Origin 2 2024 - Wednesday 26th June 2024

[Alan Robertson]

3 hours ago, iangidds said:

I really miss the days of 10,000 brits travelling to Aus. Although I never wanted Origin to be seen as the pinnacle of our game the reality is it is seen as that by many ; now I'm 100% clear that the international game is the pinnacle and if we don't really prioritize that we are crazy ! But we all know as a game we are completely  

'Most' Australian RL fans do seem to perceive Origin as the pinnacle of the sport. This notion only seems to have grown over the last 20 years or so. The most commonly cited reason is the 'lack of competitiveness in international rugby league'.

However - I'll admit that I'm cherry-picking a bit here but, using the 2005 season as a starting point, New Zealand (for example) possess a greater proportion of international tournament victories relative to NSW's proportion of series victories. 

NZ series victories occurred in the 2005 Tri-Nations, the Four Nations (2010, 2014), a World Cup (2008), the Pacific Championship (2023). Each of these tournaments, of course, included Australia. NSW have also won five series in that time but they've lost more often too (due to Origin never dropping of the fixture list).

As I said, cherry-picked/anecdotal, call it what you like but - 'competively speaking' - the last 20 years of international rugby league has been at least as unpredictable as Origin.

 

[Martyn Sadler]

The suggestion that there was little atmosphere doesn't seem to be the view of Chris Foy, the Daily Mail's rugby union correspondent, who was attending his first Origin match.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nrl/article-13575023/State-Origin-British-rugby-union-expert-verdict.html?ito=social-reddit

[Alan Robertson]

4 hours ago, Martyn Sadler said:

The suggestion that there was little atmosphere doesn't seem to be the view of Chris Foy, the Daily Mail's rugby union correspondent, who was attending his first Origin match.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nrl/article-13575023/State-Origin-British-rugby-union-expert-verdict.html?ito=social-reddit

I messaged an acquaintance who attended the match; he has also attended 'countless' UK-based matches. The acquaintance doesn't have the same platform as Chris Foy but he thought the atmosphere was fairly poor.

Like many scenarios, as we all recognise, there is a lot of subjectivity regarding this issue. 

I have minimal doubt that the peak volume is 'extremely high' in a typical Aussie stadium. However, there are often 'extended durations' when the volume drops 'particularly low'. 

I'd love some actual data to make this slightly more objective but, even then, it would depend on what a fan is 'looking for' in a stadium's atmosphere.