Interstate matches in Australian rules football
Interstate matches in Australian rules football are matches between representative teams played under the Australian rules, most notably of the colonies and later Australian states and territories. Senior intercolonial representative matches took place from 1879 to the turn of the 20th century. For most of the 20th century, the absence of a national club competition in Australia meant that interstate matches were regarded as important events.
Interstate matches were, in most cases, sanctioned and coordinated by the Australian National Football Council, which organised every national championship series from the first-ever national carnival, the Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival in 1908 with the exception of the last-ever series: the 1993 State of Origin Championships, which was run by the AFL Commission. The series took place on approximately three-yearly intervals between 1908 and 1993; these were usually a fortnight-long tournament staged in a single host city, although some particularly those played in the 1980s were based on the results of matches played in different cities throughout the year. Between 1937 and 1988, the player judged the best at each of these carnivals was awarded the Tassie Medal; and between 1953 and 1988, the selection of All Australian Teams was based on the player's performance during Australian Football Carnivals, and the team was named after each carnival concluded.
Until 1977, interstate Australian rules football games were played by teams representing the major football leagues or organisations, with players representing the state or territory they were playing in at the time. From 1977, players were selected for their states under partial or full state of origin selection rules. Football historian John Devaney has argued that "some of the state of origin contests which took place during the 1980s constituted arguably the finest expositions of the game ever seen".
Since 1999, there have been a few once-off interstate matches featuring players from the fully professional Australian Football League, but no regular interstate competitions. Representative matches continue to be played annually between teams representing the state or territorial leagues at the second tier, as well as at underage level as part of the men's and women's Underage National Championships.
Throughout its pre-state of origin history, Victoria, as represented by the Victorian Football League, was the dominant state in representative football, winning 16 of the 19 carnivals up until 1975. Competition was more even during the nine competitions held in the state of origin selection era, with championships shared among Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria.
History
Intercolony / Interstate competition, 1879–1939
Victoria, the birthplace of Australian rules and, with contributing factors such as population and finances, dominated the first hundred years of intercolonial and interstate football. This was the case in the first-ever intercolonial representative match, held on Tuesday, 1 July 1879, at East Melbourne Cricket Ground. The final score was Victoria 7.14 to South Australia 0.3. The match was attended by more than 10,000 people.The third and fourth teams to commence intercolonial competition were New South Wales and Queensland, playing each other in a two-game series in Brisbane in 1884; the result of the series was a one-all draw. Tasmania played its first game, against Victoria, in 1887. New Zealand entered the competition with a draw against New South Wales in Sydney, on 29 June 1889.
Victoria's long-term dominance briefly faltered in the 1890s, when other colonies recorded their first-ever wins over the Victoria: South Australia in Adelaide in 1890 and 1891 and Tasmania in Hobart in 1893. In 1897, the new Victorian Football League split from the VFA, and the two selected separate representative teams, further weakening Victoria in intercolonial competition, which became interstate competition following Federation of the six British colonies in Australia, in 1901.
Western Australia played its first two interstate games in 1904, including a win over South Australia in Adelaide. The Australasian Football Council was established 1906, and it assumed administration for interstate football.
The VFL's dominance within Victoria was established by the time an interstate carnival was held for the first time – in Melbourne in 1908 – to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of "Australasian football". The widening gap between the three major footballing states/leagues and the others was shown in the organisation of the competition: Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia constituted "Section A", and Tasmania, New South Wales, Queensland and New Zealand constituted "Section B". The VFA did not take part and the carnival was New Zealand's last appearance in representative football. Victoria went through the competition undefeated.
The second carnival was played in 1911, in Adelaide, which set the pattern of a carnival every three years. South Australia went undefeated and Victoria won three of their four matches. At the Sydney carnival of 1914, Victoria was once again undefeated. Following the onset of World War I interstate matches went into a five-year hiatus.
Throughout following decades, standalone interstate matches were held every year, and interstate carnivals were held usually every three years, with a few exceptions. In most carnivals following World War II, the stronger states competed separately from the minor states; and on many occasions the stronger states and minor states carnivals were held in separate locations or years. At the peak of its popularity, the carnival was known symbolically as "the Ashes" of Australian rules football. Victoria continued its dominance in interstate football by winning 17 of the 20 carnivals held between the period 1908 to 1975, and usually winning the individual matches held every year.
