Irish involvement in the early game in Australia

Irish have been involved in the game since its earliest days in Australia. Thomas H. Smith of Carrickmacross, County Monaghan^[11] was involved in the formation of the Melbourne Football club from 1858 and the drafting of the first rules for the code in 1859.^[12]

One of the founders of the St Kilda Football Club in 1873, J.J. Casey, was from Tromroe, County Clare.^[13]

The Colony of Queensland's first club, the Brisbane Football Club in 1880s had a prominent Irish component, as such its early presidents Joshua Peter Bell and Kevin Izod O'Doherty were from Kildare and Dublin respectively.

Early interactions with Australian rules

In the 1920s, the GAA and Australasian Football Council were becoming increasingly aware of each other's growing global footprint and the first test matches between the two countries were proposed though were never contested with correspondence occurring between the two sporting bodies.^[14]

First efforts to introduce the code into Ireland

The Australian High Commissioner to Ireland, Mr Mulrooney of the Canberra Australian Football Association attempted to introduce Australian Football to Dublin in 1946.^[15]

The similarity between the codes eventually raised the awareness in Ireland of the Australian sport.^[16] Certainly this awareness has grown substantially since the first International rules football tests took place in late 1967, however Aussie Rules was not officially played in Ireland until clubs were simultaneously formed in Dublin and Belfast in 1999.

Australian Football World Tour

In 1967, Harry Beitzel drew inspiration from watching the 1966 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final on television and formed an Australian side, nicknamed "The Galahs", to play the game against an Irish side. The next year he organised the Australian Football World Tour, a six-match series with games played against Irish teams in Ireland, the United Kingdom and United States of America. What followed was the beginning of regular interaction between the two codes which was to become the hybrid code of International rules football played in both countries and facilitating the cross code competition.

Irish experiment

Ron Barassi, drawing comparisons between Australian rules football and Gaelic football was of the opinion that Gaelic footballers could provide a previously untapped pool of potential Australian Rules players.^[17] As a result, wealthy Victorian clubs were scouting Ireland for new talent. In 1982, Barassi (then the Melbourne VFL club coach) and his recruiting team including Melbourne's Barry Richardson travelled to Ireland, looking for young, tall, and talented players.^[18] Over the following years, a number of Irish athletes made the journey to Australia to play professionally in Australia. Players were found not only from Gaelic football codes, but other sports including hurling and rugby. Some, including Jim Stynes, Tadgh Kennelly and Martin Clarke, achieved a level of fame in Ireland either going on to careers in Australia or returning home to achieve success in their sports at home and along with the International Rules Series, increase the profile and awareness of the Australian game.^[19][20][21]

Formation of the ARFLI and national team

Two clubs, in Dublin and Belfast, recruited and trained through the winter of 1999 and played a number of British Aussie rules clubs in challenge matches in early spring 2000. The Australian Rules Football League of Ireland (ARFLI) was formed in October 2000 after the first ever Irish Grand Final was contested between them. The following year, players from the clubs were drawn to form the first national team.

Growth and expansion

In the 2010s, the women's game grew rapidly and the first national team was established and players began to make their way to women's leagues in Australia.

By 2014, the league had grown to more than 200 players and expanded to six men's clubs and three women's clubs.

Competitions

Clubs

History

An Irish National Aussie rules team, drawn from all ARFLI affiliated clubs headed to London between 6–15 October to take part in the Atlantic Alliance Cup 2001 – a five nations International competition with United States, Canada, Great Britain and Denmark providing the opposition. A final panel of 24 players, whittled down from 60 over a three-month training period made the trip. Ireland, playing their first ever competitive International matches, won all their games in the round robin series and went on to record a win against Denmark (pre-tournament favourites) in the Grand Final. This was a huge achievement for such a young league against teams from leagues that had been established for ten years plus. Darren Fitzpatrick of Kilkenny, who previously played Aussie Rules at a professional level with the Western Bulldogs in Australia, coached the team.

In August 2002, the National team attended the Australian Football International Cup (an Amateur World Cup for nations outside of Australia). The team went into the competition as third seeds behind Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. The competition was a success for Ireland as they beat Canada, Samoa, USA, South Africa and New Zealand in the group stage and went on to beat PNG in a televised final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The team which was again coached by Darren Fitzpatrick, and was captained by Michael Johnston.

In 2005, the "Green Machine" again attended the Australian Football International Cup. With injuries and late withdrawals, the team managed a fourth place behind New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and USA.

Jim Stynes' brother David coached the 2014 national side hoping to defend the title^[22] however the side failed to defeat Papua New Guinea in the final.

The men's side was considered favourites going into the 2017 international cup,^[23] thought they finished in 3rd place.

Irish Players in the AFL

• 
  Mark Keane former gaelic footballer playing for Collingwood in 2021 is from Mitchelstown
• 
  Darragh Joyce former hurler playing for St Kilda in 2021 is from Wexford
• 
  Mark O'Connor former gaelic footballer playing for Geelong in 2019 is from Dingle
• 
  Conor Nash former Irish U18 national rugby footballer playing for Hawthorn in 2019 is from Navan
• 
  Conor Glass former gaelic footballer playing for Hawthorn in 2018 is from Glen
• 
  Conor McKenna former gaelic footballer playing for Essendon in 2018 is from Benburb
• 
  Zach Tuohy former gaelic footballer playing for Geelong in 2018 is from Portlaoise
• 
  Aidan Corr playing for GWS in 2018 is from Brockagh
• 
  Tommy Walsh gaelic footballer was recruited to St Kilda and the Sydney Swans
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  Joe Cunnane playing for Ireland in 2011
• 
  Mike Finn playing for Ireland in 2008
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  Statue of Jim Stynes who won the 1991 Brownlow Medal, and played 264 games for Melbourne, the most of any Irishman in VFL/AFL history.
• 
  Tadhg Kennelly the first to be part of both an AFL premiership side and All-Ireland final winning team
• 
  Pearce Hanley former gaelic footballer playing for Brisbane
• 
  Setanta Ó hAilpín former hurler playing for Carlton
• 
  Colm Begley former gaelic footballer playing for St Kilda
• 
  Denis Lanigan of Collingwood in 1895

Irish Players in the AFLW

• 
  Orla O'Dwyer playing for Brisbane in 2022
• 
  Sinead Goldrick playing for Melbourne in 2021
• 
  Grace Kelly playing for West Coast in 2020
• 
  Clara Fitzpatrick playing for St Kilda in 2019
• 
  Aishling Sheridan playing for the Northern Territory in 2019
• 
  Aileen Gilroy playing for the Kangaroos in 2019
• 
  Sarah Rowe former Irish national Association footballer playing for Collingwood in 2019
• 
  Cora Staunton playing for Greater Western Sydney in 2018
• 
  Ailish Considine playing for Adelaide in 2018
• 
  Laura Duryea playing for Melbourne in 2017