept, the 2014 series was reduced to a one-off test match featuring exclusively All-Australian players.
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