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Why Victoria should never host another Origin match

Dominic Feenan new author
Roar Rookie
23rd May, 2012
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Dominic Feenan new author
Roar Rookie
23rd May, 2012
82
3665 Reads

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.

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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.

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