Australia’s leading scientific body has released a new report revealing the psychological profiles of New South Wales sports fans who support the Queensland Maroons.
‘Defectors’, as they’re labelled in the report, have long been a subject of fascination for researchers who struggled to understand why any self-respecting Australian would willingly commit the ultimate act of treason.
The results were fascinating.
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After extensive psychological evaluations by the country’s top minds, the CSIRO found a statistically significant correlation between defectors and mental fragility.
“We discovered that these people demonstrated recurring character traits of cowardice and mental weakness,” Morgan Trindle, head researcher, said.
“You know how some people say ‘he’s a bloke you’d want to be in the trenches with’ – these people are the opposite of that.
“In the science world, these people are known as ‘deadset flogs’.”
They also showed a strong tendency towards pathological lying.
“Many of them would fabricate stories to justify their disgraceful decision,” Morgan explained.
“A common refrain we heard is ‘I have cousins in Queensland so I go for the Maroons’ – but when we dug a bit deeper we found that only 4.3 per cent who claimed to have relatives up north actually did.”
While it was not included in the final iteration of the research, Morgan stressed that even though a small minority were telling the truth, it was still a “completely bullshit excuse to support Queensland.”
An overwhelming majority of defectors said they had supported the Maroons since they were born, but historical evidence uncovered that some two-thirds actually supported the Blues between 2003-2005, before changing to Queensland after the 2008 series.
There was some variation based on gender.
While male defectors went to great lengths to create a false narrative justifying their allegiances, 37 per cent of women admitted they jumped ships because “Billy Slater’s kind of cute”.
When asked to list their other favourite sporting teams, Greater Western Sydney Giants, Leicester City, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Sydney FC were the most common responses.
Interestingly, their allegiances to Queensland seemed to begin and end with Origin.
Morgan said that they tried to reciprocate the study to find Queensland-born rugby league fans who supported New South Wales, but after 18 months of searching they couldn’t.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
I'm the same but for different reasons. I remember watching NSW flog Qld year in and year out with Queenslanders having to play in the NSW Blue. It was so good to see Queenslanders playing for Queensland.
Morty
Guest
Pftttttt qld isnt even a real state vanilla face
DingoGray
Guest
And NSW stats in same categories Aaron?
Upfromdown
Guest
Ironic, considering you don't have to really be from that state to play for the state. So the same goes for supporters doesn't it?
Aaron
Guest
Heres some statistics for you queenslanders 1. Of the 179 players to represent QLD, 32 were not born in QLD - that’s 17.9% 2. 9.5% of the players to represent QLD were born in NSW 3. Non QLD players have contributed 246 combined games to the cause since 1980 and 166 of these were be players of NSW birth (87 of the 166 contributions by NSW players to QLD teams resulted in a win for a winning percentage of 9.8%) 4. In 7 of the 33 full three-game series, QLD fielded a team solely made of Queenslanders 5. In the 33 full three-game series, QLD has had a greater percentage of non-State born players in its team than NSW on 23 occasions 6. In its 18 series wins, QLD has had the greater percentage of non-State players on 14 occasions, revealing a 77.8% dependency 7. 17.1% of the total amount of points scored for QLD were scored by non-State players (13% were scored by New South Welshman) But dont let real statistics get in the way of a good story :) Go the Blues
Big Daddy
Guest
Its because people cannot stand players like Gallen and Farah and want to see them smashed. Now their gone a few might come back.
mattq
Guest
Do the NSW team count as flogs when they're main sponsor is Victoria Bitter? At least QLDers are patriotic. What about the NRL itself and hosting NSW/QLD Origin at the MCG? All sounds very flogish to me.
Just_Chris
Guest
Do they also vote for one nation? Seems to be serious issues of panty wetting in Queensland. Supporting the opposition and voting in fear of scientists and exploding Muslims seems to be gripping the state. Needless to say if Pauline ever takes over the rest of us won't be paying to build the wall around Queensland but we'd probably all chip in to pay for the sea water to be pumped in once its done.
dave
Guest
Are you for real. I have never heard such rubbish in my life . We are able to back which ever team we want and do not need to be labelled because someone thinks he knows better than others. I was born in nsw , the first game of nrl I went to was in Queensland so I chose the broncos as the team I support. I have met Sam bacco and consider him a friend. Grow a brain mate and remember we are all Aussies and it is our right to choose who we want to support.
Gavin
Guest
Thats because of flogs and glory hunters like yourself.
Nath Hitcheson
Guest
We dont care Gavin! The QLDers live and breath it we can take it or leave it. There are more New South Welshman going for QLD than QLDers going for New South Wales
Sham
Guest
I have never met someone who describes themselves as a New South Welshman or a New South Welsh Woman. Queenslanders on the other hand often identify themselves by their State. State boundaries are fairly meaningless and arbitrary. so it is hard to take loyalty to them seriously. Go Queensland.
Gavin R
Guest
We pretend to not care because we cant buy a series win lately. It's the only thing we can hold on to! But deep down, we care more than QLD. Jumping ship because after realising NSW don't win as often as QLD. You sir, are a flog of the highest order.
Jonny G
Guest
Can you verify whether people in Western Sydney care about AFL, or whether people in Melbourne care about Rugby League?
Hardwick
Guest
Flog identified
Nath Hitcheson
Guest
Im born and bred in NSW and go for QLD. Atleast QLDers care about Origin where here NSW people can take ot or leave it.. most leave it
Riordan Lee
Editor
Thanks man, I really did try with this - means a lot when people recognise it once in a while. xoxoxo.
JohnB
Guest
Couldn't the fact all the individuals tested were from NSW account for the character traits of cowardice and mental weakness noted by the study?
Riordan Lee
Editor
I've spoken to Morgan, and she confirmed that she did not.
JonD
Guest
A tedious little article - and, despite trying oh so hard, not funny.