document_title: Tropical Africa

question_text: where are africa's tropical rain forests found

question_tokens: where are africa 's tropical rain forests found

text: Tropical Africa

text: Overview[edit]

text:
[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

(Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Tropical rainforests are tropical moist forests of semi-deciduous varieties distributed across nine West African countries. Institute for Sea Research conducted a temperature record dating back to 700,000 years ago.[2] Several conservation and development demographic settings are such that the most loss of rain forests has occurred in countries of higher population growth. Lack of dependable data and survey information in some countries has made the account of areas of unbroken forest and/or under land use change and their relation to economic indicators difficult to ascertain. Hence, the amount and rate of deforestation in Africa are less known than other regions of tropics..

text: The term deforestation refers to the complete obstruction of forest canopy cover for means of agriculture, plantations, cattle-ranching, and other non-forest fields. Other forest use changes for example are forest disintegration (changing the spatial continuity and creating a mosaic of forest blocks and other land cover types), and dreadful conditions (selective logging of woody species for profitable purposes that affects the forest subfloor and the biodiversity).[2] The general meaning to the term deforestation is linked not only to the value system but the type of measurement designed to assess it. Thus, the same interpretations of deforestation cause noticeable changes in the estimate of forests cleared.

text: One reason for forest depletion is to grow cash crops. Nine West African countries depend on cash crop exports. Products like gum, copal, rubber, cola nuts, and palm oil provide rather steady income revenue for the West African countries. Land use change spoils entire habitats with the forests. Converting forests into timber is another cause of deforestation. Over decades, the primary forest product was commercial timber. Urbanized countries account for a great percentage of the world's wood consumption, that increased greatly between 1950 and 1980. Simultaneously, preservation measures were reinforced to protect European and American forests.[2] Economic growth and growing environmental protection in industrialized European countries made request for tropical hardwood become strong in West Africa. In the first half of the 1980s, an annual forest loss of 7,200 square kilometers was note down along the Gulf of Guinea, a figure equivalent to 4-5 per cent of the total remaining rain forest area.[2] By 1985, 72 per cent of West Africa's rainforests had been transformed into fallow lands and an additional 9 per cent had been opened up by timber exploitation.[2]

text: Tropical timber became a viable choice to European wood following World War II, as trade with East European countries stop and timber noticeably became sparse in western and southern Europe. Despite efforts to promote lesser known timber species use, the market continued to focus on part of the usable timber obtainable. West Africa was prone to selective harvesting practices; while conservationists blamed the timber industry and the farmers for felling trees, others believe rain forest destruction is connected to the problem of fuel wood.[2] The contribution of fuel wood consumption to tree stock decline in Africa is believed to be significant. It is generally believed that firewood provides 75 per cent of the energy used in sub-Sahara Africa.[2] With the high demand, the consumption of wood for fuel exceeds the renewal of forest cover.

text: The rain forests which remain in West Africa now merely are how they were hardly 30 years ago. In Guinea, Liberia and the Ivory Coast, there is almost no primary forest cover left unscathed; in Ghana the situation is much worse, and nearly all the rain forest are cut down. Guinea-Bissau loses 200 to 350 km² of forest yearly, Senegal 500 km² of wooded savanna, and Nigeria 6,000,050,000 of both. Liberia exploits 800 km² of forests each year. Extrapolating from present rates of loss, botanist Peter Raven pictures that the majority of the world's moderate and smaller rain forests (such as in Africa,) could be ruined in forty years. Tropical Africa is about 18% of the world total covering 20 million km² of land in West and Central Africa.[2] The region has been facing deforestation in various degrees of intensity throughout the recent decades. The actual rate of deforestation varies from one country to another and accurate data does not exist yet. Recent estimates show that the annual pace of deforestation in the region can vary from 150 km² in Gabon to 2900 km² in Cote d'Ivoire. Remaining tropical forest still cover major areas in Central Africa but are abridged by patches in West Africa.

text: The African Timber Organization member countries (ATO) eventually recognized the cooperation between rural people and their forest environment. Customary law gives residents the right to use trees for firewood, fell trees for construction, and collect of forest products and rights for hunting or fishing and grazing or clearing of forests for maintenance agriculture. Other areas are called "protected forests", which means that uncontrolled clearings and unauthorized logging are forbidden. After World War II, commercial exploitation increased until no West African forestry department was able of making the law. By comparison with rain forests in other places of the world in 1973, Africa showed the greatest infringement though in total volume means, African timber production accounted just one third compared to that of Asia.[2] The difference was due to the variety of trees in Africa forests and the demand for specific wood types in Europe.

text: Forestry regulations in east Africa were first applied by colonial governments, but they were not strict enough to fill forest exploitation. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the inadequate performance of forest regulations was recognized. The Tropical Forestry Action Plan was conceived in 1987 by the World Resources Institute in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank with hopes of halting tropical forest destruction.[2] In its bid to stress forest conservation and development, the World Bank provided $111,103 million in building countries, especially in Africa, to help in developing long range forest conservation and management programs meant for ending deforestation.

