I am the first to admit, I am not a huge rugby league fan. I will watch the finals with the vigour of a bandwagon supporter if the Warriors make it, but in general, rugby league is low on my sporting list.
But this all changes when State of Origin comes around.
While living in Edinburgh, I was shocked to find that the teachers at the school I was working at knew more about Origin than I did. They loved the brutality of the whole thing. It seemed barbaric, like the old colonial days.
Then watching the match while at an agricultural university in country New Zealand, I watched the human race regress back to the stone age. Fights broke out, rowdy crowds formed and abuse was hurled. And no one in the room was from Australia!
The State of Origin has a history of excessive violence and players showing a complete disregard for their own health. Scenes like the all in brawl from the 1992 series comes to mind.
Attempting to pack down a scrum just four minutes into the game a bit of push and shove started. This then turned into all out warfare resembling riots in the Middle East.
Players finishing matches despite being heavily concussed is also a recent and regular occurrence.
The sport itself accepts and happily promotes itself as tough, hard and brutal. Fighting is starting to be phased out in the regular season but seems acceptable when it comes to Origin. Remember the fight between Steve Price and Brett White in 2009?
Brett White threw and unprovoked punch and later in the fight laid Price out cold, yet Waterhouse was the only person to be put up for suspension. That’s right the guy that tackled Price on the way down, rather than the guy that actually knocked him out, found himself in trouble.
In other sports these acts have been frowned upon for some time. The suspensions are more severe.
Barry Hall was suspended for blindsiding Brent Staker with a shot to the chin in an AFL match between the Sydney Swans and the West Coast Eagles. The suspension he received: seven weeks.
Clint Newland was suspended for 10 weeks for knocking out Neemia Tialata during the NPC rugby season in a match between Hawke’s Bay and Wellington.
Heck, Zidane got suspended for three matches by head butting a guy in the chest. In the chest! That had very little impact on the victim’s performance for the remainder of the match, but Zidane was sent off.
These are just three examples of serious punishment handed out for resorting to the pugilistic arts during a match of footy.
It would appear that the State of Origin is the last bastion for gratuitous violence and a complete disregard for one’s safety. A real throw back into the days where rules seemed less stringent and the term “political correctness” had not even been invented.
It is the same feeling I get when I travel back to New Zealand; everything feels a little simpler and the rules not as restrictive. The “who gives a crap” attitude.
It is for this reason that people from all around the world love these three matches. To be honest, rugby league needs this.
They require this one week reprieve from the regular rules surrounding violence and safety to keep people interested in the matches and the sport in general.
Its main marketing tool revolves around rivalry and hatred. The tag line is “State v State, Mate v Mate”.
It conjures up images that your patriotic duty is far more important than your friendship.
This is also why I love the State of Origin. If two men wanted to go toe-to-toe then they were more than welcome to.
Yes playing with serious injuries and the fighting is a little barbaric and borderline stupid but there is something that keeps you captivated. It’s the feeling you would get if you saw the last dodo just before its extinction: you may never see it again.
It satisfies our urges for blood lust for violence that has been bred and glorified through generations.
It is our guilty pleasure where we can sit down and watch three 80 minute sessions of grown men beating each other half to do death for what, in reality, is a pointless mission.
This is the last sporting contest of its kind in Australia. There are many “rivalries”, those that are promoted heavily by the media to be more than they really are. This is not the case when these two come together.
The simple fact that the NSW Blues bus is banned from Caxton street for fear of riots erupting proves that there is such a blind hatred that common sense no longer prevails.
It gets a very European football, street hooligan feel about it.
This is the beauty of this match, it is absurd, and it beggars belief.
If you have never watched the State of Origin I strongly suggest that you do, you will not be disappointed. It is the Alice in Wonderland of the sporting calendar, just fall down the hole and follow the white rabbit.
In the eternal words of Mark Gasnier I say, “Fire up…!”
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Caitlan Johnston copped online abuse which the NSW star labelled "disgusting" ahead of the Women's State of Origin series. Channel Nine's Andrew Johns had…
"He's a winner, his side's on top of the table - where's Parra?"
The Maroons are lucky the women’s State of Origin series has been extended to three matches otherwise the shield would be close to being…
Why are NSW people always so desperate to prove that they “get” Origin, and that Origin means as much south of the Tweed as…
Here's everything you need to know about Women's State of Origin 2022 - from the kick-off time to how to watch and where it will be won.
A frustrated Jack Wighton is tired of talking about racism, after teammates Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker again allegedly copped abuse during an NRL…
