State of Origin 1981
The 1981 State of Origin game was the second edition of the State of Origin rugby league tournament . Before the game, there had already been two other games between Queensland and New South Wales that did not take place according to state-of-origin rules and both were won by New South Wales. The game took place on July 28 at Lang Park in Brisbane and was won by Queensland 22:15. It should be the last single game according to State of Origin rules, as all subsequent State of Origin tournaments were held in the best-of-three mode, i.e. consisted of three games.
prehistory
Despite the great success of the first game , there were still opponents of the concept, especially in Sydney. Ron Casey from the Daily Mirror , who had spoken out against the concept even before the first game, was still an opponent of this, he wrote, for example: "This game will prove nothing except that Brisbane is the only place in the world, where it is taken seriously ".
The match date was also criticized, as it was scheduled shortly after a tour of the Australian national team against France . Steve Rogers , then captain of the Australian national team, even said in a column in the Daily Telegraph that he wanted the game to be canceled as it would have been his seventh game in 24 days.
The game
| July 28th |
 Queensland Maroons
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22:15 |
 New South Wales Blues
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Lang Park , Brisbane Spectators: 25,613 Referee: Kevin Steele |
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Experiments: Backer , Close , Lewis , penalty try increases: Meninga (4/4) penalty kicks: Meninga (1/3) |
(5:15) Report |
Attempts: Grothe (2), Cronin Increases: Cronin (3/3) |
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