text: Region protection[edit]

text: Many African countries are in economic and political change, overwhelmed by conflict, making various movements of forest exploitation to maintained forest management and production more and more complicated.

text: Forest legislation of ATO member countries aim to promote the balanced utilization of the forest domain and of wildlife and fishery in order to increase the input of the forest sector to the economic, social, cultural and scientific development of the country.[2]

text: Habitats[edit]

text: The tropical environment is rich in terms of bio-diversity. Tropical African forest is 18 per cent of the world total and covers over 3.6 million square kilometers of land in West, East and Central Africa. This total area can be subdivided to 2.69 million square kilometers (74%) in Central Africa, 680,000 square kilometers (19%) in West Africa, and 250,000 square kilometers (7%) in East Africa.[2] In West Africa, a chain of rain forests up to 350 km long extends from the eastern border of Sierra Leone all the way to Ghana. In Ghana the forest zone gradually dispels near the Volta river, following a 300 km stretch of Dahomey savanna gap. The rain forest of West Africa continues from east of Benin through southern Nigeria and officially ends at the border of Cameroon along the Sanaga river.

text: Semi-deciduous rainforests in West Africa began at the fringed coastline of Guinea Bissau (via Guinea) and run all the way through the coasts of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, continuing through Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon, and ending at the Congo Basin. Rain forests such as these are the richest, oldest, most prolific, and most complex systems on earth, are dying, and in turn are upsetting the delicate ecological balance. This may disturb global hydrological cycles, release vast amounts of green house gases into the atmosphere, and lessen the planet's ability to store excess carbon.

text: The rain forest vegetation of the Guinea-Congolian transition area, extending from Senegal to western Uganda are constituted of two main types: The semi-deciduous rain forest characterized by a large number of trees whose leaves are left during dry season. It appears in areas where the dry period (rainfall below about 100 mm) reach three months. Then, the evergreen or the semi-evergreen rain forest, climatically adapted to somewhat more humid conditions than the semi-deciduous type and is usually there in areas where the dry period is shorter than two months. This forest is usually richer in legumes and variety of species and its maximum development is around the Bight of Biafra, from Eastern Nigeria to Gabon, and with some large patches leaning to the west from Ghana to Liberia and to the east of Zaïre-Congo basin.

text: Judging against rain forest areas in other continents, most of the African rainforest is rather dry and receives between 1600 and 2000 mm of rainfall per year. Areas receiving more rain than this mainly are in coastal areas. The circulation of rainfall throughout the year remains less than other rain forest regions in the world. The average monthly rainfall in nearly the whole region remains under 100 mm throughout the year. The variety of the African rain forest flora is also less than the other rain forests. This lack of flora has been credited to several reasons such as the gradual infertility since the Miocene, severe dry periods during Quaternary, or the refuge theory of the cool and dry climate of tropical Africa during the last severe ice age of about 18000 years ago.[2]

text: A recent vegetation map of Africa published by UNESCO and the main vegetation features of Central African rain forest divides the area into the following categories: . This type of forest shows no substantial seasonal behavior. At the border of the central basin is the mesophilous semi-deciduous forest that is mixed with deciduous and evergreen trees in the upper-stratum, unusual age distribution, continuous shrub stratum at the lower canopy, and a more marked seasonality.

text: Secondary forests[edit]

text: Beyond the forest reserves, a great deal of the remaining part of Central African rain forest on well drained soils are old secondary forests. There also exist younger secondary forests dominated by parasol trees, Musanga ceropiodes, the most abundant and characteristic secondary forest in Africa. Such trees are found in upper layers of secondary regrowth along the old road networks in Zaïre . The dispersal of secondary forests are important in regional study as they show different floristic and faunistic characteristics than primary forests, and represent centers of human activity and history of land-use changes.

text: Non-forest[edit]

text: The nart comprises degraded lands, irregular agriculture and plantations., and deforested lands and fragmented forests. Plantations have a geometrical lay-out with uniform canopy-cover and follow a different vegetation cycle as their adjacent features. The areas are located near the transportation networks and are subjugated by economic tree crops such as cacao, rubber, oil palms and Kola.

text: Swamp and flooded forests[edit]

text: Swamp forest, inundated forests in flood plains, and riparian forests are found here. Swamp forests are found widely in the Zaïre basin and throughout the Congo basin where conditions are appropriate. In most areas, swamp forests is like in appearance to rain forest and the tallest trees attain a height of 45 m. The main canopy is often irregular and open, sometimes resembling the secondary forests caused by disturbance The forest has a variety in endemic flora but it is inadequate in species. Recently, large areas of swamp forests have been cleared for rice farming. Swamp forests in Zaïre, Congo and other lowland forests have seasonal variations that to the level of forest inundation.

text: Conservation[edit]

text: In colonial rule, governments planned only one way to promote conservation. In Nigeria for example, the government introduced forest protection regulatory measures by classification of some forest areas, licensing requirements, and the apprehension and prosecution of offenders. Ghana issued classification permits to firms and executed log export restrictions. The Ivory Coast and Cameroon introduced log supply quotas, as Liberia did.

