State of Origin Football

Australian football is the dominant code in four of Australia's states and produces players from the remaining two. In terms of creating a national narrative, this popularity is potentially a great asset. The only way for it to leverage this asset; however, is to make State of Origin football work. Recent attempts to make it work have failed.

While State of Origin fails in the AFL, it succeeds in the NRL. Ironically, this success can be attributed to rugby league's lack of nation-wide popularity which allows its version to function as a two-horse race.

History

First staged in 1883, inter-colonial football represented the first coming together of Australia as one nation. These popular football carnivals were rotated around Australia, with players selected from each state league. As the Victorian Football League (VFL) became Australia's most financially powerful state league, it soon poached the best players Australia wide and became unbeatable. In the 1970s, Western Australia argued that state teams should use similar eligibility criteria to that used for international teams. Specifically, players should represent their region of origin rather than the league they play in.

The first State of Origin match between Western Australia and Victoria was held in 1977 with Western Australia winning by a staggering 94 points.

From a marketing point of view, State of Origin provided some very significant benefits to players and clubs alike. In a suburban league like the VFL, a player always struggled for popularity outside of the support base of his respective club. Specifically, while he was a champion of the support base of one club, he was always an enemy of the fans of the 11 others. However, if he was selected in an Origin team, he became the champion of every supporter from his state.

State of Origin continued to be seen as the pinnacle of Australian football until the addition of teams from Western Australia and South Australia into the VFL presented new marketing dilemmas and administrative headaches. One of the problems was that the expansionist team acted a bit like a state representative teams. In a sense, every time they played, they were fulfilling the state rivalry served by an Origin series. Another problem was that the higher intensity of Origin football was damaging to bodies. Because the expansionist teams had to provide more players for state duty, their prospects for a grand final victory were hampered relative to the prospects of the Victorian clubs.

A final problem was the difficulty in putting on an even contest. Each state was not even close to being even in the talent pool it could draw from. SA, WA and Victoria all could compete against each other; however, NSW, Queensland and Tasmania could not. It just proved to be too difficult to create a tournament that included three strong teams, and three weak teams in a way that held spectator interest.

While state of origin has floundered in Australian rules, it has been a success in rugby league, where it is solely a two-horse race. The first rugby league Origin was staged in 1980.  The new format proved to be am instant success and greatly contributed to the growth of popularity of rugby league in Queensland. Come Origin time, the entire state united behind their team.

As well as helping promote the code, Origin football also helped build the star quality of individual players. Arguably, it is thanks to Origin that Rugby league fans have less of a tall-poppy syndrome than their AFL counterparts. Star AFL players like Chris Judd will always be the enemy of fans of the other 15 clubs that hate Carlton. In League; however, star players like Greg Inglis represent a state, and Australia, and this allows them to also represent a broader market.

When the Brisbane Broncos entered the NSWRL in 1987, rugby league Origin faced some of the obstacles that had afflicted the Australian football version. Specifically, the Broncos supplied a disproportionately high number of players, and this in turn hindered the club's home and away prospects. Furthermore, the Broncos were State of Origin every week. Unlike the AFL clubs; however, the Broncos saw the promotional benefits in supplying a high number of players and in being seen as the state team. It leveraged those benefits to become the most popular rugby league team in Australia.

Some of the problems of supplying an excessive number of players have since been dissipated with the addition of a second team in Nth Queensland and a third on the Gold Coast. The addition has helped the Broncos premiership prospects but reduced their popularity in Queensland.

While rugby league gains benefit from State of Origin, it is not without cost. In comparison to the elite standard of play seen in Origin, club football looks a bit second rate.

Ironically, the Australia-wide popularity that makes State of Origin football so difficult for the AFL also represents the greatest asset that Origin football can provide the AFL. Because it lacks a national team, the AFL has always struggled to leverage its national appeal to its advantage. If it could make Origin work, it could leverage this asset in some way.  

To make Origin work, the AFL would have to provide some type of compensation to the teams that provide players. It would also have to increase the talent pool in NSW and Queensland.

With two teams in NSW and Queensland by 2013, the later issue should be partly addressed. The addition of new teams would also go some way to reducing the idea that an AFL is the same as a state team. It isn’t.

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