With rugby league in the midst of State of Origin fever, Queensland and New South Wales fans packed out ANZ Stadium. But is it time for the AFL to once again go back to State Of Origin?
The last time that football fans experienced State Of Origin Games was back in 1999, when Victoria defeated South Australia by 54 points in the middle of May in front of over 26,000 people.
The AFL did let its guard down in 2008 for the AFL Hall Of Fame tribute game, although it took months of debate and the question was thrown up on talkback stations around the state and country.
Eventually on the May 10, 2008 the “Big V” side captained by Jonathon Brown took on Andrew McLeod’s “Dream Team”, which was made up of players from the rest of Australia, in the same way as the Allies were back in the early nineties.
In 2011, we have state leagues playing State of Origin games, yet their national league counterparts are unfortunately missing the boat when it comes to representative football. In a national sport which hasn’t made it big around the world, state representative football is the pinnacle of our sport.
Our International Rules competition with Ireland is a national side, although the importance of the game is clearly lacking. The game is a hybrid and is offered to a wide range of players, not just the best for that year or the All Australian team for the year just gone. In short, it’s note just offered to the 20 best players in the league.
Some of the best battles in Australian sport have been between states in Australia, NSW and Queensland in rugby league, Victoria versus NSW in cricket etc. The general sporting public would rather support a Victorian side than a Melbourne side; it embarks once again on these rivalries and makes every contest watched by more.
State Of Origin would have to be a Victoria-based event, in that Victoria would have to play in every match.
Their opponents could be an Allies/Dream Team concept. The “Big V” would play against a side made up of the best players in the league born outside of Victoria. This idea promotes the game as more of a once off game that, as we saw in 2008, would bring 70,000 people through the gates. However, it wouldn’t demonstrate that state versus state battle.
Versus South Australia?
This is the obvious choice; the Victoria and South Australia battle has been the most prominent in Australian Rules football and would be a perfect once or twice a year – once in Melbourne and once in Adelaide.
The idea promotes state football the way it used to be.
What about versus SA, WA and the Allies? Back in the mid 90’s, state football saw Victoria playing South Australia, Western Australia and an Allies team (NSW/ACT and Queensland) where Victoria would play South Australia in Melbourne one year, then the next would play Western Australia in Perth, then the Allies in Melbourne and so on with the other sides playing each other.
Whichever way the AFL decide to go it needs to remain consistent over time and also be able to pull crowds upwards of 40,000. The problem in the past is that the VFL/AFL have tried to change the system too much, from WA versus Victoria we have had Australian carnivals, Allies and the list goes on. But in order to bring Origin back with force, the AFL needs to be smart about their decision.
Verdict: State of Origin needs to come back; we saw last year crowds during the pre-season competition were lacking and the interest in games were minimal.
If we had these State of Origin games early February and shortened the pre-season competition, it would be the perfect way to kick-off the season with a bang and get the crowds through the gates – going back to the mid 90’s and a concept that worked for Origin football.
The first year would look something like this:
Victoria vs South Australia at the MCG.
Western Australia vs Allies at Patterson’s Stadium.
After that a round-robin played year-by-year with teams playing home and away.
State of Origin isn’t far away; a popular money maker for the AFL and the chance to represent your state on the big stage once again.
I was only young but will never forget being at the MCG when Ted Whitten was driven around the ground before the Big V smashed South Australia.
State of Origin creates once again a battle field between states. Draw the battlelines once again!
db swannie
Guest
David..Ch 10 is getting out of AFL due to the terrible ratings in the northern states.. No value for money in broadcasting it.
David
Guest
Hey Ch 10 would you play it live in Sydney?? We are getting sick and tired up here watching games delayed, bit like this weeks Collingwood game on Saturday night
Ali
Guest
Dont know about that. Some quotes I come across, "The Blues' classic 18-8 win before 81,965 die-hards at a wet ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night attracted an average national audience of 3.41 million, with Channel 9 reporting a peak of more than 3.9 million" and "The game averaged 2.16 million (viewers in the five mainland capitals), which is a terrific figure given it is dominated by two cities," Its like a schoolyard fight, everyone turns to watch it.
ChrisH
Guest
Reckon that's got more to do with the drivel that's on middweek commercial tv these days. Audiences will watch anything else in contrast. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/tv-audiences-have-seen-it-all/story-fn6bfmgc-1226077333000
Ali
Guest
Well you might find it boring but the TV ratings dont show it. Even the AFL states rated well.
ChrisH
Guest
More like bore' em into oblivion
Ali
Guest
An AFL SOO just wouldnt work. There isnt enough physicality in it to stir the emotions of an entire state. SOO works for rugby league because it has big gorillas pounding each other with the big hits......... lots of blood and injury. The teams are seperated on the field like in a battle. Its literally war between Queensland and NSW. AFL might be a spectacular game to watch but SOO is more than a game....its bash'em into oblivion !!!!!!
