Rugby league's premier event has become tragically sanitised

State of Origin is, and has always been, about passion and parochialism. It is about the honour of wearing the sky blue or the maroon and the true devotees of the cause would surely play for nothing.

That passion was forged and validated by the 18th player: the thousands of hardcore fans who turned football grounds in cauldrons. Now the NRL is showing their contempt for these very fans by jacking up ticket prices to ludicrous levels.

It is strange to reflect that at its beginnings many thought that Origin was a gimmick that wouldn’t take off.

“To the Queensland hillbillies in Premier Joh’s Bananaland, the State of Origin match might be a big deal, but to those in the land of the living, here in Sydney, it’s just another match without much meaning,” Ron Casey of The Daily Mirror said before the first ever State of Origin match in July 1980.

Ironically, the parochial and hostile manner in which Casey got it totally wrong helped forge the bitter rivalry that has made Origin the very biggest thing in Australian rugby league.

Back in the early 1990s I was lucky enough to know a guy called Trevor who somehow managed to get 50 tickets in a group and bussed a herd of us up to the Sydney Football Stadium each year. I know it is politically incorrect to say it, but those trips were beer-fuelled mayhem. It was as big as going to a grand final that your team was in.

The excitement and anticipation was massive. By the time we got to the ground we were at fever pitch. The atmosphere was electric. Joined by another 700 bus loads of equally hyped up zealots, we made the atmosphere that the players fed off, that drove them to yet greater efforts. That in turn made the spectacle that captured the attention and passion of so many.

The big hits, the tries and especially the fights sent the crowd into a frenzy. It was a celebration of footy and life. Those trips are the legends of my memory.

But times have changed when it comes to Origin.

Back in 1980 Bob Fulton made a few predictions of his own in The Daily Mirror, “Rugby league’s non-event of the century will be staged in Brisbane next month, a totally useless State of Origin clash between NSW and Queensland. Only the A$30,000 gate could make it acceptable to administrators… As far as I’m concerned it’s strictly a non-event and will achieve absolutely nothing.”

The future NSW coach got it almost as wrong as Ron Casey, but he got one thing right: if it made money it would go a long way to entrenching the concept. And it has certainly made lots of money.

That first match at Lang Park had a sell-out crowd of more than 33,000. The 1987 series was watched by an average of 36,000 fans. By 1996 that figure hit 40,000 and in 2002 it was 60,000. Just in ticket sales State of Origin was huge. These figures don’t even start to consider the TV revenue streams.

Origin had become a rolled gold cash cow.

Now the NRL is milking that poor beast for all it is worth and in the process are pricing the sort of hardcore league fans that made the event the colossus it is out of the market. Back in the early ’90s it cost me $100 for the bus trip and entry to the game combined. The seats were great too. We were on the 22, just five rows back. The equivalent quality ticket today costs $280. That is just under a 600 per cent price rise, half of which has come in the last five years.

In 2008, in an indication of their prioritisation of finances over fans, Geoff Carr at the NSWRL warned the supporters, “When we get through these current run of contracts, the games are up for grabs. It would be great if the people of NSW voted with their feet… As much as we’d like to have two games in Sydney every second year, there’s pressure on us commercially because other governments are interested in this event.”

These words, reported in Fairfax Media, made it clear that the mindset of the NRL was clearly on cash and if the fans didn’t stump up then they’d sell to the highest bidder, no matter how irrelevant to the game they were.

It is no surprise that in 2015 we have a match scheduled for the MCG.

Last year I made a plea for NRL boss David Smith to make Origin tickets cheaper for paid-up NRL club members. To my delight that has actually happened. While club members only receive a six per cent discount on the cheapest category, it is a 22-26 per cent discount across all of the other ticket classifications.

That takes a Diamond ticket down from an obscene $280 to the offensive price of $216.13. A Platinum ticket plummets from an outrageous $224.29 to a ridiculous $171.28. And a Gold ticket tumbles from an outlandish $137.63 to an unreasonable $101.95.

