- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
There’s something about rugby league attempting to push beyond its traditional boundaries that causes the collective sphincter of Australian sports fans to involuntarily tighten.
The puckering is particularly vicious among rugby league fans themselves, some seemingly content for the greatest game of all to fester away like a sore in a hard to reach place, so long as no one else can see it.
STATE OF ORIGIN LIVE SCORES – GAME 2
Bad news, sports fans – rugby league is going all sorts of places, with or without you, and if you don’t strap yourself in soon you might miss out on one hell of a ride.
More:
» State of Origin Game 2 Preview
» State of Origin Game 2 Teams
» State of Origin Fixture
» State of Origin
Tonight, Australian rugby league’s showpiece, State of Origin, descends on Melbourne’s MCG for the fourth time. A fortnight ago it was Perth packing them in for an NRL clash between two teams to which they have no geographical connection.
Meanwhile, a regular-season second-tier comp clash between Papua New Guinea and Souths Logan on Saturday drew 15,000 fans in Port Moresby. And in a couple of weeks, Ukraine and Russia are clashing on neutral turf in Belgrade – an international face-off which could grow into the rugby league equivalent of India and Pakistan exchanging pleasantries across 22 yards of dirt, sawdust and dead grass.
Never mind that there might only be 34 WAGs, coaching staff and a couple of stray dogs there to watch them. No one watched Citizen Kane when it came out either, but it’s since been elevated to the pantheon of all-time classics.
To say Origin fever has gripped Melbourne would be slightly disingenuous, but there are plenty of signs that it’s happening. Nightly news bulletins even mention Paul Gallen by name.
A few punters proudly wore their Queensland colours as they disembarked at Tullamarine airport on Tuesday morning, while beanies and jackets of both colours wove their way through city pedestrian traffic.
Flags line the streets of the CBD, jostling for pole space with musical Anything Goes and Public Sector Week, which by the absence of PSW beanies and jackets on the streets has yet to fully capture the public’s imagination.
They’ll no doubt soon to be replaced with flags bearing footballers from Madrid and Manchester, these also just filler until AFL stars and thoroughbreds reclaim their rightful turf and the whole event cycle rolls on into 2016.
“I’ve heard they’ve sold a few tickets for it,” said my now Melbourne-based ex-housemate – a decent bloke despite supporting both the Broncos and Collingwood – on Monday as we organised battle plans for my southern pilgrimage.
If the little hype to emanate out of NRL HQ is to be believed, “a few” might be an understatement and the 90,000-plus figure being tossed around might be a reality. In Melbourne. For a game involving two states that in all other sporting arenas Victorians wouldn’t think twice about crossing the road for. For a game of rugby league. In Melbourne.
All this while certain sectors of the Sydney press spent much of the build-up to Origin 1 (quite rightly) death-riding ticket prices, Greg Inglis’ parentage, Trent Hodkinson’s right to draw breath, and where exactly Gerringong is anyway (hint: it’s in Queensland).
Compare that feeding frenzy to the understated yet respectful build-up afforded Game 2 and the upper echelons of rugby league could be forgiven for privately wondering why they don’t take an Origin game away from the NSW capital more often.
Regardless of what’s served up on the paddock (and if it’s another tense grind-house of an affair, it better end in a Queensland win or I’ll be invoicing someone for my expenses), tonight should confirm that in State of Origin – ‘Sport’s Greatest Rivalry’, as those Melbourne CBD flags proudly proclaim – rugby league has its Champions League final, its Super Bowl, an event that cities will want to host regardless of their affinity for the participants.
State of Origin at the Adelaide Oval. All-Stars weekend at the new Perth Stadium, with Adam Goodes joining the Indigenous war dance. The World Club Series at Wembley. NRL Magic Weekend at AT&T Stadium. New Zealand and England contesting the 2021 World Cup final at the Nou Camp.
Crazier things have happened. And as much as I’d like to spend every weekend watching rugby league from the comfort and convenience of the Henson Park hill, if suburban Sydney is the only place rugby league lives then that’s also where the game will die.
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.