They Call it 'State of Origin'

Yet another Australian tradition is State of Origin, an all-star-type affair of the NRL, or National Rugby League ("they call it footy"). Despite there being a whopping  six states and two territories in this country, State of Origin recognizes only two states: New South Wales (blues) and Queensland (maroons).

The deal is that no matter what team a player is currently on, he plays for the state he grew up in or the state his club team is in. Makes some sense.

People get freaky about it here, and so I feel it is my duty to join the festivities, although I don't know how long I'll be able to care. After all, it's no cricket. So my deciding to participate means two things. First, I have chosen a side. Because my first library card is from Brisbane, and because my first official lease signature went on a document in Brisbane, I have chosen to consider Queensland my state of origin. This means that, secondly, I get to don a Brisbane Broncos' jersey, a gift I received from a friend of Meredith's.

I experienced my first State of Origin last year when I was here on vacation holiday, and it seemed to be a pretty big event. I guess it's just as big, if not bigger, this year. I saw people wearing maroon (pronounced "marone" here) all over the place this morning. The newscasters have been dishing it out. And there's been name calling. Apparently, Queenslanders are cane toads (a poisonously out-of-control toad) and New South Welshmen are cockroaches.

My choice of states could make it ugly for me at gatherings. Meredith's family (all 1,572 of them), hail from New South Wales. But I can't willy nilly go picking a team just because my girlfriend and her family have rooted for it since the series began. I have to feel my allegiance to a team or else my cheers will be hollow and my disappointments pointless.

Game 1 of the best-of-three thing series is about to start. Go Maroons!