1980 Rugby League State of Origin game

The 1980 State of Origin fixture between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues was the inaugural match under the newly configured rules by which a player would represent his "state of origin", i.e. the state in which he was born or in which he started playing registered first grade rugby league football. Only a single experimental match took place in 1980 (after two matches using the old selection rules), unlike today where a three-match series is played.__TOC__

Match report

Led by Arthur Beetson, playing for Queensland for the first time, the Maroons won the first ever state of origin game 20-10. Beetson showed that the game was more than a glorified exhibition match early on, when he punched Parramatta Eels teammate Mick Cronin. New South Wales' Greg Brentnall had the honour of scoring the first Origin try. After leading 9-5 at halftime, Queensland took over the game, with Chris Close named man of the match. rugbyleaguebox
bg = #eeeeee
date = July 8, 1980
team1 =
score = 20–10
report = [http://stats.rleague.com/rl/soo/game1.html (Report)]
team2 =
points1 = Mal Meninga (14)
Kerry Boustead (3)
Chris Close (3)
points2 = (4) Mick Cronin
(3) Greg Brentnall
(3) Tommy Raudonikis
stadium = Lang Park, Brisbane
attendance = 33,210
referee= B. Thompson (Great Britain)
manofmatch= Chris Close

Teams

New South Wales Team

Queensland Team

ee also

*New South Wales Rugby League season 1980

External links

* [http://www.eraofthebiff.com/mm07.html "First State of Origin" at eraofthebiff.com]

Footnotes