text: This trade product is "raw" lumber. Trees native to the West African rainforest from which timber is exported include limba, emeri, obeche and opepe as well as the exotic species gmelina, teak, and pinus.

text: Fauna[edit]

text: The Tropical African rainforest has rich fauna, commonly smaller mammal species rarely seen by humans. New species continually are being found. For instance, in late 1988 an unknown shrub species was discovered on the shores of the Ndian River in Western Cameroon. Since then many species have become extinct. However, undisturbed rainforests are some of the richest habitats of animal species. Today, undisturbed rainforests are remnant, but rare. Timber extraction not only changes the edifice of the forest, it affects the tree species spectrum by removing economically important species and terminates other species in the process. The species that compose African rainforests are of different evolutionary ages because of the contraction and expansion of the rainforest in response to global climatic fluctuations.[2]

text: In Tropical Africa about 8,500 plant species have been noted and 403 species of orchids note down. The pygmy hippopotamus, the giant forest hog, the water chevortain and a number of insectivores, rodents and bats, tree frogs, bird species inhabit the area. These species, along with a diversity of fruits and insects, make a special habitat. Top canopy monkey species, the red colobus, and others, already have disappeared from much of Tropical Africa's forest.

text: Species unfamiliar to the changes in forest structure for industrial use might not survive.[2] If timber use continues and an increasing amount of farming occurs, it could lead to the mass killing of animal species. The home of nearly half of the world's animals and plant species are tropical rainforests. The rain forests provide possible economic resource for over-populated developing countries. Despite the stated need to save the West African forests, there are divergence in how to work. In April 1992, countries with some of the largest surviving tropical rain forests banned a rainforest protection plan proposed by the British government. It aimed at finding endangered species of tropical trees in order to control trade in them. Experts estimate that the rainforest of West Africa, at the present trend of deforestation, may disappear by the year 2020.[2]

text: Africa’s rainforest, like many others emergent in the world, has a special significance to the indigenous cultures who have occupied them for millennia.[2]

text: Recent news: history of tropical Africa[edit]

text: In early 2007, scientists created an entirely new proxy to determine annual mean air temperature on land—based on molecules from the cell membrane of soil inhabiting bacteria. Recently, Scientists from the NIOZ, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research conducted a temperature record dating back to 25,000 years ago.[3] In concord with the German colleague of the University of Bremen, this detailed record shows the history of land temperatures based on the molecular fossils of soil bacteria. When applying this to the outflow core of the Congo River, the core contained eroded land material and microfossils from marine algae. That concluded that the land environment of tropical Africa was cooled more than the bordering Atlantic Ocean during the last ice-age. Since the Congo River drains a large part of tropical central Africa, the land derived material gives an integrated signal for a very large area. These findings further enlighten in natural disparities in climate and the possible costs of a warming earth on precipitation in central Africa.[3]

text: Scientists discovered a way to measure sea temperature—based on organic molecules from algae growing off the surface layer of the Ocean. These organisms acclimatize the molecular composition of their cell membranes to ambient temperature to sustain regular physiological properties. If such molecules sink to the sea floor and are buried in sediments where oxygen does not go through, they can be preserved for thousands of years. The ratios between the different molecules from the algal cell membrane can approximate the past temperature of the sea surface. The new “proxy” used in this sediment core obtained both a continental and a sea surface temperature record. In comparison, both records shows that ocean surface and land temperatures behaved differently during the past 25,000 years. During the last ice age, African temperatures were 21 °C, about 4 °C lower than today, while the tropical Atlantic Ocean was only about 2.5 °C cooler. Lead author Johan Weijers and his colleagues arrived that the land-sea temperature difference has by far the largest influence on continental rainfall. The relation of air pressure to temperature strongly determines this factor. During the last ice age, the land climate in tropical Africa was drier than it is now, whereas it favors the growth of a lush rainforest.[3]

text: Resources[edit]

text:
Year
Product
Production
Consumption
Import
Export

1996
Log
10207 (100)
6042 (100)
3 (100)
4168 (100)

2000
Log
12686 (100)
7957 (100)
102 (100)
4381 (100)

1996
Sawn
2021 (100)
6042 (100)
6 (100)
1204 (100)

2000
Sawn
2174 (100)
677 (100)
8 (100)
1504 (100)

1996
Veneer
401 (100)
142 (100)
0 (100)
259 (100)

2000
Veneer
796 (100)
307 (100)
17 (100)
506 (100)

1996
Plywood
243 (100)
169 (100)
5 (100)
79 (100)

2000
Plywood
410 (100)
243 (100)
16 (100)
183 (100)

text: [citation needed]


document_title: State of Origin series

question_text: when did nsw last win state of origin series

question_tokens: when did nsw last win state of origin series

root

text: State of Origin series

text: Teams[edit]

text: Since the 1908 establishment of rugby league in Australia, the sport's two major states, New South Wales and Queensland, have played representative matches against each other which have continued into the "state of origin" era which began in the 1980s. The two states' teams are frequently referred to as the Blues and Maroons, reflecting the respective colours of their jerseys. These were the colours of the Australia national rugby league team's jersey until the adoption of the green and gold. The Blues team is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League and the Maroons by the Queensland Rugby League. The New South Wales team are sometimes referred to by the nickname "Cockroaches" and the Queensland team as "Cane Toads", due to names given to them by Barry Muir and Johnny Raper respectively.  It was reinforced by a marketing campaign used in the 1980s where the respective teams were caricatured as such.

