The State of Origin last Wednesday night was a great spectacle. There is genuine passion there.
It’s hard to fathom why it’s there when, lets face it, we are a close country with no huge decipherable differences in culture or belief either side of the border.
It’s a rivalry that was probably somewhat manufactured back when the Origin concept first started.
There was probably always a small animosity from Queensland towards NSW, but less so the other way. How could we hate our holiday destination? Manufactured or not, the rivalry is now very real.
Now NSW, fans and players are showing that Queenslanders don’t have a monopoly on passion. So where is it in rugby?
There is one man who typifies why the rugby cross border clash no longer has the same meaning as the league version. That man is Berrick Barnes.
I was lucky enough to play with Berrick for the Queensland Reds. He had just made his transition from the Brisbane Broncos. Great player and better bloke.
It is in him I first understood state pride. He was Queensland through and through. Unassuming but very tough.
As I left the Reds in 2007, I left knowing that there was something in that group that would make them successful eventually and the person they would build that success around would be Berrick.
You build teams around talented, long term prospects and he was this. No-one belived he would ever leave.
Not because other provinces wouldn’t want him, of course they would, but because he was a Queenslander and he wouldn’t play for anyone else. Or so I thought.
Two season later Berrick left the Reds for the Waratahs. The WARATAHS? The enemy. I couldn’t believe it, most of the Reds fans couldn’t believe it, but a the time it made sense to Berrick and good luck to him.
That move however confirmed to me that if he could make the move, then the rivalry between these two states in rugby is truly dead.
Genuinely the last time that I remember a Reds versus Waratahs game stirred any great emotional investment from the general public was when another famous Queenslander, Wendell Sailor, jumped ship and moved to the Waratahs.
It’s sad. Crowd numbers reflect it. The league version of State of Origin last Wednesday was a bash-a-thon, not open and spectacular but the people loved it cause we are emotionally invested.
The rugby version tends to be the same grind, but is widely panned as being boring, and it is. What do we care why they are bashing each other? Even the state names don’t even get mentioned when talking these teams.
They are the Waratahs and Reds, not NSW and Queensland. We need something to grab a hold of, an identity, something that binds us in with these players and gives a reason to cheer our very own version of the bash-a-thon.
I’m certainly not saying the players aren’t invested but, we who are watching need to be as well. Rugby needs this rivalry!
In the current environment, with five teams spread throughout Australia, most of these provinces are populated by players from NSW and Queensland. There is no easy solution.
Michael Cheika seems brave enough that he would fill the Waratahs with only NSW born players making the jersey mean something again. It will never happen though.
Yet, if we knew in the blue jerseys were filled with New South Welshmen playing for the state and trying to win for the state, would we ever have the need for a public forum between fans and coaches asking the players to be more entertaining?
This happened at New Sou… sorry, the Waratahs, a few years ago. Mind-boggling stuff.
The NSW league team have lost seven series in a row, however I’m yet to see one person demand they make play a more entertaining type of football because the crowd are bored.
I miss this rivalry that died out with professional rugby.
What can we do to bring it back? Brave coaches and administrators, but a first step would be just letting the teams have their state identities back. I want to watch New South Wales bash Queensland.
Authors note: I am a complete hypocrite. I was born and raised in the southern NSW town of Cooma. I got an opportunity to play for Queensland and was outta Sydney quicker than you can say ‘Banana Bender’ and had the time of my life playing for them.
I’ll leave you with some food for thought. NSW versus Queensland State of Origin rugby teams from the current crop of players.
NSW
1. Benn Robinson (Sydney)
2. Tatafu Polata-Nau (Sydney)
3. Dan Palmer (Shellharbour)
4. Hugh Pyle (Sydney)
5. Kane Douglas (Maclean)
6. Scott Fardy (Sydney)
7. Michael Hooper (Sydney)
8. George Smith (Sydney)
9. Luke Burgess (Newcastle)
10. Kurtley Beale (Mt Druitt)
11. Drew Mitchell (Liverpool)
12. Pat McCabe (Sydney)
13: Anthony Faainga (Queanbeyan)
14: Nick Cummins (Port Macquarie)
15: Israel Folau (Minto) – you know it’s true QueenslandLeague fans.
16: Saia Faainga (Queanbeyan)
17: Ben Alexander (Sydney)
18: Sam Wykes (Sydney)
19: Ben McCalman (Dubbo)
20: Nic White (Scone)
21: Mitch Inman (Sydney)
22: Adam Ashley-Cooper (Sydney)
Queensland
1. Greg Holmes (Warick)
2. Steve Moore (Rockhampton aged five via Saudi Arabia and Ireland)
2. James Slipper (Gold Coast)
4: Hugh McMeniman (Brisbane)
5: James Horwill (Brisbane)
6: Eddie Quirk (Brisbane)
7: Richard Brown (Townsville)
8: Ben Mowen (Brisbane)
9: Will Genia (Brisbane aged 12 via Port Moresby- if Adrain Lam counts, he counts)
10: Berrick Barnes (Brisbane)
11: Luke Morahan (Brisbane)
12: James O’Connor (Gold Coast)
13: Ben Tapuai (Brisbane)
14: Rod Davies (Rockhampton)
15: Jesse Mogg (Brisbane)
16: James Hanson (Brisbane)
17: Nic Henderson (Milmerran)
18: Rob Simmons (Theodore)
19: Jake Schatz (Brisbane)
20: Nick Frisby (Brisbane) – goes well after watching Lions game yesterday.
