Mate vs. Mate, State vs. State

The past week or so I have been hearing about this thing called "State of Origin." From my roommates, from friends, all over the tv and news, everywhere.

At first I wasn't really sure what it was but I asked my roommate and was informed that it is a series of 3 rugby games, Queensland (Maroons) vs. New South Whales (Blues).

Since I'm up in QLD a large majority of my friends here were for the Queenslanders, but there were also a few from NSW adding their voice to the mix. The saying for the game is "Mate vs. Mate, State vs. State" because it's a compilation of the best rugby players from each state, regardless of what professional team they play for. So guys playing for QLD were playing against professional teammates from NSW and vice versa. So it would be like an American Football game between Ohio and Indiana, not the Browns or Bengals vs. the Colts, where the teams are determined by geographical location, not drafting or trading or any of that. That would be far more difficult as our states are much smaller, but you get the idea.

So after understanding what the game was I headed down to the pavilion to watch it with a group of people from the apartment complex. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was definitely more intense than I ever would have thought!

The pre-game show was over 45 minutes and everyone was getting quite restless and loud before the game even started. Most of the group piled on and around the couches were decked out in maroon but there were two proud New South Welsh sporting their blue. The teams came out, the crowd went crazy, and we were ready for some rugby!

Throughout the first half (40 minute halves) my roommates Elsie and Ayesha were helping me out with the rules. I still don't completely get the game, but I have a much better understanding than before. I kept comparing it to American Football to make sure I was keeping everything straight so that's how I'll lay out my basic understanding of rugby (at least the rules used for this game, I was also informed that there's 2 different rugby leagues which are both separate from Australian Football and they all have their own rules). So the pitch is similar to an American Football filed, 100 meters long with end zones and goal posts at each end. The ball can be carried or passed, but only passed backwards. So just as NFL teams get 4 downs with the ball rugby teams get 5 tackles with the ball (no stoppage of play in between though, they just get up and go again), if they don't score by their 5th tackle they have to kick the ball away. Then the other team comes back at them with the same thing - 5 tackles to try to score. If they score a 'try' (by getting in the endzone) they get to try to kick it through the goal posts... I'm not quite sure how the placement of the kick works thought because it was different every time. The try is worth 4 points where a kick through the posts is worth 2. Similar to the NFLs touchdown and point after. That's about as far as I got rules wise, I was still confused as to what the penalties are and what happens when the ball goes out of bounds and what a scrum is, but I'll try to learn those during Game 2.

So after learning all this and enjoying the intensity of the game (and the crowd in the pav) the thing that still surprised me was the amount of injury/blood. In the first half one of the players dislocated his shoulder. It was not pretty, one of those replays that you really don't want to watch because it just makes you cringe every time. He walked off the field, the trainer popped it back in, and he was right back out there running full speed into a wall of guys tackling him. Throughout the rest of the game I can't even count the number of players who started gushing blood. Foreheads, cheeks, legs, everything! I've watched plenty of sports games where someone gets hit and splits their head open and gets bandaged up and keeps playing, don't get me wrong, that doesn't surprise me. What surprised me was the frequency of the occurrence in this one single game. It was brutal!

So that was my first Australian Rugby experience. NSW won leaving the Queenslanders eager for redemption in game 2 which takes place June 18th. QLD has won the series the past 9 years so they're looking to keep their streak going. If QLD does win there will be a game 3 but that will be July 9th, after I'm home.

It was really cool to see the energy of the game and gain a simple understanding of the sport. Going to try to learn the rules of Australian Football too, Aussies seem to be a fan of either that or rugby and there's trash talking between the sports on top of between the teams, so it'll be interesting to see what the differences are.