Why Victoria should never host another Origin match
Roar Rookie By Dominic Feenan, 24 May 2012 Dominic Feenan is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- NRL, Rugby League, State Of Origin
3,068 readsRelated coverage
Victorians claim Victoria is the home of Australian sport but if the NRL, the ARL or the independent commission gives them another State of Origin it will be the worst call in Australian sport since Greg Inglis was ruled to be a Queenslander.
They may have the AFL, they may have the Boxing Day Test, they may have the MCG, they may have Philip Island, they may have the Formula One (although they can’t seem to make a quid out of it when every other country can) and they may have the Melbourne Cup. However, this week’s amateur attempt to be interested in rugby league was simply embarrassing.
First of all you had the Victorian Sports Minister, Hugh Delahunty, make the following blunders during the press conference on Monday while trying to welcome the State of Origin to Melbourne .
• He referred to rugby league as “rugby” like all Victorians do – haven’t they worked out yet “rugby” is actually rugby union;
• He called NSW skipper Paul Gallen – “Paul Callen”;
• He referred to the match as the “State of the Origin” instead of State of Origin;
• He said the match was between “Queensland and New Zealand” and not New South Wales – Is he joking?
So when the Minister for Sport stands up and makes those mistakes while trying to reinforce to all Australians that Victoria is the home of sport is simply outrageous. What is wrong with his speech writers and advisers? Bloody hopeless. It isn’t that hard to check facts. A simple Google search or visit to NRL.com would have sorted this out for them.
However, this saga gets worse.
You’d think game one of the 2012 State of Origin Series would rate a mention on the back page of the leading newspaper in Victoria. However there was nothing.
On first inspection, it appears The Age fails to mention the game at all. Whoops my mistake….On closer inspection there is a tiny mention in the very top right hand corner.
Hang on to your hat while I quote to you what it says….
“The game breaker – Why David Carney may be the man to end Queensland’s state-of-origin dominance.”
Who the hell is David Carney? Surely they mean Todd Carney – at least they got the picture right.
The performance of Victorians this week clearly demonstrates why State of the Origin, I mean State of Origin, should never return to Melbourne. They are arrogant and don’t care one bit about the sport in question. They only care about hosting them to make money from the tourism and the event itself.
At least the Queensland Government would not be stupid enough to relinquish their shot at hosting the match.
- Explore:
- NRL, Rugby League, State Of Origin
May 24th 2012 @ 3:39am
Cameron said | May 24th 2012 @ 3:39am | Report comment
This article is quite typical of the sense of piousness RL fans get when talking about SOO. The chest beating becomes furious. OK, so in Victoria the don’t care as much about a match between NSW and QLD as they do in NSW and QLD. Wow, what an amazing surprise! And to top it off, the author claims here because of this they are arrogant!
Oh, and OK so the Victorian minister got his words mixed up. Lets conclude that Victoria no longer deserves the game anymore, despite playing to a packed stadium! And it’s a bad time to question Victoria’s interest in the game anyway, when souths and st george, the two most famous RL clubs going aroung, get a mere 12000 on the weekend in Sydney!
But hey, what the hell, let’s call them insular anyway, just because they don’t follow league as much. Oh, and by the way, lets just forget about the fact that Melbourne has supplied the biggest Origin crowd ever.
May 24th 2012 @ 7:29am
oikee said | May 24th 2012 @ 7:29am | Report comment
Yes you were going good with your reply, and the lack of even covering the game in the paper, for a Wednesday night? surely they cant be this insecure.
To finish off this obsession, all they need to do is build a giant sherrin put it in Fed Square and they can bow and pray to it on the way to work.
I think if other states ignore Melbourne long enough they might get the hint, nobody really cares, we have our international games and other interests.
You only have to look at AFL news, someone kicks his toe and it makes the front page. Obsessed they are.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:04am
Gleeso said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:04am | Report comment
It was pretty obvious that the sports minister made those errors deliberately – in some weird attempt to mock the game. Vlad would have given high five.
The only sporting event that NSW ought to pinch is the Grand Prix. The Melbourne cup is a nice festival and good for gambling but it is not sport otherwise Black Caviar would be our best sportsman. I agree no more origin in Melbourne (or at least no more NSW home games as they all support Qld down there anyway).
