- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
State of Origin is supposed to be the pinnacle of football, where the greatest players in our game meet in a brutal three game series that tests players’ composure, strength and courage.
But just how ‘tough’ are these games?
The State of Origin arena is filled with cowardly and grubby acts that are labelled as tough and Origin-like. Both teams are guilty of these acts despite constantly trying to put the onus on the other.
Late hits on passers and kickers, forearms to the face of defenceless players lying on the ground and various other grubby deeds all combine to produce a dirty game.
Last night’s Origin game was no different highlighted by the last 10 minutes when Farah pushed Thurston in the face as the playmaker lay on the ground and proceeded to walk over him in such a way that his knee came in contact with his head.
Not long after this a couple of Queensland players were clearly seen rubbing their arms into the face of Blues forward David Klemmer. Klemmer retaliated and threw a few jabs/punches that have seemed to escape comment.
What makes it worse is the comments from Phil Gould as he glorifies these acts of thuggery. He brands them as tough and he can be heard snickering and is clearly excited by these acts that spark an all-in game of tiggy.
The NRL’s regular season games are no strangers to the same grubby tactics either. Week in week out we see the likes of Michael Ennis performing cowardly and niggly acts. The most worrying thing is they are also branded as tough.
Are these acts creeping into the game because players know they cannot be hit? I’m not sure, but they seem to be more evident now than ever. Perhaps they are a tactic to draw penalties and to wind up players that are known to have a short fuse.
I am not for one second suggesting that we renege on the no punch tolerance, but something needs to be done to stamp this out of the game. Perhaps smaller penalties such as simply resetting the tackle count or advancing the ball 10 metres could be used for minor infringements like this.
Where has the respect gone? This type of football is not tough. It is cowardly, grubby, and it is deterring young people from playing the game. Tough is someone who gives their all, hits hard and gets hit hard and can shake the oppositions hand and win or lose gracefully at the end of it.
Please can we stop glorifying these grubby acts?
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.