The 2008 International Rules series, which is due to take place in Australia in November, is in doubt again after Australian officials requested that a one-off match be played this year.
And GAA director general Paraic Duffy has issued an ultimatum to AFL bosses that they must confirm dates and venues for the Tests within the next ten days, or the he will kill off any hope of the series going ahead this year.
‘We would have hoped that by now we would be in a position to say that we are proceeding with the Series this October, but we are not in that position yet,’ Duffy said on Tuesday.
'We agreed to resume the Series on the basis of a two-game Series.
‘The AFL, some weeks ago, made soundings to us about the possibility of playing one game only – the reason being that they are having some difficulty because of the Rugby League World Cup and some grounds have also been committed to cricket in late October.
‘They are having problems accessing some of the grounds that they wanted for a two-game Series and maybe some problems with their own calendar as well.’
And Duffy insisted that this is not news to the AFL board.
‘We made it clear to them some weeks ago that we aren't interested in a one-game Series.
‘We are not prepared to travel to Australia to play one match. It will have to be a two-game Series or there will be no Series. We made that quite clear to the AFL.’
Since the series was revived in 1998 after an absence of eight years, Ireland and Australia have played each other twice in each series.
It is understood that the majority of big match venues Down Under will host Rugby League World Cup matches around the same time, and the AFL are having difficulty tying down a second venue.
Following the ugly scenes that marred the second Test between Ireland and Australia in 2006, it was decided to 'park' the series and no Tests were played in 2007.