tag: p

text: Whilst other Australian states also have representative rugby league teams, they have not competed in State of Origin.

text: History[edit]

text: Interstate Rugby League prior to 1980[edit]

text: The first calls for a state of origin selection policy in interstate rugby football came before the schism between the union and league codes eventuated in Australia. In 1900 a journalist known as 'The Cynic' wrote in The Referee that star rugby player and recent immigrant to Queensland, Stephen Spragg, should be able to play for his home state of New South Wales.[1]

text: Since the beginning of Australian rugby league in 1908, an interstate competition between New South Wales and Queensland has been conducted from time to time. Until 1982 each team drew its players from the clubs based in that state. No consideration was given to the origins of the players themselves.[2]

text: The first of these interstate games was played at Sydney's Agricultural Ground on 11 July 1908, before Queensland had even commenced its club competition. New South Wales easily accounted for Queensland in a 43–0 victory. The local media were unimpressed.

text: The interstate series was dominated by New South Wales, apart from a golden period for Queensland in the 1920s. From 1922 to 1925 Queensland defeated New South Wales 11 times in 12 matches. At the end of the 1925 season a Kangaroo team was to be picked for touring Great Britain. Instead of announcing an Australian team dominated by Queenslanders, the Australian Rugby League Board of Control informed the media that the Rugby Football League had decided that the Kiwis would provide stronger opposition, and that there would be no Australian tour.[4] The period spanning 1922 to 1929 saw no Australian team play in Great Britain, the only such hiatus outside the two World Wars.[5]

text: The New South Wales dominance of interstate football increased after 1956 when gaming machines were legalised for all registered clubs in New South Wales. This provided New South Wales football clubs with a revenue source unmatched by Queensland clubs. From this time on an increasing number of Queensland players moved to the much stronger Sydney competition, becoming ineligible for Queensland state selection. Paul Hogan famously told a Queensland Rugby League gathering in 1977 that "every time Queensland produces a good footballer, he finishes up being processed through a New South Wales poker machine."[6]

text: Prior to 1956, NSW had won 75% and Qld only 25% of series played. From 1956–1981, NSW dominance soared even higher and Qld wins dwindled to only 3.8% with only 1 series win, in 1959.

text: Conception of State of Origin football[edit]

text: By the 1970s the prestige of interstate matches had been seriously downgraded. Matches were played mid-week, so as not to interfere with the Sydney club competition, and the small crowds in New South Wales were hosted at suburban grounds.[12] Interstate football reached its nadir in 1977 when the New South Wales Rugby Football League (NSWRFL) declined to host the Queensland team, and both interstate games were played in Queensland.[7]

text: Former Queensland captain and Australian vice-captain Jack Reardon, who had later become a journalist, was the first to suggest that Sydney-based Queenslanders should be available for selection to represent their state.[13]

text: Brisbane Courier-Mail reporter Hugh Lunn, Barry Maranta (the future co-founder of the Brisbane Broncos) [8] and Maranta's business partner Wayne Reid played a part in persuading QRL chairman Ron McAullife that the concept could be used in rugby league.[9] Lunn told McAullife that "you can take the Queenslander out of Queensland, Ron, but you can't take the Queensland out of the Queenslander."[10] McAuliffe was initially sceptical. "What if we recall our boys from Sydney to play, and we are beaten. Where would we go from there?" Reid spoke to NSWRFL president Kevin Humphreys and suggested that a one-off state of origin match could be used as a Test Match selection trial. [11]

text: New South Wales clubs were reticent in their support of the concept and set two conditions:

text:
If the third game was to decide the series it was not to act as a selection trial, and also,
that the expatriate Queenslanders would be under the supervision of a representative of the NSWRFL whose duty it would be to protect the interests of both the NSWRFL and the clubs to which they were contracted. (From 1980 this role was filled by Bob Abbott, a Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks official.)

tag: ul

text: Three Sydney clubs remained opposed to the plan: St. George Dragons, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Eastern Suburbs Roosters. As these clubs were refusing to release players, Humphreys threatened to make the game an official Australian Rugby League trial, which would make release mandatory. The clubs backed down.[12]

text: Experimentation[edit]

text: After Queensland lost the first two interstate matches in 1980 (35–3 and 17–7, the second game in front of only 1,638 Sydneysiders) it was announced that a 'state of origin' match would take place on 8 July at Lang Park in Brisbane. The New South Wales media gave both the event, and Queensland's chance of winning it, little credence, calling the game a "three day wonder". Australia's 1978 captain Bob Fulton called the match "the non-event of the century". Ron MacAullife however, was now committed to the concept and vigorously promoted the match. Thousands of tickets were sold before the game had been officially sanctioned. Although interstate matches in Brisbane had still been well attended (24,653 had attended the opening match of the 1979 series), few expected the sell-out crowd of 33,210 Queensland rugby league fans, delighted to see their heroes in the likes of Arthur Beetson representing their home state for the first time ever. Queensland convincingly beat New South Wales 20–10.[13]

text: I was strongly against such a match, but last night's gripping clash showed that such a fixture would be a welcome addition to the League program.[14]

text: In 1981 the first two interstate matches were again played under the old selection rules. As New South Wales won the first two matches in the series, state of origin selection rules were used once more in the third match. Although New South Wales ran out to an early 15–0 lead in the game, Queensland rallied to win 22–15.

