| dbo:abstract
|
- The Australia international rules football team is Australia's senior representative team in International rules football, a hybrid sport derived from Australian rules football and Gaelic football. The current team is solely made up of players from the Australian Football League. Although Australian rules football is played around the world at an amateur level, Australia is considered far too strong to compete against at senior level. Hence, selection in the Australian international rules team is the only opportunity that Australian rules footballers have to represent their country. Until 2004, the majority of the men's Australian squad was composed of members of the All-Australian team as well as other outstanding performers from the season. In 2005, the decision was made to select players best suited to the conditions of the hybrid game, which usually resulted in a younger, smaller and quicker team being selected. However this was reverted to the All-Australian model ahead of the 2014 series. For the 2013 Series only, the decision was made to select an all-Indigenous team, known as the Indigenous All-Stars. Because of the severely limited playing pool, the Indigenous All-Stars lost by an aggregate of 101 points over the two Tests, including a record-breaking 79-point defeat in the 2nd Test. Competing in the International Rules Series, the only team Australia plays against is the Ireland international rules football team. The series has been played intermittently since 1984. Australian under-age teams have been represented in the past, as well as a women's team in 2006. Australia last hosted the International Rules Series in 2017. (en)
|
