On a cold winter’s day in 1977, two teams of professional athletes played the first recorded game of State of Origin football.

However, it wasn’t between the Maroons or Blues, and the game played wasn’t even rugby league.

Western Australia hosted a Victorian representative side at Subiaco Oval in June 1977, giving Australian Rules Football the unique and oft-forgotten bragging right of creating State of Origin footy.

The game burgeoned in popularity throughout the 80s and early 90s.

Back then, it was everything in Aussie rules football.

“To play for Victoria in that era was undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements,” AFL premiership coach Paul Roos said.

The AFL hosted its last official State Of Origin match 25 years ago as interest declined and the league pivoted towards being a national competition.

In the decades since, the NRL has made the format well and truly its own.

So much so that Game II of the men’s series between NSW and Queensland will be held at the MCG this week in front of a crowd that’s likely to be bigger than any AFL match this weekend.

Despite being a former Victorian captain in Origin and an ardent fan, Paul Roos doesn’t think the series should return to AFL calendars.

“We have State of Origin every week: Adelaide Crows and Port Power, West Coast Eagles against Fremantle Dockers, so we get it every week — a couple of times a weekend.”

Bring it back

The first State of Origin series at Subiaco in 1977 between Victoria and WA was a rollercoaster.

Victoria smashed WA by 63 points in the first game before a rematch around three months later where WA recorded a 94-point victory — a turnaround of some 157 points.

The State of Origin format will always have its backers.

Every year when Rugby League’s State of Origin carnival rolls around, Australian Rules pundits are quick to point out the format actually originated in the VFL.

Melbourne’s Hall of Fame midfielder Gary Lyon told Melbourne radio it was an “unmitigated disgrace” the State of Origin format had vanished from the AFL calendar.

Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire told Channel Nine he adored the series — with one small caveat.

“Do it before the season starts, once every three years, and do it as a carnival in, say, Tasmania, to continue that flavour.”

Rodney Eade also captained his state in his playing days and loved every second of it.

But the proud Tasmanian’s not convinced it could ever return.

Eade said clubs were unlikely to risk injuring their star players — even in a pre- or post-season format.

“Maybe they’ll have a one-off [game] here or there because it’s a fillip for players to be able to represent their state and have a state jumper.

“I think it’d be good in concept but how it comes about? Not too sure.”

Would the players support it?

Perhaps one of the league’s most enduring memories occurred before a ball was even bounced.

The vision of EJ Whitten waving to the MCG crowd from the back of a convertible before a State of Origin match in 1995, tenderly resting his head against his son’s face as the pair bathed in the crowd’s adoration, is seared into the hearts of football lovers at the time.

Whitten Sr would die of prostate cancer just two months later.

According to the record books, the last official State of Origin series match was played in May 1999.

Victoria belted South Australia by 54 points in front of just over 26,000 people at the MCG.

No match was scheduled the following year, which had a shorter season than normal due to the Sydney Olympics.

One-off State of Origin matches have been held since, the most recent in 2020 to help raise money for the Black Summer bushfire victims.

The AFL Players Association has long backed calls for a series resumption.

“While a return of State of Origin seems unlikely in the current climate, given schedule commitments and structure of the AFL season, the AFLPA remains open to a discussion with the players, AFL and clubs about this,” a spokesperson said.

The AFL did not respond to requests for comment.