interstate championship 1979

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i'm thinking nsw the AAs and the NT weren't invited to perth
and that 2nd division table was based on 2 (?) games they each played that year

don't remember the nt playing canberra till around 1988
 

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killer said:
i'm thinking nsw the AAs and the NT weren't invited to perth
and that 2nd division table was based on 2 (?) games they each played that year
Click to expand...
That seems to be right: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/1979_Perth_State_of_Origin_Carnival

Section Two
The ACT, coached by Kevin Delmenico, had only two players with VFL experience in their team - captain Kevin Neale and Fitzroy's Michael Conlan. Their only match was against Warren Roper's Queensland, who had failed to qualify for Section One. The Canberrans themselves had qualified for the Section Two Final by winning a play-off against the Australian Amateurs, New South Wales and Northern Territory earlier in the year.

From Football Record Rd. 19 1979: Section Two elimination matches have already been conducted with Australian Capital Territory, led by former St Kilda spearhead and full-back Kevin Neale, winning their way into the final on October 7.
To qualify the ACT last Sunday defeated Australian Amateurs by six points with the winning goal coming from their captain Neale. The Amateurs had previously had an easy victory over Northern Territory at VFL Park on July 28.
ACT will play the loser of the October 4 match between Section One states Tasmania and Queensland.
The winner of this game is drawn to play Western Australia in the second match on October 6.
 
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35Daicos said:
That seems to be right: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/1979_Perth_State_of_Origin_Carnival

Section Two
The ACT, coached by Kevin Delmenico, had only two players with VFL experience in their team - captain Kevin Neale and Fitzroy's Michael Conlan. Their only match was against Warren Roper's Queensland, who had failed to qualify for Section One. The Canberrans themselves had qualified for the Section Two Final by winning a play-off against the Australian Amateurs, New South Wales and Northern Territory earlier in the year.

From Football Record Rd. 19 1979: Section Two elimination matches have already been conducted with Australian Capital Territory, led by former St Kilda spearhead and full-back Kevin Neale, winning their way into the final on October 7.
To qualify the ACT last Sunday defeated Australian Amateurs by six points with the winning goal coming from their captain Neale. The Amateurs had previously had an easy victory over Northern Territory at VFL Park on July 28.
ACT will play the loser of the October 4 match between Section One states Tasmania and Queensland.
The winner of this game is drawn to play Western Australia in the second match on October 6.
Click to expand...

The 1979 Section Two championships consisted of 5 matches, held in July/Aug/Oct. The team rankings were based on final placings in the previous national championships held in 1974/75.

PRELIMINARY ROUND:

Queensland (1974 Section 2 national champions) bypassed the preliminary round.

SF1 - July 28 at VFL Park - Australian Amateurs 27.17 (179) d. Northern Territory 13.15 (93) - curtain-raiser for the VFL Rd.18 Melbourne v Fitzroy match
SF2 - July 29 at Manuka Oval - ACT 22.12 (144) d. NSW 19.21 (135)
FINAL - Aug.5 at Manuka Oval - ACT 16.21 (117) d. Australian Amateurs 16.15 (111)

PROMOTION PLAYOFF:

1974 Section 2 national champions (Queensland) vs 1975 Section 1 last (Tasmania*)

PLAYOFF - Oct.4 at Perth Oval - Tasmania 17.20 (122) d. Queensland 13.12 (90)

-Tasmania retained their place in Section 1 and played against WA (Oct.6) and SA (Oct.8)
-Queensland stayed in Section 2 and played the S.2 final on Oct.7

*NOTE:
Tasmania (0W, 1L, 50%) actually finished 2nd last at the 1975 Section 1 Championships.
Western Australia (0W, 1L, 43.75%) finished last.

Usually the promotion playoff involved Section 1's last-placed team but in this case it seems that WA, as the hosts of the 1979 championships, avoided the playoff and Tassie drew the short straw instead.

1979 SECTION 2 FINAL:

Winner of the Preliminary Round (ACT) vs Loser of the Promotion Playoff (Queensland)

SECT.2 FINAL - Oct.7 at Leederville Oval - Queensland 23.23 (151) d. ACT 18.12 (120)

- Queensland won their second national championship
 
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Plans changed quite a bit by the looks of that. One thing that stands out to me is no mention of the Australian Amateurs. Highly unusual as they'd been involved in every Section Two championships since 1950.

It's just a theory but maybe they were initially overlooked for 1979 because of the Northern Territory participating for the first time. No Amateurs squad would have kept Section Two at a much more manageable four teams (ACT, NSW, NT, QLD) which would have allowed a round-robin tournament, with each team playing three games over a week.

Also, considering this was the first carnival played under State of Origin conditions, the Amateurs were the only non-State League squad so their omission would have made sense logically (but certainly not from a historical perspective).
 
An article in the nt news of 19790503 ("Why can't we go?)
states that the 2nd division carvival (perth) was
scrubbed. The ntfl had been told this by alan aylett (NFL) on the Thursday prior.
There was going to be an attempt by the 5 teams affected
(NSW, ACt, QLD, NT, Papua New Guinea ) to organise a carnival
in brisbane in october '79 at their own expense.
 
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