There is no getting away from the basic point that the scenes in the second test were disgraceful and this troubled, hybrid game should be consigned to history and never be allowed resurface.

Nor can there be much doubt that the Australians were the instigators of the mayhem that dominated the first quarter. However, amid all the hysterical and wholly partisan condemnation of the AFL players, a couple of key points have been largely missed.

Former Meath great Colm O'Rourke, who was working as an analyst for RTE last Sunday, was one of the few to point out that some of the Irish players hadn't covered themselves with glory during those chaotic opening minutes. He cited examples of Irish players headbutting and kicking, while there were also a couple of extremely dangerous tackles on Australian players. The wrongdoing was not solely confined to one side.

But much more importantly, those who rush to condemn the Australians need to first take a long hard look at our own games. The reality, as anyone with even a passing interest in sport must be aware, is very different. Gaelic games, and gaelic football in particular, has a serious problem with discipline which seems to have been forgotten in recent days.

The scenes witnessed last Sunday are by no means unique to the compromise game. Before casting the first stone, think back to the Tyrone-Dublin national league game last year; the 1996 All Ireland final between Meath and Mayo; the 1988 All Ireland final between Meath and Cork; the Louth-Laois Leinster semi-final of 1991; the 1992 Dublin-Kildare Leinster final and the 2004 All Ireland minor football quarter final between Cork and Laois.

The club scene has an even longer roll-of-shame. This year's Galway hurling final;

the Laois minor hurling final of 2005 which left a 15-year-old player in hospital after a blow to the head; the footballer in Kerry who earlier this year had his jaw broken in a challenge game; and a Laois under-21 football championship game earlier this year where a player was allegedly struck by a spectator and the game almost abandoned . . . just a few examples, which have been replicated in virtually every county in the country at some point in recent years. There also have been high-profile incidents over the years of referees and linesmen being seriously assaulted . . . in one infamous case, a referee was locked in the boot of a car.

Speaking in this newspaper recently, GAA president Nickey Brennan . . . who, to be fair, handled himself extremely well over the past week . . . argued that such incidents were isolated. Maybe, but the reality is that they are a lot less isolated than in the competing codes of rugby and soccer. Growing up playing both soccer and gaelic football, I cannot recall a game where a hand was raised on the soccer pitch, yet by under-16 level in gaelic football, outbreaks of fighting were a common occurrence, and even at that age, free-foralls were not unheard of. Given that in many cases, the same players were playing both games, that can only suggest there is a greater tolerance for violent play in GAA than in soccer.

Obviously, the vast majority of games are played in the right spirit, but incidents of serious violence on the GAA pitch occur far too frequently. And, for those who do transgress in gaelic games, the punishment is usually laughably light . . .

witness the fiasco of the attempts to impose discipline after last year's aforementioned game between Tyrone and Dublin. The speed at which the sin-bin concept . . . which could have dramatically reduced incidents of foul play if it was given time . . . was dumped shows where discipline comes in the order of priorities.

It's hard to be optimistic that this will change. The hard man is lionised in GAA as in no other sport. He is respected far more than the skillful but 'soft' player who doesn't like to 'mix it'. It's a cultural thing.

Free-flowing, genuinely exciting games . . . the Cork-Mayo All Ireland football final of 1989 and the Dublin-Mayo All Ireland semi-final of this summer are two that spring to mind . . . are dished by the GAA 'purist' because there are not enough hard knocks; not enough fellas getting stuck in. How perverse is that? Imagine soccer-lovers deriding the classic ItalyBrazil World Cup game in 1982 because there wasn't enough fouling?

Gaelic football played the right way is a wonderful spectacle, but we do not see many great games because, usually, good players are simply not protected by the rules of the game.

Sure, the Australians set out to intimidate the Irish players last Sunday but, even allowing for the obvious point that the Aussies can do it better, can anyone honestly say that there have been All Ireland winners over the past 20 years that haven't done the same thing? Can anyone honestly say that there weren't at least 10 worse, more malicious, challenges committed last summer in the championship than the largely legitimate tackle that knocked out the unfortunate Graham Geraghty and so enraged the nation?

The hope is that, with the focus of attention so firmly on thuggery in the International series, some of that focus will shift to hurling and football and the tough line on violent play will be maintained in our code. Anything else smacks of pure hypocrisy.