There's more chance of Trump getting another 4 years than there is of the AFL taking State of Origin football seriously ever again.
Australian Rules State of Origin Football.
yeah, I've been to a few of those games.(1999 Wa v Tas....2010 QLD v Tas....2015 WA v SA....2016 WA v SA)
The Vic's recently pulled out of it though which is sad.......probs because they got absolutely belted by WA in 2017
They're technically not 'origin' though as they're more a rep team for the respective state leagues, although over 90% of the players in them are playing for their home state....so I guess its the closest thing we've got these days.
- Jul 22, 2013
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Don't speak down to me please.
I lived through it. At a guess I averaged 10-12 games of footy attended every year in the 70s to 90s, travel for work got in the way of more. At least a couple of finals each year, and a handful of Grand finals.
Only ever bothered to go to one State of Origin game, and that was only because I was in Perth on business and the locals I was dealing with were dead keen to go down to Subi and watch WA stick one up the Vics. 1984, Hardie's game. I have clear memories of watching Hardie stream out of the back half bouncing the ball and no bugger bothering to chase him.
Apart from that, of all the other SOO ever played I might have bothered to even watch half a game on television. The one where Victoria played three full forwards. Turned it off because I was not interested.
So unless you want to turn back time and become a young adult Victorian in the 70s, don't bother telling me how I don't understand how Victorians felt about it. OK?
PS. Just to draw a line under it, through the very same period I formed a strong interest in Rugby League State of Origin, right from the fireworks of the very first game. Flew out to Sydney a couple of times to watch games.
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Bookmarked. Stranger things have happened.
But yeah it’s dead. Gone. Singing to the choir eternal. Fun while it lasted but nobody other than hardcore fans want it back.
51,052 attended the State of Origin for Bushfire Relief game at Marvel Stadium in February just this year.
That crowd figure was not matched throughout the whole 2020 home and away or finals series.
That crowd figure was not matched throughout the whole 2020 home and away or finals series.
The whole concept of representative footy in the AFL is akin to the All Star game in the NBA - it’s nice to have, can be entertaining...but ultimately nobody REALLY cares and it’s all a bit of fluff.
telsor
Hall of Famer
My memories are similar.
My main memory of SOO was how so many VIC players 'suddenly' developed one week injuries when SOO came around.
I think the clearest objective indication of how Vics thought about SOO, and how the scales were tipped to make it a close match, was how few games were actually held in Vic.
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Sttew
Brownlow Medallist
You've got to remember that for NRL the SOO is its saviour. They may as well not run the H&A comp and just have a SOO. For whatever reason, when SOO is played in the middle of the year in NRL the teams / supporters don't seem to care that their champions won't front up for H&A duties because of SOO responsibilities.
The AFL doesn't need a SOO to survive, and in any case there are too many states / territories to do it properly. Once the VFL became the AFL the concept of SOO all but died. When the AFL introduced a team called the Allies that was the final nail in the coffin, IMO
The AFL doesn't need a SOO to survive, and in any case there are too many states / territories to do it properly. Once the VFL became the AFL the concept of SOO all but died. When the AFL introduced a team called the Allies that was the final nail in the coffin, IMO
I'm happy with a Trump win. But I just don't see SoO being on the AFL agenda.
Given my first game on VFL footy was 1969 on a working holiday, & i've been a financial member of Subi, Port & Carlton in the State League era, your CV does not impress me. Lived at Manly in Sydney, sat on the mound at Brooky, but preferred the 16 footers. in Brisbane work took me to Brothers. I was there day one in 77.
- Jul 22, 2013
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It could work, but it would take time to get right and build it up.
Firstly, they must scrap the All Stars concept. No one gives a s**t about beating or barracking for the All Stars, it has to be VIC, WA, SA, etc.
Secondly, they still need to find an optimal time/fixture for the games. Last night NRL played it 2 weeks after the season finished, it just wasn't the same for me. The players weren't as sharp, particularly early on, and there wasn't as much intensity or interest in it for mine, COVID played a part admittedly. The AFL would need to trial post season, during the season, before the season, to find where the optimal time is.
Thirdly, this is the biggest challenge, it needs time to build some prestige and tradition, so that clubs and players actually care enough to risk their players. In NRL, its seen as an honour and is highly coveted to wear the state jumper. The players want to play and the clubs let them, SoO is ingrained in their league. That would take a good 5-10 years to build that in the AFL. Until that happens where playing SoO is an honour, its not going to be its optimum.
