For the first time in nearly 30 years, a State of Origin game will be played away from Australia’s east coast, with the NRL announcing Game 2 in 2019 will be hosted in Perth.
The last time an Origin match was moved away from the coast was in 1987, when one game was taken to Los Angeles.
In another move away from tradition, that fixture will not be played during the usual Wednesday night time slot, instead being held on a weekend in an attempt to draw fans to the game.
The host of the game is set to be the new 60,000-seat Perth Stadium. The $1.2 billion venue is still under construction, but is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018.
“We saw Melbourne embrace State of Origin in 2015 and we expect Perth to do the same in 2019,” NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said to The Australian.
91,513 packed out the MCG last time Origin moved out of its traditional heartlands, which was considered a great success by supporters of the code.
Greenberg went on to praise the new facility that would host the game.
“By then Perth will have a state-of-the-art facility which will be a fitting new venue for the biggest sporting event in the country. Taking Origin to new venues has huge benefits for the game. It grows the game in other markets and showcases our premium product to a new audience.”
The move is set to provide the NRL with a significant windfall, with West Australian premier and tourism minister, Colin Barnett, revealing his government had paid “several million dollars” to host the event, although he didn’t disclose specific details of the bid.
“It does not come cheap,” Barnett said.
“But I expect huge numbers of people to come over from other states and we will fill the stadium.”
The move outside rugby league’s tradition heartland isn’t a one-off. After the NRL reaped an estimated $12 million from playing a game in Melbourne last year, the city is set to host another Origin fixture in 2018. The Australian is also reporting that talks are in progress to take another future game across the ditch to Eden Park.
It is believed that this is part of an ongoing plan by the NRL to use Origin to take the game to new markets, with a game to be played outside of Queensland and NSW every year.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said Origin needed to be showcased to a new market.
“We saw Melbourne embrace State of Origin in 2015 and we expect Perth to do the same in 2019,” Mr Greenberg said.
“By then Perth will have a state-of-the-art facility which will be a fitting new venue for the biggest sporting event in the country.
“Taking Origin to new venues has huge benefits for the game.
“It grows the game in other markets and showcases our premium product to a new audience.
“I’d like to thank the Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett and the WA Government, as well as Tourism Western Australia for showing such enthusiasm for State of Origin.”
Perth will also host its first Rugby League Test match on October 15, when Australia play New Zealand at nib Stadium.
Barnett said holding a State of Origin at Perth Stadium was a huge coup for the state.
“Arguably Australia’s biggest sporting rivalry is that between the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons during the State of Origin series,” he said.
“We are expecting thousands of fans to make the trip across the Nullarbor to be at the game and millions more will watch the live television broadcast which gives us the opportunity to show off our transforming city and world-class new stadium to the rest of Australia.”
Cam
Guest
Wonder if every 3rd year we had neutral game, if that would work. Year 1 - Queensland get 2 home games. Year 2 - NSW get 2 home games. Year 3 - 1 game in Qld, 1 in NSW and one somewhere else, MCG or Docklands, Perth Stadium or Adelaide Oval. Then repeat year 1. What happens when Stadium Australia is being fixed up? Could Newcastle host a game?
Josh
Guest
i am keen to go to that match
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
General sports fans in Perth will turn out in numbers to see what the fuss is all about. Given the drive to promote the sport in new markets that isn't a bad thing at all. Coupled with that will be the the large number of travelling fans who will get to see Australia's West for the first time in their lives. Throw in the cash from the WA government and the fact that playing at a neutral venue evens out the home ground advantage and the proposition appears to be a rather positive one. The challenge in the longer term will be ensuring that the intervals between the usage of neutral venues is sufficient to avoid SOO fatigue in these markets.
Oingo Boingo
Guest
+1
Oingo Boingo
Guest
Plenty of interest over here in the west . It would be like a QLD home game though .
Baz
Guest
Still more ppl than qld for a game that was not on the line and team not favourites
Baz
Guest
Well actually ud have half the players who havent played for a month nobody can play themselves into the team either. Like they can at the moment
db
Guest
Well said Jeff.
Jeff Cook
Guest
Fix the scrums
Guest
It was crap offsider. You know that and so do most others. Thousands of tickets were given away so don't be so blind. Keep up the expansion dream by all means but don't let the heartland slip. WA has bought the game to try and attract more interstate visitors. Just like Melbourne did. They aren't interested in the long term prospects of the game.
Bruce
Guest
If the big game in Sydney the home of RL cant get a crowd - even with thousand of corporate and free tickets then what hope - they aren't all saving their money to go to the games on the weekend. NSW wont get a second game again for a while
Bruce
Guest
So the biggest event in the world has the loser playing the first game at home each time to keep interest in the series. How about we make the World Series of baseball or NBA GF the team behind in best of 7 gets to play at home till the series is even. And then when its one teams turn to majority host (wins the baseball All Star Game) give it to the other League because they have trouble winning. IN 2013 NSW who hadn't won a series for a while so they got 2 at home when it was Qlds turn for 2 home games to try to make it even. Name another sport in the world that manipulates its schedule like this - bizarre...Life is amusing at NRL central.
Bruce
Guest
Warriors get all those flying points going all that way.
offsider
Guest
Only got 60000 to a dead rubber on a freezing cold wednesday night,against a team thats won 10 of the last 11 series,the sky is falling in.
Fix the scrums
Guest
They will probably get a reasonable crowd but anyone who thinks that Perth is seriously interested in rugby league is delusional. Event games are a lot different to having a permanent team. Sydney isn't that interested. So many free tickets were given away for origin on Wednesday night. Still only got 60000. Don't ignore the heartlands.
Rugby fan
Guest
What about playing a origin 9s NSW 9s vs QLD 9s
steveng
Roar Rookie
SOO games should be played after the NRL season is over. That is the fairest (for all clubs) and the most appealing way of improving this dying, uninteresting contest and if they don't do something drastic to improve it. It might bring some interest back when fans have no other RL to watch and the NRL club season is on a break.
bjvm
Roar Rookie
Not a bad thing, will bring new fans to the game. However, if they don't sell it out, don't do it again.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
andrew, not sure if the "nut" you are addressing is me or Edward. If it's Edward, you seem to be agreeing with each other. If it's me, we're talking about completely different games, in different cities, in different years.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Naturally.