Move Over Cazaly: Origin in Melbourne

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

By the late 1980s rugby league was in “expansion mode.” Brisbane and Gold Coast joined the premiership in 1988, the Canberra Raiders won the 1989 Grand Final, and clubs games were being planned for Townsville, Auckland, Perth and Adelaide.

Melbourne too was on the radar, but it was well recognised that the Victorians would be a harder “nut to crack.” To catch the attention of the Melbourne sporting public required something more than a club contest. In August 1989 Ken Arthurson (ARL Chairman) announced that Game 2 of the 1990 State of Origin series would be played in Melbourne.

In a dramatic and uncertain move for a contest built on state rivalries and tribal loyalties, it was to be the first Origin game to be played outside of Sydney or Brisbane (a non-series game had been taken to California in 1987). There was a real risk that Victorians would want nothing to do with the NSW-QLD derby.

Arthurson’s plan, built on a belief that interest in Origin could successfully rise above state parochialism, was to use the Origin drawcard to showcase rugby league, and ultimately provide the interest needed to sustain a Melbourne club in the premiership. Aiming big, the MCG was chosen as the preferred choice of venue, with the ARL hopeful of 50,000 crowd. Some cautious thinking soon saw the game switched to the more modest Olympic Park.

The lead up through May 1990 had been one of lingering doubts of whether Melbournians would welcome Origin, but they proved to live up to their “sporting city” tag, with a “full house” of 25,800 cramming into the ground for the Wednesday night battle.

A guest at the match was VFL great Ron Barassi. The odds of a Melbourne ground being packed for a rugby league match were so remote that when asked if he thought such a day would ever come, Barassi replied: “No, and I never thought we'd be attacked by Martians either!”

Played on a dewy surface that sometimes resembled a skating rink, the contest didn’t quite live up to the Origin hype, with a plethora of dropped ball and players slipping to ground. After 30 minutes of dour play, Blues half-back Ricky Stuart intercepted a pass from the Maroons’ Dan Stains, racing away on an 80m run to the line.

Queensland battled back to 6-all, and the match was ultimately swayed just before fulltime after Maroons half Allan Langer stripped the ball away from Blues prop Glenn Lazarus. Referee Greg McCallum ruled he had already called “held”, thus penalising Queensland, despite the protests of Wally Lewis. Rod Wishard coolly kicked NSW to an 8-6 lead, then Brad McKay scored another intercept try for the Blues, leaving it at 12-6 at the final siren.

The close finish had kept the interest up, and papered-over to some extent the disappointment of the ground’s surface. It was clear to the ARL that the taste was there in Melbourne for Origin, but a bigger stadium with a better surface for night football was a must for next time….not that anyone knew when that would be…

Arthurson launched a renewed push in May 1993. This time the ARL “bit the bullet,” booking the MCG for Game 2 of the 1994 Origin series. On the back of major promotions in the lead up to the game, the Melbourne sporting public got right behind the initiative, ultimately delivering a crowd of 87,161 – setting a new record attendance for a rugby league match in Australia, pushing beyond the 1965 St George v. South Sydney Grand Final at the SCG (78,056).

Game 1 of the series had ended with the Maroons Mark Coyne on the end of the famous 80 metre “Try from Hell” that won the Queenslanders the game 16-12. What were the odds though that Origin would deliver another lacklustre game in front of the Melburnians, just when it needed to deliver the knock-out blow with a “classic”?

Game 2 was a “by the book” outing won 14-0 by NSW – it did little to convince even fair-minded Victorians that rugby league must have some attraction within it. Few doubted that rugby league had let a golden opportunity slip away that night.

Arthurson still enthused, rightly applauding the event, if not the game: “A fabulous response, a milestone and a night that will live in my memory and of all people involved in our great game.”

Unfortunately, many of those “in our great game” were soon ripping the sport apart through the shame that would come to be called “the Super League War.” Despite the tumult all around, Arthurson and the ARL stuck firm to the Melbourne dream, returning Origin to the MCG in 1995 and 1997.

The poor spectacle of the 1994 game, doubled with the doom and gloom emanating from north of the Murray River, made Origin a much harder “sell” for the ARL. Despite the 1995 Origin match being far better contest, in which ‘Fatty’ Vautin’s Maroons won 20-12 in front of 52,994, interest in rugby league was on the slide, and the 1997 Origin pulled just 25,105. It was the lowest attendance at any Origin match since 1988.

Lamentably, this contest – won by NSW 17-16 with a drop goal from John Simon two minutes from fulltime – easily outshone the preceding three Melbourne games as a showcase of rugby league’s best attributes. Under a banner of “Small Crowd Sees Big Thriller,” the Age (Melbourne) acclaimed it as a “most exciting and enthralling” contest. The irony of it all spoke for itself.

Amidst the Super League war coming to an end, the Melbourne Storm entered the NRL club competition in 1998. Though it hadn’t been without some bruises along the way, the goal of having rugby league on a permanent basis in Melbourne was now part of the game’s outlook heading into the 21st century.

In August 2005 the ARL and NRL announced a new initiative to further raise interest in Victorian rugby league junior development and the Storm. Backed by the state government, it also included the promise of a $100m rectangular stadium at Olympic Park to give rugby league a permanent home.

A further major component of the scheme was an agreement between the ARL and Victorian Major Events Company for the hosting of Game 3 of the 2006 Origin at Docklands Stadium.

This time the code backed a winner with its timing and the game itself. The much feared Game 3 “dead rubber” failed to eventuate, with the teams arriving in Melbourne with the series dead-locked. Interest was sky-high, leading to a capacity crowd of 54,833 ready for the opening whistle. The match finally delivered on rugby league’s earlier promises.

With ten minutes remaining, the Maroons were down 14-4. NSW looked certain to claim the Origin crown. Suddenly, Queensland half Johnathan Thurston put his centre Brent Tate away for a converted try. Three minutes later, Maroons skipper Darren Lockyer swooped on a wayward Blues pass, racing across the line to steal one of the most dramatic and breath-taking victories in Origin’s rich and long history.

Origin returned to Docklands for the opening game of the 2009 series, where another 50,000+ crowd was in attendance.

The original version of this article was first published in the match program
for Game 1 (in Melbourne) of the 2009 State of Origin series.