Australia is a highly mobile country. We have people moving in and out of the country and in between states very regularly. Unlike England, where populations traditionally are fairly static, Australians move in, out and all about. This creates a new situation, I won’t say problem, but situation of mixed marriages, and the stresses on which religion to choose. As someone with many friends and relatives of both New South Welsh Extraction who have married neighbours from north of the border, I see the dilemma every year at State of Origin time, because when the rugby league is on, you will not see a Queenslander in blue.
Sport is our national religion, and rugby league is one of the most contentious battle grounds. Queenslanders are passionate about the maroons, even changing the pronunciation of the word to “marone” to make it sound less stupid. Soccer may have a lot of tribal battles and passion, but I think the time of “state versus state” or “mate versus mate” origin brings is a far riskier area.
Our nation’s parents will generally let their children born in a new state support a different cricket team, or rugby union team. Even let them change sport, or more surprisingly, code of football entirely. But to the cane toads, the maroons are sacred, and as a reaction to this, the cockroaches become more passionate too.
There is only one cross-border solution I have ever seen work, and I have seen it work multiple times. No matter where they are, the child of a Queenslander must support the Queensland team in state of origin, this is something no banana-bending parent I have ever met has bent on. This also has the advantage of causing less emotional pain for the child since the maroons seem to win more often these days by following the revolutionary tactic of keeping the same team. The New South Welsh parent can have the child support the blues in other sports, from Sheffield Shield to Rugby Union to Chess.
With these compromises I believe a NSW/QLD marriage is possible, and can indeed thrive. We should work towards allowing this to happen, be supportive to any blues friends with a seds spouse, after all, State of Origin comes only once a year, but we are Australians all the rest of the time.
The first game is tonight – which side are you on?