text: Adoption[edit]

text: The interest generated by the experimental state of origin matches of 1980 and 1981 and the potential for financial rewards were enough to convince the authorities to play all three games under state of origin rules the following year.[14]

text: The State of Origin format is the only possible way to allow the interstate series to survive.

text: Despite the Maroons' success so far in the State of Origin experiments, the New South Wales media dismissed the seriousness of the Queensland threat to the Blues' long-held dominance in series wins. Queensland however, under the leadership of immortal captain Wally Lewis, was inspired by this, and for the first three State of Origin series Queensland won 2 matches to 1.

text: However, in 1985, under the leadership of captain Steve Mortimer, New South Wales won the deciding match in front of 29,068 spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground, claiming the series for the first time. The following year the Blues were able to go one better and complete the first state of origin whitewash, taking the series 3–0.[15]

text: 1987: American controversy[edit]

text: After Queensland had won the 1987 series 2–1, a fourth game was played at Long Beach, California to showcase rugby league to the American public.[16]

text: In Origin: Rugby League's Greatest Contest 1980–2002 (2003) Queensland writer Jack Gallaway tells a story:

text: In 1987 the Australian Rugby League (ARL), New South Wales Rugby League and Queensland Rugby League agreed that the match would only count towards the players' individual statistics. On 15 July 2003 the Australian Rugby League (whose primary members are originally from the New South Wales Rugby League) announced that the fourth 1987 game was to be classified as an official match, and that a win in the state of origin match on 16 July 2003 would take New South Wales into the overall lead.

text: ARL and NSWRL chief executive Geoff Carr said: "There had been some debate over whether the Origin fixture . . . in 1987 was counted as an official match but a search of ARL records has confirmed the status conferred on that clash by the game's governing body at the time. In announcing the match in Big League in April 1987, Ken Arthurson, the ARL's chief executive in 1987, was quoted as saying 'It's an exciting experiment but the match isn't and won't be billed as an exhibition match'."

text: After the controversy of the match played in the United States, the Queensland halves pairing of Allan Langer and Wally Lewis led the Maroons in their 3–0 series wins in both 1988 and 1989. The rise of the Canberra Raiders in the then Winfield Cup club competition produced for the Blues the formidable halves combination of Ricky Stuart and Laurie Daley who brought New South Wales back from defeat with two wins in the opening games of the 1990 series. It was evident that as the rivalry between the two states grew, the Origin matches had become much more physical forward orientated game than the open running play seen in earlier series.[18]

text: As the great Queensland players from the 1980s began to retire from the game, the Maroons struggled with a team of fresh faces and considerable inexperience. The 1992, 1993 and 1994 series all went to NSW as the talent and experience of Blues players such as Brett Mullins, Daley and Stuart in the backs and Benny Elias and Bradley Clyde in the forwards gave the Blues the edge when the games were on the line. It wasn't until the upheaval of the Super League war in 1995 that the Maroons were able to again clinch a series.

text: A main cause for concern for Queensland was the fact that the Brisbane Broncos, its players and many other Queenslanders were not aligned with the ARL prohibiting any players signed with the Super League to play for the Maroons. Despite this the Queenslanders won the 1995 series 3–0 in a shocking white-wash. The 1996 series saw the off-field contract dramas put aside as all players were allowed, regardless of contract, state of origin selection. Having the majority of the Queenslanders back didn't help the Maroons though as the Blues 1996 white-wash with a 3–0 series win of their own.

text: The Australian game divided in 1997 into two competitions, one run by the ARL and one by the News Limited-owned Super League, and an interstate series was played in each. Under the Super League banner there was a Tri-Origin series with a New Zealand side added to the competition. The ARL meanwhile stuck to its traditional format. The teams were selected using origin rules, and New South Wales and Queensland met twice. These matches do not count towards the official state of origin record. As with the premiership, players were spread between two representative tournaments as well.

text: The competitions merged again in 1998 as the current National Rugby League, and the series that year proved to be enthralling as both sides won a game each away from home, setting up a decider at the Sydney Football Stadium where 39,000 fans witnessed the visiting Queenslanders take the series 2–1. The end of the decade saw a dramatic series with each side taking one game each and game three ending in a draw. Queensland were awarded the series as at the time the previous winners retained the interstate honours.

