Mullagh GAA will welcome up to 150 visiting Australians next March when the proud County Galway club hosts three International Rules Masters test matches.

AFL (Australian Football League) Masters will take on Gaelic Masters Association at three age grades of International Rules, a compromise game that combines Australian and Gaelic Football.

Three panels of 25 players will travel to Galway for the series with the first of two tests scheduled for March 9 at Mullagh, a proud hurling and camogie stronghold near Loughrea.

The two countries will compete in Men’s Over 40s, Men’s Over 50s, and for the first time ever a Women’s Over 40s grade has been added.

With family and friends included, a touring party of up to 150 Australians is due here next spring.

“You’ll see plenty of Aussies in Galway in the middle of March. We like visiting Galway, it’s a great tourist city and the Aussies love it,” Adrian Raftery, the AFL Masters General Manager told The Connacht Tribune.

As well as a mid-week challenge match at the Connacht GAA centre-of-excellence in Bekan in Mayo, the Australian teams will play a second test in Cavan on March 16, before hitting the St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin.

Mr Raftery twice played with Australian AFL Masters teams who toured Ireland in 2009 and 2006, including a test match in Annaghdown.

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