Victoria‘s sporting calendar has scored itself another big scalp, with the NRL‘s much revered State of Origin series set to return to Melbourne, with the Melbourne Cricket Ground to host clashes between New South Wales and Queensland in both 2015 and 2018.
The NRL has a standing policy of playing one State of Origin game outside of Brisbane and Sydney once every three years. The last time this occurred was in 2012, when the Origin series visited Melbourne once again, completely selling out an over-crowded Etihad Stadium. But now Rugby League’s premier showcase has its sights set on much bigger fish, with the announcement today that the series will be returning to the 100,000+ capacity coliseum in 2015, and then again in 2018.
This will be the first time that State of Origin has been played on the hallowed turf of the MCG since 1997, where 25,105 people attended the Super League-interrupted match. The first State of Origin game to be held at the MCG was in 1994, where a then-NRL-record was broken, where 87,161 people saw New South Wales defeat Queensland.
With the games being played mid-week, there will be minimal interruption to the AFL‘s regular season, and usage of the MCG.
Photo: Mark Dadswell via Getty Images.
via SMH.