text: The early to mid-2000s saw New South Wales starting to assert its traditional interstate dominance, causing some critics [who?] to question the future of State of Origin. However, this imbalance tipped in the third and deciding game of the 2006 State of Origin series, which is seen as the starting point of Queensland's unprecedented dynasty. Queensland followed by winning the 2007 series, as well as the 2008 series, which made Queensland's streak three series in a row. New South Wales won Game 1 on 21 May 2008, however Queensland won Game 2 on 11 June 2008, and Game 3 on 2 July 2008. Queensland continued to follow this up by winning the first two games of the 2009 series becoming the first state to win four series in a row.

text: In 2010, Queensland won its historic, record-breaking, fifth consecutive Origin series with a 23–18 win in the third and final match. This was the first Queensland team to win all three consecutive State of Origin Games in 15 years. Queensland full back Billy Slater won man of the match in the third game and was awarded the Wally Lewis Medal as Man of the Series in 2010. The 2010 State of Origin series was also the second televised program in Australia to be shot in 3D 1080i DVB-T as well as being simultaneously broadcast in regular 576i and 1080i DVB-T and PAL.

text: In the first game of the 2011 series Queensland defeated New South Wales 16–12.  In the second game New South Wales defeated Queensland 18–8.  Queensland won the series 34–24 in the 2011 decider in what was Queensland captain Darren Lockyer's 36th and final game. Cameron Smith won man of the match in both the first and third game and was awarded the Wally Lewis Medal as Man of the Series.

text: In 2012, then NRL CEO David Gallop introduced the Under-20s State of Origin for Toyota Cup players which saw New South Wales winning. Queensland went on to win a historic 7th series win in 2012, winning the final game by 1 point.

text: In 2013, New South Wales defeated Queensland 14 to 6 in game 1, Queensland defeated New South Wales 26 to 6 in game 2, while in game 3 Queensland defeated New South Wales 12 to 10 to take out the overall Origin title for the eighth consecutive time. The 2013 series set a new State of Origin television ratings record for a whole series since the 2001 introduction of the ratings system.[16]

text: In 2014, New South Wales defeated Queensland 12-8 in the first game of the series, and 6-4 in the second.[17] In the third game Queensland defeated New South Wales 32-8 after scoring the first try of the game in the 37th minute, with Queensland leading 6-2 in the first half. This gave the Blues the first series win in 8 years.

text: In 2015, Queensland defeated New South Wales 11-10 in game 1 played in Sydney, New South Wales defeated Queensland 26-18 in game 2 played in Melbourne, Queensland defeated New South Wales 52-6 in game 3 played in Brisbane, winning the series 2-1.

text: In 2016, Queensland defeated New South Wales 6-4 in game 1 and clinched the series with a 26-16 win in the second match. New South Wales closed off the series with a 18-14 win over Queensland.

text: In 2017, New South Wales won Game 1, 28-4 sparking the New South Wales media to start proclaiming the beginning of the Blues Dynasty.[citation needed] Queensland won Game 2, 18-16 after making changes to the team with the returning Billy Slater and Johnathan Thurston, who kicked the winning goal for Queensland. Thurston injured his shoulder in the 30th minute of the match, essentially disabling it as he played out the whole match. Thurston was later ruled out for the rest of the year after scans revealed his shoulder needed a reconstruction, ending his representative career as he announced 2017 would be his last representative year. In Game 3, New South Wales went in with an unchanged lineup for all three games, the first to do so since 1996. Queensland dominated the Blues, winning 22-6, with Queensland winger Dane Gagai winning the Wally Lewis Medal for Best Player in the series. It also had Johnathan Thurston raise the Origin Shield with Queensland Captain Cameron Smith, before being chaired off the ground by his teammates, ending Thurston's representative career on a high note.

text: In 2018, New South Wales won their first State of Origin series in four years, defeating Queensland 22–12 and 18–14 in the first two games. Queensland scored a consolation victory 18–12 in the final game.

text: Venues[edit]

text: Queensland[edit]

text:
Venue
City
No. of Games
Highest Crowd
Lowest Crowd

Lang Park (Brisbane Stadium/Suncorp Stadium)
Brisbane
52
52,540
16,559

Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QE2 Stadium)
Brisbane
2
49,441
47,989

tag: table

text: New South Wales[edit]

text:
Venue
City
No. of Games
Highest Crowd
Lowest Crowd

Stadium Australia (Telstra Stadium/ANZ Stadium)
Sydney
25
88,336
55,421

Sydney Football Stadium (Allianz Stadium)
Sydney
14
41,955
16,910

Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG)
Sydney
6
42,048
20,242

text: Interstate & International[edit]

text:
Venue
City
State
Country
No. of Games
Highest Crowd
Lowest Crowd

Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)
Melbourne
Victoria
Australia
4
91,513
25,105

Docklands Stadium (Telstra Dome/Etihad Stadium)
Melbourne
Victoria
Australia
3
56,021
50,967

