This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Australian women's team, see Australia women's international rules football team.
| Union | Australian Football League |
|---|---|
| Emblem(s) | |
| Coach(es) | Rodney Eade (2011) |
| Captain(s) | Brad Green (2011) |
| Largest win | |
| Australia 69 – 31 Ireland (2006, 2nd Test) | |
| Largest defeat | |
| Ireland 80 – 36 Australia (2011, 1st Test) | |
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 resulted in a younger, smaller and quicker team being selected.
The International Rules Series has been played annually against the Ireland international rules football team since 1998, having first been played in 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 2011.
Famous quotes containing the words australian, rules, football and/or team:
“Beyond the horizon, or even the knowledge, of the cities along the coast, a great, creative impulse is at work—the only thing, after all, that gives this continent meaning and a guarantee of the future. Every Australian ought to climb up here, once in a way, and glimpse the various, manifold life of which he is a part.”
—Vance Palmer (1885–1959)
“A scholar, in his Segmenta, left a note,
As follows, “The Ruler of Reality,
If more unreal than New Haven, is not
A real ruler, but rules what is unreal.””
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle,
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.””
—Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863)