International Rules a crock

Why is it that the British Bulldog crowd (Rugby League) and the mobile wrestlers (Rugby Union), with, arguably, more in common than Gaelic and Australian Rules football, don't play against each other? We've seen an increasing number of high-profile bulldogs (not just Canterbury/Bankstown!) cross to wrestling recently, mostly successfully it seems, so there's not an insurmountable gap between the codes skills wise.

On the other hand, we have only Jim Stynes, Tadhg Kennelly and Colm Begley who’ve succeeded at the highest level in aussie rules, the younger Stynes and two O’hAilpins who’ve stumbled and struggled, and a few more around the fringes. Have any Aussies gone to Dublin to tackle (;-)) Gaelic Football?

I’m sorry — I’m about to utter another heresy. The Internation Rules series is a crock that advances neither sport and only enriches, ever so slightly based on ratings, television channels. The chance that a team, in either code, could lose a crucial player for a season as a result of an injury sustained in a meaningless confection of a sport is too great. Let's just knock this unfortunate 'bastard' on the head and get on with our respective codes.