Olympic Park Stadium
Melbourne
Victoria
Australia
1
25,800
–

Veterans Memorial Stadium
Long Beach
California
United States
1
12,439
–

text: Popularity[edit]

text: In 2013, each individual game in the series drew a higher Australian television audience than any other sporting event.[18] In recent years the series has gained popularity outside of New South Wales and Queensland, with games played in Melbourne drawing record crowds for rugby league[19] and local television ratings comparable to those of some Victorian AFL matches.[20] Internationally, the series is televised in 91 countries,[21] and is a national obsession in Papua New Guinea, occasionally sparking riots, violence and deaths.[22][23] It also draws a strong following in neighbouring New Zealand.[24]

text: Broadcasting[edit]

text: Within Australia, Nine Network is the main broadcaster for the series, with replays airing on Fox Sports. The series is also broadcast on radio by ABC Grandstand.

text: Setanta Sports broadcasts live matches in Asia. In the United States, Fox Soccer televised all matches live using the Nine feed since 2011, with the coverage moving to Fox Sports 2 when Fox Soccer was discontinued in August 2013.[25][26] Premier Sports broadcasts live coverage of State of Origin in the UK.

text: Another twist on the coverage was Roy and HG's State of Origin commentary on Australian youth radio network Triple J. This broadcast was presented by the characters "Rampaging" Roy Slaven and HG Nelson (played by John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver), who commentated the game with a unique comedic style. Roy and HG's broadcasts began in the late 1980s, and continued until 2008. Roy and HG moved from Triple J to radio network Triple M in 2009, at which point the duo ceased their State of Origin commentary.

text: Selection rules[edit]

text: Under State of Origin rules players were previously selected for the state in which they first played senior (or registered) rugby league.[19] In 2012, the NSWRL, CRL, QRL and ARLC agreed on new criteria in determining Origin eligibility, to encompass other factors, such as place of birth [20]. Players must also be eligible to represent Australia at international level.

text: Controversy[edit]

text: From time to time the selection of players under the State of Origin rules creates controversy. Since 1980, Queensland has completed just the 7 series with a team completely made up of players of a Queensland birth, while for New South Wales the total is only 6.[27] However, place of birth has only been a relevant factor in eligibility since 2012.

text: An issue of contention has been the selection of players such as Peter Sterling, Ken Nagas, James McManus, Israel Folau and Greg Inglis. Israel Folau was born and raised in New South Wales but is eligible to play for Queensland as he played his first senior rugby league match in Queensland. Ken Nagas was born and raised in Queensland but decided to play for New South Wales, Peter Sterling was born in Toowoomba, Queensland and raised in Wagga Wagga, Newcastle & Sydney, all in New South Wales, while McManus was born in Scotland and was raised in the Northern Territory, but was ruled eligible to play for New South Wales in the 2009 series.

text: The selection of Greg Inglis by Queensland was disputed. The Queensland Rugby League selected him based on the fact that either Wavell State High School or Brisbane Norths was Inglis' first senior football, making him eligible for both states per the rules at the time.[28][29][30] However Inglis had previously played for Hunter Sports High School in Newcastle, New South Wales, in the Arrive Alive Cup; considered to be a senior competition. Hunter Sports High coach Steve Dunn said "there was some talk the other day that he was actually brought to Queensland before his 16th birthday but I was coach of the team. He played for us at 16, he's a Blue".[31] The controversy led to the creation of the "That's In Queensland" viral video.

text: Due to the clarification of selection rules the Sims brothers are eligible for different States. Tariq and Ashton are eligible for New South Wales while Korbin Sims is eligible for Queensland.[32]  Previously father and son combinations, such as Steve and Mat Rogers have represented different states. This duo was especially notable because Mat was born in New South Wales and played for Queensland while Steve was born in Queensland and played for New South Wales. Steve Rogers played his first senior game of rugby league for the Southport Tigers on Queenslands Gold Coast

text: Foreign born players have also represented each state. New Zealand has had several players, such as Brad Thorn, Ben Te'o, Craig Smith, Willie Mason, Tonie Carroll, James Tamou and Karmichael Hunt play Origin. Tamou's selection by New South Wales in 2012 was controversial as he was born in Palmerston North and played for the Junior Kiwis, lived in New Zealand until he moved to Sydney when he was 13 and was included in the New Zealand Kiwis training squad for the 2011 Four Nations.[33] Both Hunt and Tamou played for Australia before being selected for State of Origin. Other players, such as Sam Kasiano and Jason Taumalolo are also eligible, creating concern in the New Zealand Rugby League.[34] Apart from representing Queensland, Brad Thorn is also a dual rugby international, having played international rugby league for Australia, and international rugby union for the All Blacks.