May 24th 2012 @ 9:39am
damoinaus said | May 24th 2012 @ 9:39am | Report comment
Trust me, Victorians do it on purpose. They act all aloof about the ‘rugby’ because they think it’s cool.
We are the bad guys in NSW, and they get theirs back by pretending the things that please us are of such little significance that they stuff up something simple like the name of the sport – every time. Lame.
May 24th 2012 @ 9:50am
Rough Conduct said | May 24th 2012 @ 9:50am | Report comment
Agree 100% Victorians do it deliberately, it is a subtle way of disrespecting both Rugby and Rugby League, when accused of disrespect, they plead ignorance.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:08pm
JVGO said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:08pm | Report comment
Typically it seems out of the exact same playbook as Sheedy’s unfunny Hindmarsh style comments, extremely clumsy and unendearing. But what should you expect I guess. Victorians have a very different sensibility to NSW & Qld.
May 24th 2012 @ 4:07pm
Kasey said | May 24th 2012 @ 4:07pm | Report comment
Vlad controls the Sports minister?? geez, and you all thought football fans were into conspiracy theories!
May 24th 2012 @ 10:51pm
Football United said | May 24th 2012 @ 10:51pm | Report comment
kasey surely you have not realised yet that Vlad controls everything! A hun newspaper isn’t set out into the public without his prior consent.
May 24th 2012 @ 7:18pm
amazonfan said | May 24th 2012 @ 7:18pm | Report comment
Can we stop with this ‘Vlad’ comments?!!! It wasn’t funny the first time, and it sure as heck isn’t funny now!!!
May 25th 2012 @ 12:28pm
Razzle Time said | May 25th 2012 @ 12:28pm | Report comment
Shut it Vlad.
May 25th 2012 @ 1:48am
amazonfan said | May 25th 2012 @ 1:48am | Report comment
“The only sporting event that NSW ought to pinch is the Grand Prix.”
You’re welcome to it.
May 24th 2012 @ 6:07pm
Cameron said | May 24th 2012 @ 6:07pm | Report comment
BARRY O’FARRELL TODAY “IT IS RIDICULOUS HAVING A STATE OF ORGIN MATCH BETWEEN QUEENSLAND AND NEWCASTLE IN VICTORIA”
BAHAHAHAHA
May 24th 2012 @ 4:30am
Tony said | May 24th 2012 @ 4:30am | Report comment
Your article just described why State of Origin SHOULD be in Victoria. The whole point is to expand the reach of the game and undo ignorance. So we should continue to have it there until they get it. And have you heard of the Melbourne Storm? Gees, one of the great teams of the last decade. I’m not even a Storm fan… but come on
May 24th 2012 @ 7:21am
oikee said | May 24th 2012 @ 7:21am | Report comment
I heard channel 7 a couple nights ago never even mentioned the game was on in Victoria, Melbourne,.
I think it is time we cut Melbourne loose, they are not even playing lip service, grow the game around other cities, we have the Storm , they dont need any more teams in Melbourne, 1 is enough.
The fiasco with the world cup bid for soccer should have told us something. These people dont want international sports. Soccer Rugby or league.
You only have to listen to commonetators, they call Melbourne “down there”, like it has 2 heads and one eye.
I dont want to put all Victorians into the one basket, but gee whiz, they are now going to far with this obsession with AFL, you can see it with everything about there game, even that Ricky Nixon has his own show i think i read, that is hideous.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:57am
me, I like football said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:57am | Report comment
They mightn’t of mentioned it a couple of nights ago, and although I didn’t see Ch7 news last night Sandy Roberts (Melbourne’s Ch7 news sports reporter) made mention of it on his SEN appearance on what will be on Ch7 news that night. What more do you want?
May 25th 2012 @ 12:24am
Queensland's Game Is Rugby League said | May 25th 2012 @ 12:24am | Report comment
I think Victorians choose to be ignorant towards rugby league. It’s the reason I stopped paying any attention to the AFL a few years ago.Victorians don’t seem to get it. They think if they remain ignorant towards rugby league and talk up AFL at every opportunity then they will convert Queenslanders and New South Welshmen to their game. All they’re doing is turning neutral supporeters into AFL haters.
