State of Origin is a big event in Rugby League. It’s a three series of matches played by two teams from Australia. Those two teams come from the states of Australia, which is the state of New South Wales and Queensland. The State of Origin matches take place in Australia but it is mostly watched and celebrated in Australia and Oceania. As State of Origin is very popular in Australia and Oceania, internationally, the event is watched on television in ninety-one countries.
The New South Wales team is commonly known as “Blues”, while the Queensland team are known as ”Maroons”. Most of the countries watch State of Origin and take part in the big game from painting their faces by representing which team they support and even, they bet big amounts of money too. State of Origin is a very big event in the lives of all the rugby fans and most of the people go crazy about this event.
New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, which are the neighboring countries of Australia are common for celebrating State of Origin but the supporters of New Zealand are not as crazy as the supporters of Papua New Guinea. The supporters in Papua New Guinea are very competitive and supportive of the two teams and the event is known as a national obsession in Papua New Guinea. As people in Papua New Guinea go crazy about this event, it causes a lot of drama, riots, violence and death. Usually these actions are done by the people who are mostly affected because of losing money from betting on the losing team.
As I have mentioned earlier, the State of Origin includes three series, which is basically Game I, Game II and Game III. These series happen once in every year just for one day. These three series usually begin on a certain date having Game I on Wednesday May 27, Game II on June 17 and Game III on July 8. It’s all about competition and gaining victory but usually, Games I and II are not that important as Game III because in Game III, both teams have the opportunity of winning and being named as the team of the year.
However, through records, the Queensland’s have known to become the best team on the State of Origin series because of their highest records. They have won eight consecutive games in Game II during the year of 1987 to Game III in 1989. They are also breaking history by winning eight consecutive series in the years of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. With the Queensland team having to be known as the greatest in State of Origin, The New South Wales have set the largest winning margin in 2000 by winning over the Maroons with 56-16 in Game III.
Throughout the years of this event, since 1992 to 2003, there was this Wally Lewis Medal that was given as an award by the Queensland Rugby League for the Maroons player of the series. But later then in 2003, this Wally Lewis Medal was to be given to any player in both teams, Blues or Maroons to be awarded as the player of the series. Many of the best players won this medal and through records, Cameron Smith who plays the position of hooker in the Queensland team has won the Medal from 2007, 2011 and 2013.
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