State of Origin

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This article is about the general concept of State of Origin. For specific information on the annual series of rugby league games in Australia, see the Rugby League State of Origin article.

State of Origin is the name used in Australia for rugby league and Australian rules football matches, in which players are selected for the State in which they first played. The concept mirrors international representative rules in other sports.

It was devised to address the drift of most talented Australian rules players to the Victorian Football League (VFL), and the effect that this had on interstate matches. A similar situation existed in regard to the New South Wales Rugby League which until the 1980s recruited the best players from the Queensland Rugby League.

Although Australian rules state of origin matches no longer take place, the annual Rugby League State of Origin Series is now one of Australia's most popular sporting events.

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History

The first recorded call for state of origin matches was made in 1900 by a journalist known as "The Cynic". Writing for a rugby union periodical called The Referee, he suggested that Stephen Spragg, who had moved to Queensland, should be able to play for his state of birth, New South Wales. The concept has never been officially used in rugby union, however, due to the popularity of the Rugby League State of Origin series, games involving NSW and QLD are often referred to as 'grudge matches' and are usually more popular than regular games.

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Australian rules

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The first State of Origin game was an Australian rules football game between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria in 1977. Leon Larkin, marketing manager of the Subiaco Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL), negotiated with the VFL for two years before reaching agreement for the game. The game took place at Subiaco Oval in Perth on October 8. In the words of football historian John Devaney:

A Western Australian team comprised entirely of home-based players had, on 25 June, taken on a VFL team containing many of the same players who would return to Perth three and a half months later for the state of origin clash. The respective scores of the two matches offered a persuasive argument, if such were needed, of the extent to which the VFL had denuded the WAFL of its elite talent:
  • On 25 June 1977 VFL 23.16 (154) defeated Western Australia 13.13 (91) - a margin of 63 points
  • On 8 October 1977 Western Australia 23.13 (151) defeated Victoria 8.9 (57) - a margin of 94 points, representing an overall turn around of 157 points
Western Australia's previous biggest winning margin against a Victorian state team had been a mere 38 points in 1948. Almost overnight, an inferiority complex was dismantled: Victoria, it seemed, was not intrinsically superior, only wealthier.

Games involving each of the other states soon followed. In 1989, a crowd of 91,960 people — a record for interstate games in Australian rules — attended a game between Victoria and South Australia at the MCG.

Attendance and interest declined during the 1990s, due to a variety of factors, such as the VFL's ongoing conversion into a national club competition. The last official Australian rules state of origin game was held in 1999.

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Rugby league (Australia)

Main article: Rugby League State of Origin

New South Wales and Queensland played their first state of origin match on July 8, 1980. The Australian rules experience code was echoed, with Queenslanders showing enormous interest in the game at Lang Park, Brisbane. Against expectations, Queensland defeated New South Wales, 20-10.

The popularity of rugby league state of origin matches has not waned and they remain one of Australia's biggest sporting events. A record crowd of 88,336 achieved at Stadium Australia in 1999. The record for the annual three game series was set in 2004, when 203,309 people attended. The 2005 series saw an attendance record for a series with two matches in Queensland, with 187,374.

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Rugby league (United Kingdom and New Zealand)

The success of the Australian State of Origin games resulted in the revival of Rugby League inter-county games in England in 2001, under the name Origin Series. A similar proposal has recently been made for a competition between either North Island and South Island in New Zealand or Auckland against the rest of New Zealand.

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External links

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