Another big sporting event came and went in Sydney, and again I was lucky to attend. This time it was Rugby League’s annual “State of Origin” (SOO) competition.
This is one of the most unique sporting events that I’ve ever heard of. Each year, during the Rugby League season, an All-Star team is composed for both New South Wales and Queensland. During a 3-week period in June, these two teams play each other on three consecutive Wednesdays, while league games are still played each weekend. The all-star teams, as you probably guessed, are picked on the basis of where the players are from as opposed to where they currently play.
There really isn’t an equivalent event in the state. I guess the closest now is the NHL All-Star game, but people really care about this. If I were to create an event like this, it would be an annual Big Ten-SEC football game played with alumni. Each year, the game would Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady handing the ball off to Shaun Alexander/Larry Johnson and throwing to Hines Ward/Plaxico Burress. And the fan intensity would carry over from the message boards into the stands.
This format creates passion from both the players and the fans unlike any other all-star game. To add more fuel to the fire, there’s a lot of state pride. Queensland always plays with a chip on its shoulder as they’re looked at as the “redneck” state and historically New South Wales has had a better team.
To give some insight, in the first SOO game ever, two professional teammates squared off in a scrum on opposing sides (since one was from NSW and the other a Queenslander). Before the whistle blew, the Queenslander clocked the NSW player and a brawl started. And this was in the first 2 minutes of the first SOO game ever. The intensity has been about the same ever since.
After hearing about these games and the series being extended to a third and final game in Sydney, I picked up a ticket and was really looking forward to the game.
I went with a guy from Bain and as we were leaving the office there was a Bain team on a case team event that rented a Hummer limo for transport. Thankfully, we were invited to ride along instead of taking the train to Olympic Stadium.
One of the girls on the Bain team was a HUGE Queenslander fan and was fully decked out for the game in maroon (state colours). She also painted her face and was trying to get other people to join. Of course, nobody wanted to.
Unfortunately I was sitting next to her. When I was talking to people on the other side of the limo with my head turned away from her, she said my name. As I turned my head, she placed her fully painted hand right next to my cheek and let my natural head movement hit her fully painted hand, and smeared paint all over my cheek.
I’m depressed writing about it now. I’ve always professed to be anti-face paint. And now I was going to a heated sporting rivalry in which I really didn’t have a rooting interest, with my face painted the colour of the visiting team, hated rival, and underdog. I was not happy, but there really wasn’t anything I could do at that point other than embrace the fact that I had red paint over my face.
To make it worse, I was in the cheap seats in the corner with intense NSW fans. The only other person in my section who was a Queensland fan was a drunken Aborigine. We became fast friends.
The game started and remained close throughout. There were some huge hits, that I could literally hear from the upper deck, and a couple fights during the game. It was a lot of fun to watch, and thankfully the underdogs pulled it out, and I was spared endless heckling and ridicule on the walk out of the stadium.
This is one of the most unique sporting events that I’ve ever heard of. Each year, during the Rugby League season, an All-Star team is composed for both New South Wales and Queensland. During a 3-week period in June, these two teams play each other on three consecutive Wednesdays, while league games are still played each weekend. The all-star teams, as you probably guessed, are picked on the basis of where the players are from as opposed to where they currently play.
There really isn’t an equivalent event in the state. I guess the closest now is the NHL All-Star game, but people really care about this. If I were to create an event like this, it would be an annual Big Ten-SEC football game played with alumni. Each year, the game would Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady handing the ball off to Shaun Alexander/Larry Johnson and throwing to Hines Ward/Plaxico Burress. And the fan intensity would carry over from the message boards into the stands.
This format creates passion from both the players and the fans unlike any other all-star game. To add more fuel to the fire, there’s a lot of state pride. Queensland always plays with a chip on its shoulder as they’re looked at as the “redneck” state and historically New South Wales has had a better team.
To give some insight, in the first SOO game ever, two professional teammates squared off in a scrum on opposing sides (since one was from NSW and the other a Queenslander). Before the whistle blew, the Queenslander clocked the NSW player and a brawl started. And this was in the first 2 minutes of the first SOO game ever. The intensity has been about the same ever since.
After hearing about these games and the series being extended to a third and final game in Sydney, I picked up a ticket and was really looking forward to the game.
I went with a guy from Bain and as we were leaving the office there was a Bain team on a case team event that rented a Hummer limo for transport. Thankfully, we were invited to ride along instead of taking the train to Olympic Stadium.
One of the girls on the Bain team was a HUGE Queenslander fan and was fully decked out for the game in maroon (state colours). She also painted her face and was trying to get other people to join. Of course, nobody wanted to.
Unfortunately I was sitting next to her. When I was talking to people on the other side of the limo with my head turned away from her, she said my name. As I turned my head, she placed her fully painted hand right next to my cheek and let my natural head movement hit her fully painted hand, and smeared paint all over my cheek.
I’m depressed writing about it now. I’ve always professed to be anti-face paint. And now I was going to a heated sporting rivalry in which I really didn’t have a rooting interest, with my face painted the colour of the visiting team, hated rival, and underdog. I was not happy, but there really wasn’t anything I could do at that point other than embrace the fact that I had red paint over my face.
To make it worse, I was in the cheap seats in the corner with intense NSW fans. The only other person in my section who was a Queensland fan was a drunken Aborigine. We became fast friends.
The game started and remained close throughout. There were some huge hits, that I could literally hear from the upper deck, and a couple fights during the game. It was a lot of fun to watch, and thankfully the underdogs pulled it out, and I was spared endless heckling and ridicule on the walk out of the stadium.
No comments:
Post a Comment