THE INTERNATIONAL Rules Series might need to be put on ice if this year's scheduled series in Australia is not successful, the Gaelic Athletic Association's president elect says.
Aogán Ó Fearghail will take over as the boss of Irish football's ruling body in February next year when incumbent Liam O'Neill steps down.
Ó Fearghail told independent.ie recently he had doubts about the future of the IRS, suggesting whether it continued would depend on how strongly the AFL and its players supported the concept at this year's scheduled series.
"I think the International Rules Series may well have run its course for now and may have to be parked for a while, not scrapped," Ó Fearghail said ahead of his election.
"A lot will depend on the 2014 series in Australia and their attitude to it.
"I would strongly support promoting hurling and football internationally. I would also favour revamping the inter-provincial competitions and for them to become a significant outlet for our top players."
Last year's IRS in Ireland was the most lopsided in the hybrid game's history, with the Irish team smashing Australia's undermanned team by a combined 101 points across the two Tests.
The all-Indigenous Australian team was weakened by the unavailability of stars such as Adam Goodes, Cyril Rioli, Patrick Ryder, Stephen Hill, Shaun Burgoyne, Michael Johnson and Chad Wingard.
The Australians' humbling defeat followed a similarly dismal performance in the 2011 home series when a squad lacking in star power was beaten 2-0 and by a combined 65 points.
During last October's series in Ireland, the GAA raised concerns about the strength of the past two Australian teams.
The AFL and GAA held talks at the time about the series' future.
AFL football operations manager Mark Evans described those discussions as positive and highly productive, but said both parties had agreed that the IRS's future success depended on both countries' best players participating.
"We think that the success of the series and the future of the series is dependent on getting the best players to participate from the spectacle point of view, from an interest point of view and for the contest," Evans said last October.
Evans said at the time the AFL and GAA were discussing possible venues for this year's series in Australia.
The IRS has been put on hold twice before.
After poor crowds turned up for the 1990 series in Australia, no Tests were played for eight years.
After the fiery 2006 series in Ireland, the Irish pulled out of the competition indefinitely, but the GAA agreed to resume in 2008 after signing off on a revised set of rules with the AFL.
The IRS' first Tests were played in Ireland in 1984, but former VFL umpire and media commentator Harry Beitzel laid the groundwork for the competition when he led The Galahs tours of 1967-68 to Ireland and Europe.
