Football fans should focus on the meaning behind ‘State of Origin’ match rather than its name, says Graham Cornes
Football fans need to forget about the ‘State of Origin’ name and focus on the positive aspect of the match – the bushfire appeal, writes Graham Cornes.
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Champion Carlton defender Andrew McKay once said: “I never dreamt of playing VFL/AFL as a child but I always dreamt of playing for my state.”
He was a kid from Lucindale who was recruited to Glenelg.
We only had him for a short time before Carlton drafted him with its first pick in the 1992 draft.
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He was a Carlton premiership player, a Carlton best and fairest winner, four times all-Australian and he won the Fos Williams Medal in the last State of Origin match South Australia played in 1999.
He did that mighty South Australian jumper proud, as had the generations of star SA footballers before him.
It’s unlikely the State of Origin concept that we once knew will ever return.
By 1999, it had run its race.
The clubs and their understandably selfish coaches had undermined the concept to the point that it no longer seemed the pinnacle of Australian football achievement.
Even the players – although they never admitted it publicly – lacked the passion for it.
That deep-seated, instinctive drive that seemed so spontaneous and obvious in the mid to late eighties had evaporated.
It had been replaced by a manufactured, superficiality.
It no longer came from the heart.
Of all the state games that I was involved in, that 1999 Vic versus SA match at the MCG was the most difficult for which to generate enthusiasm and passion.
It had been a match contrived by the AFL to see out the 20th century (although technically the century didn’t end till Dec 31st, 2000).
The football public knew it too.
Only 26,000 turned up at the MCG, this most vaunted home of Australian football, to witness it.
Besides, by 1999 the Adelaide Football Club had won two AFL flags.
Kids from Lucindale didn’t dream of pulling on the state jumper anymore, they dreamt of playing for the Crows.
However, the AFL has announced a return of State of Origin football to support the most worthy cause of rejuvenating communities affected by the horrific bushfires that have devastated so much of our country.
Well, it’s State of Origin from the Victorian perspective, because it’s a Victorian team that will play a team representing the rest of Australia.
That team is simply, too simply, called the All Stars – like there are no stars born in Victoria.
It’s easy to find the faults with such a concept.
Why should the Victorians be the only ones to have a state team; and who do the All Stars represent anyway?
However, to do so will only detract from the significance of the cause.
We’d love it to be a SA versus Vic match but at the moment an SA State of Origin team would barely be competitive.
And what about those other states who love their footy as much as we do? So let’s shelve the negativity and focus on the challenge.
And there’s the quandary. How do we rebuild those football communities that have lost everything in the fires of 2019?
The football club is such a significant part of rural communities, but even in good times it’s tough.
Population shrink and migration to the city plus the seasonal nature of rural economies makes running a country footy club tough at the best of times.
How do they recover from this devastation? Who of us who played footy in the country didn’t sympathise with the president and members of the Western Districts Football and Netball Club on Kangaroo Island as he surveyed the wreckage of their club and lamented the loss of club rooms, records, trophies and worst of all, team photos? How do they go on?
The AFL initiative that was announced on Thursday at least gives them hope.
After the despair comes hope.
It’s the one vital emotion devastated communities must have.
It didn’t take long for the critics to savage the AFL announcement.
We live in the midst of an epidemic of criticism and negativity where even the most genuine of public figures will be hounded by ill-founded, destructive negativity and trolling.
No sooner had AFL chief Gillon McLachlan and AFLPA president Patrick Dangerfield announced the fundraising event than the attacks started.
Like our Prime Minister, McLachlan must have thick skin because even when he is announcing positive, admirable programs and displaying genuine compassion, the trolls will launch.
He’s from a farming family who lives with the constant threat of natural disaster and seasonal upheaval.
The one thing he does have is sympathy for and understanding of farmers and country towns that lose everything.
Dangerfield comes from that delightful little village on the Great Ocean Road called Mogg’s Creek.
It’s pretty but it is nestled precariously between increasingly dry forests and the Southern Ocean.
It’s not far from that area where the Falls Festival was cancelled because of bushfire threat.
Of course he put his hand up and will probably captain the Victorian side.
From the All Stars perspective it will be at hard to generate a genuine enthusiasm for the team, particularly as it’s unlikely there will be many South Australians in it.
However, that’s not the point.
People have lost their lives, towns have been obliterated, communities have been devastated, thousands of animals burned alive and sporting clubs completely razed.
The cause is a genuine one, the appearance and contribution of players will give them further hope.
Unconditional support of the project gives it a great chance of succeeding.
Call it maudlin reverie but I dream of those days when state games were the true test of your football prowess.
But it was more than the footy.
The friendships and respect that were forged between players in rival SANFL teams who came together in a state team last a lifetime.
It will never be what is was but it is so important to support the AFL in this.
Don’t be petty. It’s not about us. It’s for those who have lost so much – in some cases, everything.
Originally published as Football fans should focus on the meaning behind ‘State of Origin’ match rather than its name, says Graham Cornes