If you know what State of Origin is, you can skip the primer below.
Rugby League is a really big sport in the north east of Australia, and every year there is a three-match sort of all-star game that actually matters. New South Wales and Queensland make up most players in the National Rugby League competition, with foreign players, most from New Zealand or other pacific island nations and some from the UK.
That three-match series is called State of Origin, and selection is only available for players who are 'Australian' (they have pledged to play for Australia nationally) who come from NSW or Queensland or pledge themselves to one of the other. There are plenty of players who are from the pacific who come over here young-ish and play and end up in one of the two teams, they just can't play for their nation of birth, rather their adopted nation, Australia. Historically that's what they all wanted to do anyway but lately that's changing a bit, which is good for the game.
Importantly, calling these games all-star matches is underselling them. They're held mid-season and really matter. They're not exhibitions, they genuinely matter to the point it's all anyone talks about all season. They matter much, much more than international selection. Being selected for NSW and Qld is actually more important to many players than being selected for the Kangaroos.
And they're brutal games where people try to kill each other despite playing for the same competition team.
I can't overstate how much these players want to play in these games and how much damage they do to themselves and each other.
Now, in saying that, SoO has started to drop away from the public importance a little bit lately. The International game is now much more competetive and is starting to make a difference, and the game itself is continuing to grapple with the other sports here, primarily soccer's growth.
The game has also modernised to address very important things, like head injuries, fighting and the 'shoulder-charge', all things that have been removed from the game almost entirely (well, not head injuries, though now there are clear protocols that are still a work in progress).
But. In 2009, none of that mattered. You could still do all of that shit.
Queensland had a run recently of winning virtually everything, and in 2009 they were IN Queensland for the third game already owning the series, up 2-0, and NSW hoping not to get rolled in a whitewash.
Someone pulled together a pretty good video diary thing of the way that game ended, and it's good enough I thought general sports fans might get a kick out of it.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/she-s-on-here-an-oral-history-of-state-of-origin-s-last-great-meltdown-20190523-p51qfz.html
I hope you enjoy. There's a player-primer below most of the way down that sort of outlines some of the names of who played for who because the article sort of immediately assumes you know who the major players are. It also sort of assumes you know NSW won the game. They did, that's not a secret, but the win is irrelevant to what is called the big, last great fight in rugby league.
Rugby League is a really big sport in the north east of Australia, and every year there is a three-match sort of all-star game that actually matters. New South Wales and Queensland make up most players in the National Rugby League competition, with foreign players, most from New Zealand or other pacific island nations and some from the UK.
That three-match series is called State of Origin, and selection is only available for players who are 'Australian' (they have pledged to play for Australia nationally) who come from NSW or Queensland or pledge themselves to one of the other. There are plenty of players who are from the pacific who come over here young-ish and play and end up in one of the two teams, they just can't play for their nation of birth, rather their adopted nation, Australia. Historically that's what they all wanted to do anyway but lately that's changing a bit, which is good for the game.
Importantly, calling these games all-star matches is underselling them. They're held mid-season and really matter. They're not exhibitions, they genuinely matter to the point it's all anyone talks about all season. They matter much, much more than international selection. Being selected for NSW and Qld is actually more important to many players than being selected for the Kangaroos.
And they're brutal games where people try to kill each other despite playing for the same competition team.
I can't overstate how much these players want to play in these games and how much damage they do to themselves and each other.
Now, in saying that, SoO has started to drop away from the public importance a little bit lately. The International game is now much more competetive and is starting to make a difference, and the game itself is continuing to grapple with the other sports here, primarily soccer's growth.
The game has also modernised to address very important things, like head injuries, fighting and the 'shoulder-charge', all things that have been removed from the game almost entirely (well, not head injuries, though now there are clear protocols that are still a work in progress).
But. In 2009, none of that mattered. You could still do all of that shit.
Queensland had a run recently of winning virtually everything, and in 2009 they were IN Queensland for the third game already owning the series, up 2-0, and NSW hoping not to get rolled in a whitewash.
Someone pulled together a pretty good video diary thing of the way that game ended, and it's good enough I thought general sports fans might get a kick out of it.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/she-s-on-here-an-oral-history-of-state-of-origin-s-last-great-meltdown-20190523-p51qfz.html
I hope you enjoy. There's a player-primer below most of the way down that sort of outlines some of the names of who played for who because the article sort of immediately assumes you know who the major players are. It also sort of assumes you know NSW won the game. They did, that's not a secret, but the win is irrelevant to what is called the big, last great fight in rugby league.
