State of Origin's Perth experiment is a great test for the game in the west
July 16 2016
The NRL has announced game two of the 2019 State of Origin series will be played at the new Perth Stadium.
Australian sport's greatest rivalry, State of Origin, will be heading west. It will be the first time, except for the 1987 exhibition match in Los Angeles, that an Origin match is played outside of Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne.
Red-blooded: Mark Geyer with the Western Reds in 1996. Photo: Getty Images
By season 2019 Perth will have a new state-of-the-art facility to host the match. In making the announcement, NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg used the predictable phrases "showcase our premium product", "grow the game", "new markets", "taking Origin to new venues" and "huge benefits for the game".
A decision such as this obviously falls into the category of "big thinking" to take rugby league's premium product to a new city and a new venue.
I'd like to make mention of a couple of points.
Firstly, from a scheduling point of view, it is interesting to note the NRL intends to play this Origin contest on a Sunday. Under the new television broadcast rights deal, from season 2018 game two of the Origin series will be played on a Sunday evening. Kick-off time will still be in prime time, about 8pm eastern standard time.
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Obviously with the different time zone between the eastern seaboard and our western-most city, this means kick-off will be about 6pm Perth time, providing a more family-friendly timeslot for the locals to attend the match.
I guess there were some people licking their lips at the prospect of seeing a State of Origin match being played during daylight hours, however, this will not be the case. Many who have been involved at this level of football over the years have wondered just how fast and brutal an Origin contest would be if it was played on a dry field.
I imagine it would be frighteningly fast. The cold weather and generally slippery playing surfaces we experience in Sydney and Melbourne at this time of year are just some of the unspoken challenges that our great players face at this level of the game. I can only imagine it would be an awesome spectacle if we were to give these elite players perfect playing conditions.
A quick look at the weather map tells us that conditions in Perth at this time of year would be very similar to those experienced in Sydney. Mind you, Origin football provides the three most watched television shows in Australia every season. It is only proper that these spectacles are shown live into lounge rooms across the country in prime-time viewing timeslots.
My second discussion point relates to the obvious conclusion that will be drawn from moving one of our marquee sporting contests to the city of Perth. One can only think that the NRL views this city as a likely prospect for an NRL franchise some time in the future.
Obviously this means that expansion is very much in the minds of the Australian Rugby League Commission. If you polled rugby league fans from all areas of the country asking where the game should next expand, I can assure you Perth would rate in the top three choices. Most people would argue that a Perth team playing in the NRL makes a lot of sense on many levels. The different time zone in Perth and the possibilities around televising games from this area into the eastern seaboard and New Zealand certainly produce some more options for broadcasters.
Sporting franchises from other codes based in Perth have all met with tremendous success over the years. There is no doubting it is a sporting city.
The West Australian rugby league does oversee a premier competition in the state with junior grades from under 11s to under 16s and senior competitions in five divisions. Over the years we have seen the odd West Australian junior make their way into the NRL competition but, to be honest, they have been few and far between.
I think the prospect of having an NRL franchise in Perth is a long way away. It's just that many people claim that Perth has a real appetite for a place in the NRL, and with this decision to take State of Origin to the city, it's only logical for people to start putting two and two together.
So far as an appetite for the code goes, premiership games have been taken to Perth on a fairly regular basis. For the most part, crowd levels have been encouraging.
The first premiership match to be taken to Perth was in 1989. Canberra defeated Canterbury 18-14 at the WACA ground in front of 21,922 fans.
In 1990, the Raiders and Manly drew a crowd of 23,566 at the same venue. In 1991, Parramatta defeated Cronulla in front of 18,680. Crowd levels were similar in 1992 and 1993.
In 1994, there were two games played in Perth; one drawing 16,000 fans and the next only 13,864.
Then came the announcement from the Australian Rugby League that the Western Reds, playing out of the city of Perth, would enter a newly expanded 20-team competition. The news was met with wild excitement in the west. At last the city of Perth would have a place in the major rugby league competition in Australia.
Josh McGuire and Andrew Fifita give the Perth fans a foretaste of Origin. Photo: Getty Images
In the early stages the crowds came out to support them, too. However, for a number of reasons, crowds diminished significantly over the next couple of seasons until the Reds were finally disbanded as part of a compromise deal to end the Super League war.
In 1995, the crowds for home games in Perth tracked as follows: game one 24,392, game two 20,985, game three 15,909, game four 15,151, game five 10,750, game six 10,442, game seven 8102, game eight 8462, game nine 9103, game 10 11,225, and finally 12,201. Just two years later, in season 1997, the Perth-based team was averaging home crowds of about 8500. It was obvious that support for the team was declining rapidly.
News that the Western Reds had been sacrificed and would no longer exist in the NRL competition was not taken to kindly by the locals.
The Melbourne Storm took a home game against Western Suburbs to Perth in 1999. They listed the crowd at 8236 but, to be honest, it looked like they were counting arms and legs.
The NRL competition took a break from Perth until season 2005, when Cronulla and the Warriors were supported by 13,293 fans.
Four years later, in 2009, South Sydney took on the challenge of taking games to this venue on a regular basis to see whether or not they could reignite the following for rugby league. Their first match against the Storm attracted a crowd of 15,197. They played again against the Storm in 2010 in front of 13,164 fans. In 2011, Souths and the Broncos attracted a crowd of just over 15,000. These two teams repeated the dose with a similar crowd in Perth 12 months later in 2012.
In the same year, Manly and the Warriors played in front of a crowd of 20,095. South Sydney took the Warriors to Perth in 2013 and played in front of a crowd of 20,221. The two teams achieved similar numbers in 2014 and 2015. These events, played in front of a full house, looked outstanding on television. The atmosphere was pulsating and the fans were tremendous.
South Sydney have done a tremendous job not only in developing a support base for themselves in Western Australia, but in rekindling the interest of the locals for our game. One can only imagine that if they were given their own team to support, the potential would be enormous.
It makes sense for the NRL to test the true potential of Perth by taking an Origin fixture to the city. Outside of the eastern states, it is really the only other Australian city I see as being capable of sustaining a viable NRL franchise any time into the future.
The only proviso I would make is that it would have to be a team of their own and not a team relocated from somewhere on this side of the country.
As to whether Perth deserves to be a part of the NRL competition, only time will tell.
But if you never, never go, you'll never, never know.
Phil Gould is general manager of Penrith Panthers.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...for-the-game-in-the-west-20160716-gq79z7.html
