What a State

Over here in Australia, and in New South Wales in particular, the most popular sport in Winter is Rugby League. Victorians go nuts for the Aussie Rules, while no-one knows what the hell they’re up to out West or in the Northern Territories. For Queensland and NSW however, and Sydney in particular, League is King. Sydney is home to the majority of the teams in the NRL – where I live in Manly we have a team, the Sea Eagles. It’s quite unique for me to support a team that seems to be quite decent, although universally hated. Even club rugby, whilst passionately followed, takes a back seat at this time of the year however, for the annual State of Origin series.

For the uninitiated, the State of Origin is a 3 game series played every Winter, between Queensland and New South Wales. Club allegiances are irrelevant, players can be selected by either state provided that is where they played their first senior rugby league. This week saw Game 2, in which the NSW Blues tied the series 1-1 with an impressive win over the dominant Maroons, who have won the past 5 series in a record breaking spell of supremacy. The atmosphere at Origin is excellent, last night in Sydney’s Olympic Stadium 82’000 fans created an impressive wall of colour and sound which went a long way to motivating the Blues to level things up.

The format is excellent and people over here really go nuts for it, and I’ve found it impossible not to get swept up in it all. It got me thinking about whether this would work in football.

Obviously international football basically does this already – and for years this was always seen as the pinnacle of the game. It probably still is, certainly there is no bigger event than the World Cup; but the Champions League has become I’d say by far the highest standard of football. Latter stages of the Champions League generally tend to showcase the best players and teams in the World – Barcelona or Manchester United would do very well indeed in international football without a doubt.

So, countries are already taken care of...maybe counties? Counties in England are too small, and too many, to make this a viable method. There really is only one sensible way to create an English ‘State of Origin’...classic, good old, North v South.

Gritty jobless alcoholic hard men vs poncy stuck-up shandy drinking rah-rahs.

The rolling hills and dales of the Lakes vs the hustle and bustle of the Square Mile.

Working class v Middle class.

Whatever images it conjures up, I reckon it would be a format that could really generate a lot of interest. Of course this is never going to happen - with the money involved, managers will not want their prize assets going off for an exhibition match like this which could risk injury etc - witness the tug of war that often arises when international weeks roll around. Ignoring that, let's pretend for a minute that this format actually went ahead...who would play? The criteria for selection is where you first played football, and I'll draw the line just above Leicester - Ashby-de-la-Zouch to be precise. So Birmingham based players are eligible for the South, anyone above that plays for the North. Based on the most recent England squads, here's my first stab at an eleven for the Northern Monkeys and the Southern Fairies:

Monkeys (4-4-2):

GK: J Hart

RB: M Richards

CB: G Cahill

CB: P Jagielka

LB: L Baines

RW: A Lennon

CM: S Gerrard

CM: J Henderson

LW: S Downing

ST: W Rooney

ST: A Carroll

Fairies (4-1-3-2):

GK: R Green

RB: G Johnson

CB: R Ferdinand

CB: J Terry

LB: A Cole

DM: S Parker

AM: J Wilshere

AM: F Lampard

AM: A Young

ST: T Walcott

ST: D Bent

Both teams look strong - The South probably have more experience in defence but they'll need that facing the attacking Monkeys led by Rooney and Carroll. The South have set Scott Parker up as a defensive screen, to allow the dynamism and pace of Wilshere, Young and Walcott free rein, with Lampard able to arrive late and Bent leading the line. This side do lack in width somewhat, so they would need Johnson and Cole to overlap on the wings as much as possible. This would free up space for the touchline hugging wingers of the North, and Andy Carroll would be happy about that. North wins the battle of keepers, Rob Green has never been the same since the trauma of Rustenburg, whilst Hart looks set to be the number 1 for England for many years.

All in all, I can't call it, but being a Fairy myself I'll plump for their attackers to be too much for a youthful Monkey back line which lacks protection from it's all action midfield. I think it would be a brilliant experiment for the Premier League to try, guarantee that it would get people interested and stoke up the classic rivalry. It might even be a good thing for players to put club issues aside and unite behind a single cause, one which is not burdened with the pressure of international competition or the memory of years of failure - two weights that hang so heavily on the Three Lions. So what do you think? Who would you select? Who would win? And most importantly, what are you:

Monkey or Fairy?