May 25th 2012 @ 12:28am
amazonfan said | May 25th 2012 @ 12:28am | Report comment
Victorians choose to be ignorant? As opposed to non-Victorians who persist in calling a sport by the dominant competition? Talk about hypocrisy.
Then there are the non-Victorians who think it’s clever to refer to the AFL CEO as ‘Vlad’. You remind me of certain soccer fans on this site; constantly throwing stones in your glass houses!
May 25th 2012 @ 1:03am
Queensland's Game Is Rugby League said | May 25th 2012 @ 1:03am | Report comment
The AFL markets itself in Queensland and NSW as AFL and AFL footy. Don’t blame Queenslanders and New South Welshmen for repeating what they’ve been taught by Victorians.
May 25th 2012 @ 1:13am
amazonfan said | May 25th 2012 @ 1:13am | Report comment
Yes, it markets itself that way, however marketing doesn’t always reflect the truth. You do know how marketing works?
“Don’t blame Queenslanders and New South Welshmen for repeating what they’ve been taught by Victorians.”
Victorians didn’t teach them anything, and I will blame them for being deliberately and troll-like ignorant. You want to call Australian football AFL? FIne, but don’t complain about Victorians disrespecting your game.
What was it you said about how ‘Victorians choose to be ignorant towards rugby league’? What a hypocrite.
May 25th 2012 @ 1:28am
Queensland's Game Is Rugby League said | May 25th 2012 @ 1:28am | Report comment
I don’t refer to Aussie rules as “AFL”. I refer to it as Victorian rules footbal because it’s just a modified version of Sheffield rules and is only taken seriously in less than 50% of the nation.
May 25th 2012 @ 1:32am
amazonfan said | May 25th 2012 @ 1:32am | Report comment
Whatever.
May 24th 2012 @ 7:26am
Kasey said | May 24th 2012 @ 7:26am | Report comment
Who the hell is David Carney? Surely you can’t be serious? Call yourself a sports fan? David Carney is an international footballer for Australia – currently plying his trade for the Bunyodkor club in Uzbekistan. Get educated man and stop your whining.
May 24th 2012 @ 7:40am
Lowdown said | May 24th 2012 @ 7:40am | Report comment
I love articles which only prove the authors to be narrow-minded, simple dumb-arses. It makes me happy.
May 24th 2012 @ 7:59am
Seriously, Who says Oi? said | May 24th 2012 @ 7:59am | Report comment
Explain something to me. How can the sport played in the “National Rugby League” not be Rugby?
Either it’s Rugby or the league’s name makes no sense.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:13am
Gleeso said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:13am | Report comment
yeah it is rugby. There is Rugby Union and Rugby League. Both Rugby’s. Union has no official ownership of the word Rugby. But it has become accepted that Rugby is a reference to Rugby Union these days. But we should not expect the sports minister of the “sporting capital of australia” to be aware of this.
You would think he would know NSW from New Zealand though. Given that you Victorians turn up in droves to watch us play cricket on boxing day.
May 24th 2012 @ 9:53am
Rough Conduct said | May 24th 2012 @ 9:53am | Report comment
It’s like referring to a Canadian or Argentinian as “American” – technically it is correct, but in reality it makes no sense. I am continually baffled at the Victorian’s inability to grasp this concept, or maybe they have and just choose not to let us know that they have.
May 24th 2012 @ 6:23pm
Timmuh said | May 24th 2012 @ 6:23pm | Report comment
Its little different to referring to “Australian Football” as “AFL”. One slight difference is that the the AFL so monopolise Astralian Football that they themselves sell the whole sport under one competition’s banner. The other is that referring to the sport as “AFL” is not technically correct, as referring to both rugby codes as “rugby” is.
May 25th 2012 @ 12:00am
amazonfan said | May 25th 2012 @ 12:00am | Report comment
As long as NSW people refer to Australian Football as AFL, I will have no sympathy for them when they complain about Victorians referring to League as Rugby. That the AFL has monopolized Australian Football, and that they use the name AFL for all their competitions, is no excuse.
May 25th 2012 @ 12:26am
Queensland's Game Is Rugby League said | May 25th 2012 @ 12:26am | Report comment
The AFL markets the sport in QLD and NSW as AFL and AFL footy.