The last issue I hear people say is about fans. This is the least of our worries. If the above happened, and the players and teams committed, a match played in good spirit, hard and contested between VIC vs WA, etc would easily draw crowds and viewers. The key is that it takes time to build, and we'd need to commit to it in the long term for that to build.
Initially, maybe give it a go every second year for the next 10 years. You could have a VIC vs WA and a SA vs the next best state match and see how it goes.
Firstly, they must scrap the All Stars concept. No one gives a s**t about beating or barracking for the All Stars, it has to be VIC, WA, SA, etc.
Secondly, they still need to find an optimal time/fixture for the games. Last night NRL played it 2 weeks after the season finished, it just wasn't the same for me. The players weren't as sharp, particularly early on, and there wasn't as much intensity or interest in it for mine, COVID played a part admittedly. The AFL would need to trial post season, during the season, before the season, to find where the optimal time is.
Thirdly, this is the biggest challenge, it needs time to build some prestige and tradition, so that clubs and players actually care enough to risk their players. In NRL, its seen as an honour and is highly coveted to wear the state jumper. The players want to play and the clubs let them, SoO is ingrained in their league. That would take a good 5-10 years to build that in the AFL. Until that happens where playing SoO is an honour, its not going to be its optimum.
The last issue I hear people say is about fans. This is the least of our worries. If the above happened, and the players and teams committed, a match played in good spirit, hard and contested between VIC vs WA, etc would easily draw crowds and viewers. The key is that it takes time to build, and we'd need to commit to it in the long term for that to build.
Initially, maybe give it a go every second year for the next 10 years. You could have a VIC vs WA and a SA vs the next best state match and see how it goes.
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That would help entice players, it could be a standard match fee amount.
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yup $$ to play and then more to win.
State of Origin players in Rugby League get big $$ for it. I'm sure it contributes to its success in RL.
I was at the game that killed SOO - ironically the biggest crowd ever to witness a SOO game. It was the 1989 game at the MCG. Andy Collins playing for Victoria tackled his Hawthorn team mate Tony Hall - Hall did an incredibly nasty ACL. I reckon club officials were horrified that Hall was injured so severely by a team mate while plumb in the middle of a premiership tilt.
After that, I reckon the one week injuries started to become common.
Like you I worked for a living that took me all over Australia living in all the mainland capitals & was able to indulge my sporting interests with sponsorships.
- Jul 22, 2013
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You seem to be missing the main point of my outlining my background.
Which was to point out that I am a Victorian football fan, raised in the state and living Victorian football culture all trhough the relevant time, and surrounded by a significant body of family, friends and acquaintances also immersed in Victorian football.
Given that you are not, you might understand my getting a little huffy over being condescendingly informed by you that I don't know anything about Victorian football culture of the time.
I'm not a Vic by birth if that is somehow a limitation. Origin was the topic of discussion?
- Jul 22, 2013
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Yes. And within that the fact that the passionate interest in it was largely a one way street.
It became a one way street, that is why it died after getting the staggers.
- Jul 22, 2013
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Well I could not disagree more.
telsor
Hall of Famer
It was always pretty much one way.
SOO for Vics was like a fight with your little brother. Lose, and you'd cop crap for losing, win and you'd cop crap (or at best, little to no credit) for fighting him in the first place. It's hard to generate much interest/passion for a lose/lose game.
The death of SOO was the Eagles however.
They had half the WA SOO squad, and while most teams grudgingly accepted risking a few players so the rest of the team got a 'bye' (even if they still tried to 'hide' the bigger names), WCE were gambling with 3 or 4 times as many and had fewer got the break (it also got in the way of their pre-Freo marketing about them being WA's team, and given they were financially shaky in the early days, that was a big deal). It also made it less 'special' to the crowd to 'kick a vic' when the eagles did it frequently anyway.
These discussions only come up after NRL SOO games these days.
Those games are a massive part of NRL culture and should not be compared to AFL.
The players and most AFL fans don't want it.
The Premiership is everything in our league.
To risk your best players to injury mid season, and potentially cost you a premiership? Just because we wanted to copy the NRL?
No way.
Those games are a massive part of NRL culture and should not be compared to AFL.
The players and most AFL fans don't want it.
The Premiership is everything in our league.
To risk your best players to injury mid season, and potentially cost you a premiership? Just because we wanted to copy the NRL?
No way.
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