State of Origin - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article is about the general concept of State of Origin. For specific information on the annual series of rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

games in Australia, see the Rugby League State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

article.

State of Origin is the name used in Australia for one existing sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

ing event which involves domestic representative teams. The term, when used in isolation, usually refers to rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

football, and occassionally Australian Football matches, in which players are selected for the Australian states or territories

States and territories of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...

where they either first played (hence the name 'state of origin') or played the majority of their junior football. The concept mirrors international representative rules in other sports. Although Australian Football state of origin matches no longer take place, the annual Rugby League State of Origin Series

Rugby League State of Origin

State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

is now one of Australia's most popular sporting events.

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

New South Wales Rugby League

The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and is a member of the Australian Rugby League. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984 when forward thinking marketing managers decided...

which until the 1980s recruited the best players from the Queensland Rugby League

Queensland Rugby League

The Queensland Rugby Football League is the governing body for rugby league in Queensland. It is a member of the Australian Rugby League and selects the members of Queensland State of Origin teams....

. This was due to the increased funds of the New South Wales clubs, due to poker machines, which Queensland laws prohibited.

History

The first recorded call for state of origin matches was made in 1900, before Australias's split between rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

and rugby league

Rugby league

, 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

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, should be able to play for his state of birth, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

. The concept would later be resurrected for rugby league

Rugby league

, however the concept has never been used in rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby league (Australia)

Traditionally, the basis for selecting players in representative international sides (i.e. their country of origin) did not extend to interstate sides in Australian rugby league. Instead players represented the state in which they played their club football as per the 'residency rule', in which they played for the club which represented the district they lived in. This gave a significant advantage to New South Wales as the movement of players south was far greater than the movement north.

Former Queensland captain and Australian vice-captain Jack Reardon

Jack Reardon

Jack Reardon was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1930s and 40s who later became a sports journalist. An Australian international and both a New South Wales and Queensland representative centre, he played club football in country New South Wales before moving to Queensland and playing...

, who had later become a journalist, was the first to suggest that Sydney-based Queenslanders should be available for selection to represent their state. This would not eventuate until decades later however, when New South Wales

New South Wales

and Queensland

Queensland

played their first "state of origin" match on 8 July 1980. The Australian rules experience was echoed, with Queenslanders showing enormous interest in the game at Lang Park (now Suncorp Stadium

Suncorp Stadium

Lang Park is the original name of the site located in the Brisbane suburb of Milton, Queensland, Australia, now occupied by the major sports facility known by its sponsorship name, Suncorp Stadium...

), Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

.

The popularity of rugby league state of origin matches since then has not waned and they remain one of Australia's (and indeed the region's) biggest sporting events. A record crowd of 88,336 attended a game at Stadium Australia

Telstra Stadium

Stadium Australia, currently also known as ANZ Stadium due to naming rights, formerly known as Telstra Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park precinct of Homebush Bay...

in 1999. The record for the annual three game series was set in 2004, when a total of 203,309 people attended. The 2005 series saw an attendance record for a series with two matches in Queensland, with 187,374. The record television audience was set during game 1 of the 2009 series and stands at 3.48 million. This is somewhat assisted by the fact that the SOO games churn out great moments by the dozen, from a 1983 Greg Dowling try created by a Wally Lewis kick bouncing off the crossbar, to Mark Coyne's last-minute try in Game I 1994 created by almost-choreographed passing involving 12 players, which Ray Warren called a "miracle try", to Israel Folau's second try in Game II 2008, which was achieved by catching a Johnathan Thurston kick in the manner of an AFL "speckie", up to the infamous all-in brawl at the end of Game III, 2009. Queensland has won 16 series from 1982–2011, and NSW has won 12, with 2 drawn. Queensland have won the most series in a row.(six series in a row 2006-2011).

Australian international teams are often selected based on performance in the State of Origin series.

New South Wales play in sky blue jerseys and are known as "the Blues", a term dating from 1974 when a journalist used the name in an article. The Blues won that series, leading coach Jack Gibson to comment "I thought they went pretty well for a bunch of cockroaches". The Queensland team plays in a maroon jersey, and are called "the Maroons". Both teams also have unbecoming nicknames - New South Wales: "the Cockroaches"; Queensland: "the Cane Toads".

Australian Football

The first State of Origin game was an Australian Football game between Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

(WA) and Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, at Subiaco Oval

Subiaco Oval

Subiaco Oval , known colloquially as Subi, is the highest capacity sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia...

in Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

on 8 October 1977. Leon Larkin, marketing manager of the Subiaco Football Club

Subiaco Football Club

The Subiaco Football Club, nicknamed the Lions, is an Australian rules football club in the West Australian Football League . It was founded in 1896, and admitted to the WAFL in 1901, along with North Fremantle...

in the West Australian Football League

West Australian Football League

The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFL is the second-most popular in the state, behind the nation-wide Australian Football League...

(WAFL), negotiated with the VFL for two years, before arrangements for the game were finalised. In the words of football historian John Devaney:
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

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

at the MCG

McG

Joseph McGinty Nichol , better known as McG, is an American director and producer of film and television, as well as a former record producer....

.

However, 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

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

, the Australian Football League (AFL). The last official state of origin game involving AFL players was held in 1999. However, an annual veterans' game

E. J. Whitten Legends Game

The E. J. Whitten Legends Game is an annual charity Australian rules football All-star game, where retired star players are reunited, along with selected non-footballing celebrities, in a State of Origin interstate game, between Victoria and the All Stars .-History:E. J...

is still held.

A once-off AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match

AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match

The AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match was a one-off all-star game between two representative sides organised by the Australian Football League to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Australian rules football....

between a Victorian state of origin side and the Dream Team representing the other states, was staged on 10 May 2008 to celebrate 150 years of Australian Football.

Rugby league (England)

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. However, the revival was scrapped in 2003 amid increasing fixture congestion and general apathy from league supporters.

The International Origin Match

Rugby League International Origin Match

The Rugby League International Origin Match is an annual rugby league fixture between the English national side and an Exiles side consisting of foreign players currently playing in the English Super League competition. The match was held for the first time at Headingley Carnegie Stadium in Leeds...

, to be held for the first time in 2011, is more of an all-star game

All-star game

An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league, except in the circumstances of professional sports systems in which a democratic voting system is used...

, as it pits the England national team

England national rugby league team

The England national rugby league team represent England in international rugby league football tournaments. The team has now seen a revival, having largely formed from the Great Britain team, who also represented Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The team is run under the auspices of the Rugby Football...

against Australian and New Zealand stars in the largely English-based Super League

Super League

Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...

Rugby league (New Zealand)

The New Zealand Rugby League has set up a similar competition called Kiwi Roots which will commence from 2010 onwards. The players will be eligible for two teams, one for players born north of the Bombay Hills and one for those born south of them. This capitalises upon the healthy rivalry that New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, has with the rest of the country.

External links

"State of Origin 30 Years: 1980 – 2009" by Liam Hauser, Rockpool Publishing, ISBN13: 9781921295386

Australian rules matches.)

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