May 25th 2012 @ 12:34am
amazonfan said | May 25th 2012 @ 12:34am | Report comment
That’s irrelevant. The AFL is a competition, and unless you’re being deliberately ignorant, you would know that. Do you think that when the NFL had NFL Europe, it chose the name because NFL was the name of the sport?
As I said, if you call Australian Football AFL, then don’t complain if we call your sport Rugby or NRL.
May 25th 2012 @ 1:09am
Queensland's Game Is Rugby League said | May 25th 2012 @ 1:09am | Report comment
I know that the AFL is a competition. But the AFL markets the sport in Queensland and NSW as “AFL” and “AFL footy”. People who don’t give a crap about Aussie rules — something like 99% of Queenslanders and New South Welshmen — are going to refer to it by its market name.
Referring to Victorian rules football as AFL — the sport is just a modified version of Sheffield rules, yet its fans claim it’s unAustralian to support the English codes — does hold some merit. The game doesn’t have anything but ONE professional competition that’s called the AFL. All of the amateur competitions in NSW and QLD have “AFL” in them.
Name one Victorian-based rugby league competition/governing body that has “National Rugby League” in it.
May 25th 2012 @ 1:28am
amazonfan said | May 25th 2012 @ 1:28am | Report comment
“I know that the AFL is a competition. But the AFL markets the sport in Queensland and NSW as “AFL” and “AFL footy”. ”
Yes, because the AFL wants to raise its profile and size! Have you never watched the Gruen Transfer?
The AFL may run the sport, but they also run a competition, and in situations like this, the latter wins out.
“People who don’t give a crap about Aussie rules — something like 99% of Queenslanders and New South Welshmen — are going to refer to it by its market name.”
Then those people shouldn’t complain about Victorians being ignorant about NRL/Rugby League. Why should Victorians give a crap about respecting your game when you can’t respect ours? Don’t expect us to respect you if you’re not going to make any effort to respect us.
“Referring to Victorian rules football as AFL — the sport is just a modified version of Sheffield rules, yet its fans claim it’s unAustralian to support the English codes — does hold some merit.”
It doesn’t hold any merit at all. Calling Australian Football (which is its correct term BTW) AFL is as absurd as calling Association Football EPL. It holds no merit whatsoever.
As for the Un-Australian thing, I detest the term with all my heart, and so I would never use that term (and neither would anybody that I know).
” The game doesn’t have anything but ONE professional competition that’s called the AFL. All of the amateur competitions in NSW and QLD have “AFL” in them.”
Again, marketing. BTW, it has more than one professional competition (or semi-professional) competition not called the AFL.
“Name one Victorian-based rugby league competition/governing body that has “National Rugby League” in it.”
I don’t need to. The issue is that you accuse Victorians of choosing to be ignorant (which BTW is a massive generalization) when you are choosing to be ignorant yourself!
I will, however, say this. Considering that your dominant competition is the National Rugby League, it’s perfectly logical to presume that the competition is a Rugby league, rather than a Rugby League competition.
May 25th 2012 @ 1:33am
Queensland's Game Is Rugby League said | May 25th 2012 @ 1:33am | Report comment
Rugby League Ashes?
Four Nations?
Super League?
Queensland Cup?
NSW Cup?
There’s only one rugby league competition in the world that calls itself “National Rugby League”. Pretty much every Aussie rules competition outside of Victoria and South Australia has “AFL” in its name.
If the AFL markets the game as AFL then people have an excuse to call it AFL. The ARLC don’t go down to Melbourne and market non-NRL rugby league competitions as NRL.
I refuse to refer to the southern game as “Australian football”. It’s a minority sport in Queensland and NSW. If there weren’t any Victorians, South Australians, Tasmanians or Western Australians in Queensland and NSW then all of the local amateur competitions would have folded many years ago.
May 25th 2012 @ 1:39am
amazonfan said | May 25th 2012 @ 1:39am | Report comment
“If the AFL markets the game as AFL then people have an excuse to call it AFL.”
Not unless you are being deliberately and troll-like ignorant, which you obviously are. You are choosing to remain ignorant. I’m done. Call it whatever what you want, just don’t complain when people don’t pay your sport the respect you refuse to give mine!
(BTW, like so many trolls, not only did you not bother reading anything I wrote, but you trot out the same arguments, even though they have been addressed countless times.)