Rob McLean
Guest
The strongest every year? Probably currently. Not all the time, though.
Lachlan
Roar Guru
State derbies will lift, not only the rivalry between the two teams competing but states. eg. If Brisbane play Gold Coast, it's the battle of the bragging rights, but if Brisbane plays Sydney the supporters from not only Brisbane but also Gold Coast and the Rest of the state will be going for Brisbane, which will most likely create a hatred between the two states. Which can then lead to SOO matches being played in the future. And with the extreme move by NSW/ACT and Queensland AFL to hunt down quality athletes from any code, at junior level, and guide them to play Australian Football. It will stregthen the two states, which could later compete against the likes of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
mick h
Guest
thanks for that i think they should go ahead with the vic vs sa on a yearly basis
voodoo people
Guest
I think its funny that this sort of thing is brought up every year during SoO, articles like: * AFL needs to bring back State of Origin, but can't find a workable format because 1 team would destroy all oposition, * AFL players who could form a Rugby League State of Origin team and beat NSW or Queensland, * People making up fictional AFL state teams like the Australian team who play no-one Origin works in Rugby League because its Maroon vs Blue, State vs State, and the teams are balanced, its 2 teams playing a simple best of 3 format. If RL develops another state, it should not change the format at all, but rather run other matches in parallel - eg Pacific nations vs New Zealand, or WA vs Victoria (a long way off). The only changes that should be made is the Australia vs New Zealand Test should be after Origin, not before, and there needs to be more byes through Origin (4 split rounds around Origin and the Test? Its currently 2 full bye weekends, double it). For AFL, State of Origin won't ever work becuase there are too many sides (3 States, plus some left overs), and the gulf in ability between them is huge, unless is a one off showpiece clash. If AFL wants some sort of rep football, I'd suggest another method of dividing up the player base. Maybe an All Stars concept similar to the NFL's NFC vs AFC contest - players in Victorian teams vs players in non-Victorian teams
Redb
Roar Guru
State derbies have become the marquee games for WA & SA, soon this will happen in QLD and NSW.
Redb
Roar Guru
The intro of West Coast and Adelaide (effectively State teams) combined with clubs not releasing players killed it off. Both West Coast & Adelaide were given exclusive recruiting zones in their State for 5 years after they were introduced to the AFL. This enabled them to put together very strong teams from local talent thus stemming the tide of players moving from the WA/SA to Vic clubs. Both of these clubs won two premierships within 6-8 years of entry thus giving their State a sense of victory over Victoria. I think a one off Vic v SA would go well due to the SA having a similiar dislike & motivation to QLD in RL. Its more important them to beat the VIcs than the other way around especially when their AFL teams are down the bottom of the ladder. it would be a chance to restore some State pride.
Nathan
Guest
Although for most intents and purposes, WA and SA combined are to Vic what QLD is to NSW in an NRL milieu, which is fine for the sport in general but for a SOO competition is very bad, because West and South just don't have any kind of love or bond to make an 'allies' team against the Vics meaningful. When the VFL became the AFL, the WCE, AFC and later FFC and PAFC became a more ideal stand in to fight the Vics in a more piecemeal situation. After all, these expansion teams were creations not of AFL whole cloth but from the WAFC and SAFNL as representatives.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
karlos no honestly, when we say we're not interested, we're fair dinkum, we really, really aren't interested!
karlos
Guest
Surely vic is the strongest every year and wa and sa could play of to see see who plays vic in a one off. Tassy is small fry Wouldnt that motivate you lot?
Rob McLean
Guest
Sorry, SoO ain't for me either. The reason, for mine, RL SoO works is because NSW v Qld is and always will be the biggest rivalry in that sport. In Aussie rules, how could you organise a SoO with say Vic v SA and leave out WA, or even Tassie, etc, etc. It's too tough. The Vic v SA rivarly is massive but WA and Tas also have massive claims and they can't be denied.
Lachlan
Guest
Id love to see SOO come back, but i personally couldn't see it happening. Agree the best timeslot would be post-season or before NAB Cup. Should be either 4 teams (Victoria, South Australia, Western Australian and the rest) playing each other once, then on the forth week the two highest percentage teams play off in GF, for a cup. The other one could be Victoria verses the rest in one off game before NAB Cup or inbetween NAB Challenge and season proper. Thoughts? -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Xman
Guest
No interest from me either. I'd walk over hot coals to see my bombers play the pies, Carlton, hawthorn or the tigers in a huge game at the MCG. SOO could never beat that intense rivalry which has brewed over a century. it's dead, why dig it up?
mick h
Guest
disagree totally with the kiwis being the current world cup holders and 4 nations champs international rl is very popular. the next world cup is in wales england in 2013 and there will be thousands of supporters from aus which will attend on official tours. the australian team will want to win it.