The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Players are selected to represent the Australian state in which they played their first senior rugby league game. The two states’ teams are frequently referred to as the Blues and Maroons, reflecting the respective colors of their jerseys.
About State of Origin series in brief
The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Players are selected to represent the Australian state in which they played their first senior rugby league game. Before 1980 players were only selected for interstate matches based on where they were playing their club football at the time. The first of these interstate games was played at Sydney’s Agricultural Ground on 11 July 1908, before Queensland had even commenced its club competition. Until 1982 each team drew its players from the clubs based in that state. Queensland surged ahead between 2006 and 2017, winning 11 out of 12 series. The two states’ teams are frequently referred to as the Blues and Maroons, reflecting the respective colors of their jerseys. The NSW team are sometimes referred to by the nickname ‘Cockroaches’ and the Qld team as ‘Cane Toads’ The first calls for a state of origin selection policy in interstate rugby football came before the schism between the union and league codes eventuated in Australia. In 1900 a journalist known as ‘The Cynic’ wrote in The Referee that star rugby player and recent immigrant to Queensland, Stephen Spragg, should be able to play for his home state. The Blues team is administered by theNew South Wales Rugby League and the Maroons by the Queensland Rugby League. Since the 1908 establishment of rugby league in Australia, the sport’s two major states have played representative matches against each other which have continued into the \”state of origin\” era which began in the 1980s.
The interstate series was dominated by New South. Wales, apart from a golden period for Queensland in the 1920s. From 1922 to 1925 Queensland defeated New. South Wales 11 times in 12 matches. From 1956 to 1981, NSW had won 75% and Qld only 25% of series played. By the 1970s the prestige of interstate matches had been seriously downgraded. Matches were played mid-week, so not to interfere with the Sydney club competition, and small crowds in New South South Wales were hosted at suburban grounds. In 1977 the NSW team reached its nadir when the NSW Rugby Football League declined to host the Queensland team and both interstate games were played in Queensland. In 1981, Qld won even higher, even though NSW had been winning only 1 series, in 1959, in 1956, and 1981, even with Qld winning only 3 series. In the 1990s the NSW dominance soared, but by the 2000s NSW dominance had been even higher. In 2010, NSW won the series by a margin of 11-0. The series has been played around the middle of the rugby league season and usually sells out the stadiums in which the games are played. The games are one of Australia’s premier sporting events, attracting huge television audiences and usually selling out the stadium in which it is played. It is regularly described as being the pinnacle of rugby League, even in comparison with international competitions.
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This page is based on the article State of Origin series published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