“I refuse to refer to the southern game as “Australian football”. ”
Nobody’s forcing you to. Australian Football is its proper name, but if you don’t want to use that name, then just call it something like Aussie Rules. Honestly, I couldn’t care less what you call it, just stop being so hypocritical.
May 24th 2012 @ 9:58am
The Cattery said | May 24th 2012 @ 9:58am | Report comment
Good point.
Rugby has been played in Victoria since at least the 1860s, and therefore, to the average sports loving Victorian, it seems daft that someone would see a need to create a second variety of rugby.
You’re confusing us man!!
May 24th 2012 @ 10:12am
Rough Conduct said | May 24th 2012 @ 10:12am | Report comment
In another newsflash for Victoria, North Korea and South Korea are not the same country!
May 25th 2012 @ 12:01am
amazonfan said | May 25th 2012 @ 12:01am | Report comment
Here’s a newsflash for you. You can’t generalize about Victorians. NSW people don’t like it when Victorians generalize about NRL players, and their fans, so perhaps you could lay off the generalizations about Victorians?
May 25th 2012 @ 10:14am
The High Shot said | May 25th 2012 @ 10:14am | Report comment
How dare you generalize about NSW people like that.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:09am
eddie said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:09am | Report comment
Hey Come on,, Melbourne Stomers is currently Top of the table in NRL,,,,, so they also contribute to the game….. lets spread the name of the Game,,,,,
May 25th 2012 @ 10:17am
Dominic Feenan said | May 25th 2012 @ 10:17am | Report comment
This article has nothing to do with the success of the Melbourne Storm. Their success has never been in question. They are terrific for the game.
This article was about Victorians blindly commenting on something they know nothing about becuase they are the experts apparently.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:13am
jamesb said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:13am | Report comment
“To finish off this obsession, all they need to do is build a giant sherrin put it in Fed Square and they can bow and pray to it on the way to work.”
Classic!
May 24th 2012 @ 9:00am
me, I like football said | May 24th 2012 @ 9:00am | Report comment
Thats a great idea! thumbsup
May 24th 2012 @ 9:49am
The Cattery said | May 24th 2012 @ 9:49am | Report comment
Yes, support the idea 100% – the great Australian icon definitely deserves its own statue.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:54pm
shirtfront said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:54pm | Report comment
I don’t drive past Fed square on my way to work but if they invent a compass that points towards it I will pray facing it 5 times a day..haha.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:25am
Crash said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:25am | Report comment
jamesb – I would prefer not to have to travel to Fed square, can we build one in each suburb please.
May 24th 2012 @ 7:44pm
jamesb said | May 24th 2012 @ 7:44pm | Report comment
that was oikee’s comment, not mine
May 24th 2012 @ 8:46am
sledgeandhammer said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:46am | Report comment
Isn’t this more a case of SOO being a bit overblown? Yes, it is the ‘pinnacle’ of RL, but should it be? Why should a state vs state match interest third parties? Surely an international match, or traditional club game would garner more interest? Maybe, just maybe, the SOO concept is reaching the end of the road, the big balloon is starting leak a bit of air, overinflated. Next time play vs NZ in Melbourne & the coverage will be a lot better, after all, why should Victorians care about a state match they are not playing in?
May 24th 2012 @ 9:50am
The Cattery said | May 24th 2012 @ 9:50am | Report comment
I agre with those sentiments – although it’s hard to argue with 56k at Etihad – that’s packed in like sardines.
May 24th 2012 @ 10:58am
Andrew Leonard said | May 24th 2012 @ 10:58am | Report comment
On the crowd last night, I am not sure how they got 56000 as a number. Where I was sitting there were empty seats all around us. Whole rows in fact were empty. Perhaps they were all standing and didn’t make way to their seats.
May 24th 2012 @ 12:50pm
The Cattery said | May 24th 2012 @ 12:50pm | Report comment
Well, in a stadium like Etihad, there’s no shortage of nooks and crannies to hang out in, including the concourse that rings the first level, that can easily accommodate a few thousand.
May 24th 2012 @ 1:37pm
Renegade said | May 24th 2012 @ 1:37pm | Report comment
On top of the 56’000 at the stadium, I think the TV ratings of almost 4 million nationally and 2.5m in the capital cities might be a good enough reason to keep it alive…..