Rugby league has been accused of selling its soul.
Sponsorship names on sacred jerseys, iconic grounds such as Lang Park being renamed after a corporate brand, a plug for a sponsor each time a score is given out on radio, mindless betting ads before, during and after a game – the list goes on.
When money comes into the fray, you sell a little bit of your soul. When large amounts of money come in, you can sell a lot.
Not that I’m against all progress and change that has come in. While the neanderthal in me sometimes pines for the days of ‘the biff’, the reasonable side of me knows that cleaning up a lot of the cheap shots and deliberate coat-hangers is ultimately going to be better for the game we love.
Indeed, I like the current Roosters logo (the angry-cool looking bird with just the shoulder up view) more than the old logo which I grew to love.
James Tedesco (Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Despite the rapid change that professionalism has wrought, there have been a couple of changes which brought back some soul.
The most obvious is the naming of the premiership trophy, which was known as the JJ Giltinan Shield but in the early 1980s got replaced by the Winfield Cup, which morphed into the Optus Cup and then the Telstra Cup.
However, the NRL did the right thing by calling it the Provan-Summons Trophy. A bit of soul. And might I say that – in my totally biased point of view – it is the best sporting trophy on the face of this Earth!
So can we do something similar with the State of Origin shield? It currently features some Manga-type footy players having an arm wrestle. It’s a bit lame.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there an engraving of the great Brett Kenny and the great Wally Lewis in a similar pose? If so, why don’t we transpose these icons over the cartoons and call it the Kenny-Lewis Shield?
Surely a great event such as Origin deserves a great trophy with two of the greatest ever players?
The Kenny-Lewis Shield.
I’m even willing to call it the Lewis-Kenny Shield just to appease the banana benders.
Bring back the soul!
GregM
Roar Rookie
does the current SOO look like the Lewis - Geyer standoff in 1991? just put their faces on the shield - back to the days when there was some hatred in Origin
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
Glenelg / redlegs / double blues / magpies rivalries just aint what they used to be tho' ((
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
& the sooner they get rid of these fkn betting ads the better - parasites
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
the American NFL does it best (& the NHL) - the jerseys are traditional, historical. All of the fan gear is as brights and gaudy as they want to make it. But the players jerseys remain unchanged
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
The Greg Inglis Shield: 1. GI is a Shield: 2. Only for Champions: 3. Highest all time SOO try scorer: 4. NSW born playing for Qld Origin (should appease both sides of the border): 5. One of the Storm’s best ever – (should appease the Mexicans): 6. Great Indigenous Role Model; and 7. A powerful symbol yet Easy to pronounce – THE GI SHIELD ! There you go, all bases covered. The GI shield. The Goanna as the SOO Logo.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
Peter Beattie wooden spoon sounds better :thumbup:
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
nah - cockroach & a cane toad on the shield
Birdy
Roar Rookie
Does the RL or the local council get the advertising dollars for the stadium naming, or a part share? Either way I've always thought a stadium should have the club name as well. eg Broncos Suncorp stadium Or Parramatta Bank west Stadium. It is the club that keeps the bums on seats.
Birdy
Roar Rookie
Love that idea andrew. 2 of my favourite players ever involved in the punch that started origin.
Birdy
Roar Rookie
Any cup that can do that has got my blessing
Spartacus
Roar Rookie
And Kiwi Kevin Tamati says hello to Greg Dowling (aka the 1985 NZ vs Australia Test Match). Face it Nat, QLDers have a long history of getting bashed! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-18/greg-dowling/11028916
Spartacus
Roar Rookie
Nice try Nat! "At age 10, Keary moved to Sydney with his family. In Sydney, Keary played junior rugby league for the Kellyville Bushrangers and later Hills District Bulls and attended Oakhill College in Castle Hill. In 2010, Keary represented the Australian Schoolboys rugby union team. That same year he represented the New South Wales Combined Independent Schools (NSWCIS) rugby league team at the Under 18's National Championships." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Keary Sorry Nat, but you can't rewrite history... unless you can edit Keary's Wiki page. :laughing:
Nat
Roar Guru
Jamie Goddard says Gday... :stoked:
Nat
Roar Guru
And you got Keary. How'd that go for ya?? :laughing: Su'A, Allan and Gags: Average players for Souths, Origin champions for Qld. Has Gagai ever won a MOM for Souths? :laughing: :laughing: The only other blue to have less impact than Murray was Walker before Freddie hooked him! :laughing: :laughing:
The Barry
Roar Guru
Too much revenue involved for that to ever happen. I don’t think Origin really needs a lift... There’s some merit to naming the trophy. But it’s difficult to come up with a name that works Wally Lewis perfectly represents Queensland Origin and I’m sure it would mean a lot to Queensland players. Kenny doesn’t do that for NSW in anywhere near the same way... and to be honest I don’t think NSW has a player that does. Mortimer, Fittler, Sterling, Pearce, Daley... all great players but none of them have that same ‘essence of origin’ (can’t believe I just wrote that) that Lewis has Players already play for the Wally Lewis medal so I’m not sure the Lewis-someone trophy is necessary Maybe Beetson-someone but again it’s hard to come up with a NSW name that has the same gravitas. Maybe the Beetson-Wynn trophy with a bronze cast of Beetson knocking the stuffing out of Graeme Wynn after he did his usual trick of cheap shotting a halfback :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
The Sports Lover
Roar Rookie
I love guys like you “still bitter about the demise of the BRL”. That old fashioned suburban tribalism makes me nostalgic. I live in Adelaide now and many of my old mates (over the age of 70) still feel more passion about the old SANFL clubs than the current AFL clubs. They still trot out to the modest suburban grounds every week with the other two thousand die yards.
The Sports Lover
Roar Rookie
Lewis epitomises Origin, no doubt about that. Wally and Bert wrestling doesn’t, at least for me. It wasn’t Kenny’s style. He was all about standing start speed and swerve as well as text book tackling. Interestingly, I have heard Lewis say on at least two occasions, that Kenny was the only opposition player he felt that he never managed to conquer. He rated him very highly. Even allowing for Lewis’ natural modesty, that is a supreme compliment. If you want to lift in SOO’s , my controversial view is to reduce the number of yearly games from three to one. Too much of a good thing weakens the desire to watch it.
Spartacus
Roar Rookie
No matth, the “Paul Harragon-Martin Bella” trophy, like the Provan-Summons Trophy, only with the two big fellas going toe-to-toe and Harragon’s fist planted in Bella’s face. That’s what Origin is all about Matt, the biff and QLDers getting bashed! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfpnqK_Ezs8
Pickett
Roar Rookie
Yep, definitely Lang Park for me too.
Spartacus
Roar Rookie
"So unwoke!" Ah, I remember those days! Before feelings were more important than facts and the rule of law.