Basically, the discounts mean that the NRL club members can pay the 2013 prices instead. It has been decreed that they can eat cake.

Over the past four seasons ANZ Stadium has bulged at the seams with near capacity crowds of 83,000, however about 20,000 tickets remain unsold for Origin 1 just over a week out. Just like the extra weight placed on Phar Lap’s back that eventually brought him back to the field, it appears the NRL’s blatant cash grab has finally hit the point where fans aren’t prepared to pay.

When I asked the NRL’s general manager of media and communications, Brad Burden, about the ticket price rises he replied, “Prices have risen by about $5 to $10 in some categories but the $50 ticket is now available, making it cheaper than last year to attend Origin.”

It is true that there are Bronze classification seats on sale for $56.07. However, these seats require the use of oxygen tanks as they are relegated to the nosebleeds at the top of the northern, western and eastern stands.

As well, they account for less than 10 per cent (8,500) of the seats in the stadium. Roughly another 18,000 seats are in the Silver category at $100-plus a pop ($78 for NRL club members). These seats are either in the lower nosebleeds or at either end of the ground. So only around 30 per cent of the seats in the stadium – and the worst seats at that – are allocated to the fans that actually bring the atmosphere that is so vital to the spectacle.

The sheer number of seats that aren’t available to the general punter at all is horrific. By my count there is the equivalent of 141 full-sized bays at ANZ Stadium. Of those a massive 66 are designated to private suites, NRL corporate hospitality and ANZ Stadium members. That’s roughly 40,000 seats (47%). As I lamented last year, to a large extent these seats are filled with mildly interested spectators.

The ANZ Stadium membership costs $743 a year, after a one-off joining fee of $1247. Now that gives you tickets to every game played at the stadium in very good seats. It works out to be very good value. However, it’s a big investment – especially first up – that would price most rugby league supporters out of the market.

Rugby league is tribal. The foot soldiers that turn up every weekend are the lifeblood of the game. They love it. They are the ones who threw the cans onto Lang Park in the ’80s. They are the ones who chant ‘Bullshit’ when the officials make decisions that they don’t like. And they are the ones who roar when fisticuffs erupt across the ground.

But you can’t get a plastic cup onto the ground from up in the nosebleeds. And the type of person who can afford $280 a ticket doesn’t generally chant “Bullshit” – he’s too busy eating his hors d’oeuvres.

And to my dismay they’ve wiped the biff out of Origin. The game that was built on Artie Beetson punching Peter Wynn in the face would now sin bin the great man.

When Billy Moore yelled out “Queenslander” he was daring the NSW boys to take him on and we rightly celebrate it every damn year. When Tommy Raudonikis yelled out “Cattledog” Andrew Johns got the hell punched out of him and it’s constantly in the highlights. When Martin Bella grabbed Brad Clyde’s nuts he got belted soundly. And when Nate Myles pushed Paul Gallen too far he deservedly got thumped.

The stink is – and must continue to be – an integral part of Origin.

And don’t give me some garbage that ‘we want to get that element out of the game and make it more family friendly’. For a starter, if you wanted it family friendly why are you charging the equivalent of a weekly mortgage payment for a family of four to attend?

Further, has it occurred to anybody that there are some events that simply aren’t for kids; events that are essentially adults only? That’s not a crime you know. Just imagine if they tried to take fighting out of ice hockey. There would be uproar. But somehow they’ve done it for our Origin.

The Nanny State is the totally wrong state for the State of Origin. If you are offended by it, just go have another pinot gris at the art exhibition instead and keep your nose out of our business.

And if you are really concerned by violence then I expect you to be trying to ban Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. Alternatively, you can just put up an MA 15+ warning before Origin comes on.

Origin is becoming a sanitised event run by marketers in suits who were hired by an ex-banker, with the seats reserved for rich people. It is now in real danger of losing its passion and its way.

The goose that laid the golden egg is now just crapping on our dinner tables and Big Artie will be rolling in his grave.

Yell it with me boys: “Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!”