Some notable moments during this period were, the 1923 Victorian loss to South Australia, which was described as the state's worst ever defeat. The 1923 South Australian upset loss to an undermanned Tasmania. The championship-deciding game of the 1924 carnival, between Victoria and Western Australia, was reported as being the roughest on record. Also in 1924 South Australia recorded the concepts highest winning score, winning by 268 points to defeat Queensland in Hobart. In the 1925 calendar year, Canberra played its first match against New South Wales. In 1923 & 1925 Victoria lost shock upsets to New South Wales. In 1927, in the Australia National Football Carnival Victoria beat Western Australia 11.10 to 10.12, in what has been described as one of the hardest and fiercest games fought in the history of the code. In 1928 Victoria and South Australia participated in the first drawn representative match: the visiting Victorians led for most of the match, with South Australia kicking three late goals to give the state the victory by a point; however, after the match, it was discovered that the scoreboard had failed to record one of Victoria's behinds, and the match was declared a draw.
Post World War II (1945 to 1977)
In the second game between South Australia and Victoria after war, the states participated in the second representative draw, in a high scoring affair with the side locked in at 123 to 123 at full time. In 1948, Victoria played Western Australia for the first time in ten years, which Western Australia went on to win by 38 points, in what was described as a memorable victory.The Australian National Football Council expanded in 1949, which saw the Victoria Football Association and the Australian Amateur Football Council each re-enter teams in carnival and interstate competitions. The Amateurs were frequent winners of the second division carnivals, and the VFA recorded an upset 8-point win against South Australia at the 1950 interstate carnival. The VFA overall had mixed results while readmitted back, with some wins over some of the main states, and large losses, and established a rivalry with Tasmania against whom it had a number of close results on both sides. In 1959, Victoria beat Western Australia by 178 points, with the loss in Western Australia being taken so badly that it had been reported as potentially being the end of interstate football in the state. Tasmania finished of the decade strongly, with two surprise carnival upsets over South Australia in 1956 and 1958 and Western Australia in 1958.
In the first half of the 1960s saw a brief changing of the guard, with South Australia and Western Australia recording several wins over Victoria, and an upset win by Tasmania over Victoria in 1960, considered one of Tasmanian football's greatest moments. Also the 1963 Tasmanian victory over reigning interstate carnival champions Western Australia. Those were Victoria's last losses of the pre-origin selection era, and Victoria went on a 12-year winning streak against Western Australia and an 18-year winning streak against South Australia.
Neil Kerley and Graham Cornes were of significance in the rivalry between Victoria and South Australia, who played for and coached the South Australia team during this period. Neil Kerley when coaching the South Australian team would engender a hatred for Victoria, telling his players that all Victorian umpires and players cheated. Graham Cornes, who was coached by Kerley for South Australia and was later a coach and central figure in the promotion of interstate football in South Australia, later stated that his hatred for Victoria came from Neil Kerley, and in establishing the culture in South Australia of wanting to prove superiority over Victoria. In the 1963 game, after Victorian Jack Dyer was asked what he would do if he was coaching Victoria, and disrespectfully responded I'd give them a pep talk and go to the races, Kerley opened the match by putting down two Victorians with heavy bumps, and South Australia went on to win by seven points.
In the first half of the 1970s, there were some important games played: in 1970 Western Australia played Victoria in Melbourne, with the home side winning by six points. The match was notable because of a native born Western Australian player, playing for Victoria, being involved in the winning play. After the match with the result not taken well in the west, because of the observation that this had been a regular occurrence, it was first started being mentioned that games should be played on State of Origin criteria. Likewise in the 1974 game between the states, with the same result occurring, with again a Western Australia player being involved in the winning play, it was reported in the west as being the last straw. After the game Western Australia began to negotiate for games to be played under State of Origin criteria.
Also in 1970 after a decade of surprise upsets, and large disappointing defeats, Tasmania recorded a memorable victory over Western Australia. In the lead up to the match, an over confident Western Australian captain Polly Farmer, announced to the media that That his side simply could not countenance anything other than a convincing win, and "If we can't beat Tasmania, we ought to give the game away,. The Tasmanians stormed home in the final moments to win the game by two points. With the game notable, for thousands screaming onto the ground after the final siren. In 1974 the Northern Territory first participated in the concept, with a win over Queensland.