The pioneers of the State of Origin concept are set to be honoured at the MCG next Wednesday night with the trophy from the 1945 interstate matches between NSW and Queensland in Papua New Guinea on display at Origin II.
While it was widely considered that the Origin concept was adopted from AFL, sport's greatest rivalry began on Medco Oval in Torokina at the end of World War II as Australian troops waited in Bougainville to be taken home.
The two matches, both won by Queensland, are now believed to be the first interstate clashes in which players were selected along State of Origin lines and represented their birthplace rather than where they had enlisted during the war.
The trophy from the series, made from a 120mm Japanese Naval shell casing with handles either side mounted on a three-tiered wooden base, has been rediscovered from a Brisbane Army Museum.
It will be taken from the museum in Caxton Street, near the venue of the first State of Origin in 1980, to Melbourne to be displayed alongside the current State of Origin Shield at the MCG on Wednesday night.
Rugby league historian David Middleton said the trophy, which has the names of the Queensland players and the scores - 10-9 and 20-13 - inscribed, confirmed that the genesis of State of Origin began in PNG on September 16, 1945.
“There's always been debate about how State of Origin started and who came up with the concept,” Middleton said.
“But we now know through this incredible relic that State of Origin was in the minds of fans and players as long ago as 1945, and that they played after the war ended in Papua New Guinea along Queensland and New South Wales lines.
“There was already this incredible rivalry that existed between the states in rugby league, but we didn't know about the fierceness of that tribalism at the time.”
Sport played a significant role in military life but was usually played as inter-regimental or inter-battalion competitions and as the battalions largely comprised of NSW and Queensland personnel they played an Interstate Rugby League Series.
“You had a bloke like [Rabbitohs great] Jack Rayner, who was born in NSW, but enlisted in Queensland who was playing for Queensland battalion teams, and many Queenslanders were playing for NSW battalions,” Middleton said.
“Someone came up with the idea, and it may well have been warrant officer Ron Connor, who went to his superior officer and said we would like to play an interstate game based on where our players were born.
“Fortunately, his superior officer there was a rugby league man, as well, from Charters Towers, who agreed to the concept and the games went ahead.”
The teams comprised mostly of players from the Brisbane and Sydney competitions and Connor wrote a match report in which he said the standard “of this interstate match was better to watch than the one in Brisbane a few weeks ago”.
Among the players of note in the Queensland team were Brisbane half-back Bobby Williamson, Rockhampton fullback Jack Barnes and Ipswich hooker Kelly Brennan, who went on to play in the Interstate Series in Brisbane the following year.
The NSW team included St George centre Doug McRitchie, who was man-of-the-match in the 1949 grand final and played for Australia in 1950 when the Kangaroos won an Ashes series for the first time in 28 years.
“Doug McRitchie became the inspiration for Ron Coote when he started the Men of League [now Family of League],” Middleton said.
“He was lying in hospital on the South Coast of NSW when Ron went to visit him, and the thought struck him that the rugby league needs to do more to look after its former players.
“So not only does Doug McRitchie have a connection as an Australian Test player, and a connection to the start of Men of League but he also has this remarkable connection to the genesis of State of Origin.”
With the NRL considering a bid to include a Papua New Guinea team in the competition as part of a wider commitment to the game in the Pacific, Middleton said the connection between PNG and State of Origin was significant.
“There had been stories during WWII about how the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, those famous Papua New Guineans who helped the Australian soldiers march up the Kokoda Track, loved rugby league,” Middleton said.
“They loved watching the games played by the soldiers, and so this game - State of Origin played 35 years before Queensland and NSW did battle at Lang Park - has great significance historically and of course, there is the connection now with discussions about a possible team in the NRL.”
Teams
Queensland: J Barnes (Captain), J. Christopher, L. Ashmore, C. King, E. Lade; N. Hoare, R. Williamson; H. Bradshaw, M. Tresdon, T. Kraft, M. Thompson (Vice Captain), K. Brennan, F. McLennan.
NSW: H. Parkinson, W. Peachy, D. McRitchie, T. Briggs, H. Dhu; H. Majoribanks (Captain), R. Miller; H.Taylor, V. Love, C.Smith, J. Hobson (Vice Captain), D. Sinclaire, H. Freeman.