21: Dom Shipperly (Redcliff)
22: Ben Lucas (Brisbane)
JamesN
Guest
Boks will always be our (NZ) biggest rivals
Ian
Guest
formeropenside, You really don't like trying to expand from Rugby's traditional NSW/QLD/ACT following do you? Sending players interstate is just the nature of professional sport. Eventually these states will be produce players of their own, but you have to look at the long term.
formeropenside
Guest
maybe the ARU should stay out of it, and encourage teams to develop their own players
Ian
Guest
nomis, Not a bad idea, a little restrictive though. Maybe the ARU could give players and coaches more of an incentive, financial or otherwise to relocate.
nomis
Guest
Perhaps a small way forward would be to say that the NSW and Qld can only pick players from their own states, or at least can't have players from each other's states. This wouldn't apply to Vic, ACT or WA though.
sheek
Roar Guru
Junior - I won't disagree with that summation.....
Mmickey
Guest
I'm not quite sure what part of my post you were responding to there. I have no issue with the current format of international rugby, but I would like to see a stronger league rivalry with the UK and NZ. Sadly the English League team can't play their way out of a paper bag, so that's unlikely.
Mmickey
Guest
Odd times; NSW get a Qlder, whilst Qld get an aspiring All Black
Ian
Guest
Only one WA developed Super Rugby player Kieran Longbottom. But the more popular the sport gets them more they will develop locally, that's the point of expansion. Super Rugby/Wallabies are a entertainment products and should be run like a business, hence opening new franchises, I think they made the right decision with Perth and Melbourne, as long as we are getting crowds to the stadiums, it is a success. We just have to get these teams winning games, look at the Reds years ago, they were terrible, now they are one of the best club teams in the world and are more popular than the NRL team in their city, just. The ARU should not expand any time soon again over the other side of the Barassi line though, not until SA gets over at least the 5% participation mark. By this point in time Super Rugby will be broken into 3 separate conferences to accommodate extra teams from each country.
formeropenside
Guest
Actually, it just needs proper tours again, with full-strength State sides getting a real shot at the tourists. Qld v AB's again - I still recall getting done by dodgy refereeing in 1992.
formeropenside
Guest
Well, thats my point, they are not developing them, are they?
Mmickey
Guest
A fair few Wallabies have been genuine Canberrans, and with the success of the Force and Rebels that will eventually change more over time.
Mmickey
Guest
Whilst I appreciate where you're coming from Cameron, I think most people are right here in pointing out that Rugby doesn't really need a state of Origin thanks to its intense international rivalries. In all honesty I think there's quite a bit more passion in our rivalries with England, New Zealand and South Africa in Rugby than there is with NSW and Queensland. I get incredibly excited for all tests against those countries, whom we all have a great rivalry with (particularly South Africa these days, whilst NZ are just a bit too good and have been for a while). On top of that, we now have the combined forces of the home nations coming here for a once in 12 year tour seeking to conquer all our Rugby sides! I like League almost as much as Union, but it honestly has nothing close to that - Origin is as good as it gets, and frankly it's getting a little repetitive... I honestly wish that both England and New Zealand had genuinely brilliant teams on par with us so we could build rivalries that make international league matter, but they're only occasionally competitive and so no one really cares. This isn't a problem for Union, and with such a rich and unique international schedule (soccer has a wonderful and massively varied schedule of course, but they have nothing quite like Lions tours - hence the 'unique' comment) Rugby doesn't need a state of origin.
barneybuck
Guest
This article highlights the opinion of the rest of Australia outside NSW and QLD that the Wallabies are only a combined NSW and QLD side not really a fully "Australian" team at all unlike soccer and cricket that do have truly National teams
Jiggles
Roar Guru
The koala has been the symbol of QRU for most of its 130 years in existence. And again the Reds thing was developed. Terry Doyle who was CEO of the Reds in the 80s.
formeropenside
Guest
For Queenslanders, Qld v NSW is still, and always will be, special, and probably will be so long as Tahs are picked ahead of better players from Qld for the Wallabies. Barnes ... well its funny he left Qld to try to win a title with the Tahs. That went well for him.
Reality
Guest
I'm a Reds fan, but seriously, who came up with the 'Reds', it's so meaningless. Sporting names can really mean something (The 49ers, Raiders, Sharks, Broncos) but an opportunity was lost with QLD, I would have preferred the 'Overlanders' or something with more of a marauding meaningful name, but we got the 'Reds' with a cute freaking Koala as a mascot!
Jiggles
Roar Guru
They're been known as the "Queensland Reds" since the mid 1980s. It was used to differentiate the Reds from the QLD RL team. previously they were just known as the Queensland, much like NSW was just NSW.
James
Guest
They are still called the 'Queensland Reds' and are often referred to as such in the media, by commentators, by fans, etc...
James
Guest
Thats just a reality of pro sports. Not everybody can be represented. And neithre 'Hurricanes' or 'Wellington Hurricanes' includes the words Taranaki or Manawatu so I don't see what difference it makes.