State of Origin - Game 3

Wednesday was the third game in a series of playoff games for rugby league - probably one of the most popular sports here. Rugby league - not to be confused with rugby!! - is an odd game. To me (and it seems to a lot of other people), they seem pretty similar. But I have been assured most seriously by several Australians that they are NOT the same. =)

The game series is called State of Origin because it's when all the rugby league players that play for various Australian teams go back to their home state and play against the other Australian states. That means everyone gets to root for their home state during the series of games, which is a big deal! Like such a big deal that if you go outside on a game night, you can hear cheering throughout the neighborhood.

Atlassian hosted a game viewing party for the third and final game. There was pizza, beer, and big TVs - just like it was the Super Bowl or something! So I decided to stay and watch the game after work, and Toby came out too.

The staff area was decorated to support both teams: New South Wales and Queensland.
If you're wondering why the NSW mascot is a bedbug, you're way off base. In fact, the mascot is a cockroach. I have no idea why and no one had an answer for why such an awful insect was the team's mascot.

The Queensland mascot isn't much better; it's a toad. I was told, though, that people don't mention the mascot associated with the State or Origin teams very much. So, for example, you would say "Go New South Wales!" rather than "Go Cockroaches!" Thank goodness.

There were quite a few people hanging around to watch the game. We had some pizza and beer and chatted with some people while we waited for it to start. Toby and some of the guys he knows at my office found a way to pass the time.

If you're unfamiliar with this, they're all in "video game-playing posture"

Anyway, once the game finally started, there were plenty of people who were happy to help instruct the newbies to the game. And it turned out to be pretty fun and interesting - especially when the streaker took to the field in the final tense moments of the game!

Here's what I learned about rugby league:

• It seems to be a cross between football and rugby. But the players don't wear padding as they do in football (even though I think it's just as violent) and they don't have as many scrums as they do in rugby. 
• The guys who play are massive just like NFL players; they're seriously wide and burly. 
• They also wear really short shorts.
• You actually have to be really fit to play rugby league. As opposed to a sport like NFL with spurts of action, those guys are pretty much running and tackling each other non-stop for 80 minutes. 
• You can only pass backward but you can run forward with the ball as far as you want/can. You have to carry the ball across the line to score. 
• Getting the ball successfully across the line and scoring is, confusingly, called a "try." You get 4 points for a try. 
• Just like in football, you can then try to convert for an extra 2 points by kicking a field goal. But, I think you have to kick from the angle where you scored. So if you scored way over on the side of the field, that's where you have to attempt the point. 
• It's pretty hard to score in evenly matched teams. The final score of the game was Queensland 12 - NSW 10.
• They get so many tries going down the field with the running/passing backward combination. If they get stopped more than a certain number of times (I think 5?) they have to kick off to the other team. There's no lining up and kicking like in football, it's just running along and kicking the ball like crazy. 
• My all-time favorite moment of the game came when a streaker took the field. There are apparently people on the sidelines, ready to sacrifice themselves and tackle these people with a blanket. Such excitement!

It was a fun game to learn and a fun night. Not sure I'll become a follower, but it was fun nonetheless!

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