In the autumn of 1967 an Australian Rules football squad visited Ireland for the first time for Gaelic football engagements. The visitors opened their campaign at Croke Park with a meeting against Meath on October 29th attracting a large attendance of 23, 149 to headquarters. Contacts on that tour led to the visit of Meath to Australia in March 1968.
Twelve months after their first visit Australia returned to Ireland holding Kerry to a draw and defeating All Ireland champions at the time, Down. Kerry kept the contact alive with a World Tour in 1970. It wasn't until 1978 that Australia again returned to Ireland for a three match programme with a schools team from Victoria visiting Dublin in 1982.
It wasn't until 1984 that the first test series took place between the two countries with matches at Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Croke Park while Ireland made their first visit to Australia in 1986 with games at Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide.
However, it wasn't until 1998 that the series became an annual event with 2006 marking the ninth successive year of competition. A further test occurred in 2008 with the next scheduled test series taking place in Ireland in October 2010.
Click here for the laws of International Rules Football for 2010.
