The New Zealand team contains an Aussie. The Australian team contains a Kiwi and a Fijian.
One side was picked with an eye on State of Origin.
The game won’t even be shown live into Australia.
So why should I care? As a die hard Rugby League fan that grew up watching some great test football, why should I invest myself in a contest that means so little to the games administrators and coaches?
People talk about the need to play international club matches….well that is what we have right here. We have two teams, one with a Kiwi logo, the other with a Kangaroo’s logo, and they are put together along the lines of club sides.
Both sides make approaches to players and tell them what they have on offer. It is then up to the player himself to decide which deal he will take.
And they dare call it representative football…
Then we have City vs Country going on in the background to all of this.
If you get excited for City vs Country, you need to get out more! Never has there been a more dated sporting fixture, a relic that hold no relevance at all in modern day society.
Once upon a time when moving from the country to Sydney was a big deal, or when Sydney was the main Rugby League player base, this game actually meant something. But in a world with modern day transport, with a much larger player base, where it means nothing for players to fly to another country to play club fixtures and country players can’t wait to make their way to one of many cities…..Sydney vs Country NSW holds no meaning to anyone.
It is billed as a State Of Origin trial for New South Wales, but what good has it done New South Wales at Origin level over the last decade?
When the biggest story leading into the game is that a 34 year old has been hooker decided to not play in the game…..you know this fixture has nothing going for it.
Then we have the Under 20’s State Of Origin match between New South Wales and Queensland that is to be played at Penrith. A game that the ARLC itself has suggested will have no baring what so ever on future State Of Origin eligibility, as if to set you up for more farce.
See if you can follow me down this winding path…
Ashton Sims was born in NSW. He played for Fiji in the 2008 World Cup.
His brother, Tariq Sims was born in NSW, selected in the NSW Emerging Origin squad last year, and will likely play for NSW this year.
Their younger brother, Korbin Sims, was born in NSW and will play for the QLD Under 20’s side on the weekend.
If you can come up with that many different combinations of representation in one family then the rules are complete and utter rubbish.
I was born and raised in Australia. It is pretty clear by ready my web site that I’m as Australian a bloke as you will find. Under the current eligibility rules, I qualify for four different countries, two of which I have never been too. I qualify for all four these countries right now…
I follow Rugby League closer than most people. I try to keep on top of everything that is happening in the game as best as I can. I look at all of this, and it just makes me not care.
If that is how I feel, why should a causal sports fan give a second of their time to watching any of this crap. For the vast majority of people, they switch off at the point of “He played for Fiji, his brother will play for NSW and his other brother will play for QLD” and that’s it, youve lost that persons interest for good!
I love Rugby League, but I’m looking at what is happening right now, and I just don’t care about any of the games this weekend. I don’t want to sit down and write about who got selected where, who will win, which game will be the best to watch and what the lineups will be.
I value by own time too much. If this is what the games administrators want to see to me, I’m sorry, but I’m not buying any of it.
