Down Under turned game on its head

The announcement this week that the GAA will send a team of its best players to Australia to play International Rules against a team of Australian footballers in 2017 marks 50 years of engagement between the two sports.

The idea for such an engagement was shaped from the snow of a black-and-white portable TV.

In early 1967, Harry Beitzel was sitting in his shed in Melbourne, relaxing in front of the TV, after mowing the lawn.