Most Australian rules fans have forgotten (or chosen to forget) that they owned the State of Origin concept for a century before the big boppers in the north caught on. Since the VFL/AFL abandoned their interstate carnivals in 1993 and ceased all state-based clashes in 1999, rugby league’s State of Origin has become “Australian sport’s greatest rivalry” – the purest expression of mate v mate and state v state. It started as an experiment – Australia’s then-captain Bob Fulton predicted “the non-event of the century” – but 43 years on Origin has become the very essence of rugby league.
Every year Origin plays havoc with club sides whose stars are called to representative duty, introduces more byes to the schedule which warps NRL competition points standings, turns a blind eye to throwback thuggery not condoned in the regular season, and baffles even the most ardent fans on its definition of what “origin” means. Yet it draws record crowds, attracts huge TV ratings and screens in more than 100 countries.
