Sydney Day 7:STATE OF ORIGIN

All photos by Rusty Barnes

State of Origin is an annual rugby match between two states of Australia: Queensland (Maroons or cane toads) and New South Wales (Blues, cockroaches or cattledogs). Regarded as “sport’s

greatest rivalry,” the teams clash in a best of three series to determine the winner of the coveted State of Origin shield. This year, the event was held in Anz Stadium at Olympic Park in Sydney,

the home to the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. The following set of pictures are from game one, which Queensland won, 28-24.

A view from our seats inside the stadium, which has a capacity of 83,500 people. Around 70,000 showed up for this game, despite the pouring rain. Luckily, we were under the canopy.

Players are either a Queenslander or New South Walesmen for life, and their allegiance is based on which state they played their first senior rugby league. Sydney is in NSW, so we pledged our

rooting interests to the Blues.

Queensland had won every series since 2006. State of Origin has been held for 30 years, with the Maroons holding an 18-12 advantage overall.

Notice how the field doesn’t extend all the way to the seating area on either side of the field. Cheerleaders and mascots roam the area behind the endzone, which gets flooded with trash,

thrown by angry fans.

Rugby is basically one giant option play in American football. Players line up horizontally across the field and lateral the ball back to a teammate or try and break through the defense. Blocking is not allowed, and once your forward progress is stopped, you must drop the ball behind you, and play continues. You get six attempts (we call them downs in American football) to score, or

you can punt the ball away at any time to try and better your team’s field position.

A try (touchdown in AF) is scored when a player touches the ball to the ground of the endzone. Four points are rewarded for that, and a two-point kick (PAT in AF) attempt follows. A team may

attempt a field goal at any point during the game for three points. Interestingly though, play does not stop and allow a team to set up for a field goal. You must make the kick in the flow of

the game. Show here is the celebration after a successful TRY by NSW.