text: Papua New Guinea-born Adrian Lam and Fijian-born Lote Tuqiri, Akuila Uate and Petero Civoniceva have also played Origin. Benny Elias was born in Lebanon and has played for and captained NSW. Mario Fenech was born in Malta and has played for NSW. The most recent case of a foreign born player being selected was the selection of former Samoan international, Ben Te'o, by Queensland in game three of the 2012 season.[35]

text: A report into eligibility based on a player's birth state showed; "Of the 18 series that QLD has won, it had the greater percentage of non-State [born] players in its side on 14 of those occasions – revealing a 77.8% dependency. Of the 13 series that NSW has won, on five of those occasions it had the higher percentage of non-State [born] players across the series – revealing a 38.5% dependency."[27]

text: Anomalies[edit]

text:
In 1995 and 1997 Super League players were made ineligible for the ARL State of Origin series selection. This included most of Queensland's usual team, who now played for the Super League affiliated Brisbane Broncos. The ARL hence decided to relax the rules in those years, allowing Queensland to select Adrian Lam who had previously played for Papua New Guinea. The 1995 Origin series was the scene of the biggest upset in Origin history when the relatively inexperienced Maroon's swept aside NSW, who even without their Super League players could still boast a number of senior Origin and international players, 3-0.
During the 2000 World Cup a number of Australian players were granted dispensations to appear for other nations under the grandparent rule. The players affected were David Barnhill (NSW), Kevin Campion (Qld), Tonie Carroll (Qld), Graham Mackay (NSW), Willie Mason (NSW), Luke Ricketson (NSW), Lote Tuqiri (Qld) and Adrian Vowles (Qld), [21] [22]

tag: ol

text: Results[edit]

text: Year by year[edit]

text: Of the 36 full series played, Queensland have won 21, New South Wales 14, with 2 series drawn (Queensland retained the Shield on both occasions as the previous year's winner). With the addition of three one-off games that were played in 1980, 1981 and 1987, the total number of games played is 108. Queensland have won 58, New South Wales have won 51, with 2 matches being drawn.[36]

text: The series of 1999 and 2002 are considered drawn series, as both New South Wales and Queensland won a single game of each 3 match series, with the final game concluding in a draw. At that time there was no overtime rule to break the deadlock, and by the same set of rules, Queensland retained the shield as they were the previous holders, but did not win the series. Due to controversy around the second drawn series, and the rule awarding the series champions to Queensland, the rules were subsequently changed to rule out drawn matches and series. Equal points at the close of full-time are now resolved with the golden point method.

text:
State of Origin series

Year
Winner
Wins
Losses
Drawn
Shield Holder

1982
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

1983
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

1984
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

1985
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

1986
New South Wales
3
0
0
New South Wales

1987
Queensland
2
1[23]
0
Queensland

1988
Queensland
3
0
0
Queensland

1989
Queensland
3
0
0
Queensland

1990
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

1991
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

1992
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

1993
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

1994
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

1995
Queensland
3
0
0
Queensland

1996
New South Wales
3
0
0
New South Wales

1997
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

1998
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

1999
Draw
1
1
1
Queensland

2000
New South Wales
3
0
0
New South Wales

2001
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2002
Draw
1
1
1
Queensland

2003
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

2004
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

2005
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

2006
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2007
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2008
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2009
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2010
Queensland
3
0
0
Queensland

2011
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2012
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2013
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2014
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

2015
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2016
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2017
Queensland
2
1
0
Queensland

2018
New South Wales
2
1
0
New South Wales

text:
State of Origin non-series matches

Year
Winner
Wins
Losses
Drawn

1980
Queensland
1
0
0

1981
Queensland
1
0
0

1987
New South Wales
1
0
0

text: Wally Lewis Medal[edit]

text: From 1992 to 2003 the Wally Lewis Medal was awarded by the Queensland Rugby League for the Queensland player of the series. Since 2003 it has been awarded to the player of the series, irrespective of state. The following players have been awarded the Wally Lewis Medal for player of the series1. Cameron Smith has won the medal a record four times.

text:
Recipients

Year
Player
State
Position
Club

2004
Craig Fitzgibbon
New South Wales
Lock
Sydney Roosters

2005
Anthony Minichiello
New South Wales
Fullback
Sydney Roosters

2006
Darren Lockyer
Queensland
Five-eighth
Brisbane Broncos

2007
Cameron Smith
Queensland
Hooker
Melbourne Storm

2008
Johnathan Thurston
Queensland
Halfback, Five-eighth
North Queensland Cowboys

2009
Greg Inglis
Queensland
Centre
Melbourne Storm

2010
Billy Slater
Queensland
Fullback
Melbourne Storm

2011
Cameron Smith
Queensland
Hooker
Melbourne Storm

2012
Nate Myles
Queensland
Second-row
Gold Coast Titans

2013
Cameron Smith
Queensland
Hooker
Melbourne Storm

2014
Paul Gallen
New South Wales
Lock, Prop
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

2015
Corey Parker
Queensland
Lock
Brisbane Broncos

2016
Cameron Smith
Queensland
Hooker
Melbourne Storm

2017
Dane Gagai
Queensland
Wing
Newcastle Knights

2018
Billy Slater
Queensland
Fullback
Melbourne Storm

text: 1The award was originally a Queensland only award from Lewis' retirement in 1992 until 2003, where the best player of the series could win the award, regardless of their state. The Ron McAuliffe Medal replaced the Wally Lewis Medal as the Queensland exclusive award.

text: Records[edit]

text: Team[edit]

text:
Most points scored in a game: 72, New South Wales 56 - 16 Queensland  (Game III, 2000)
Most points scored by a team: 56, New South Wales 56 - 16 Queensland  (Game III, 2000)
Largest winning margin: 46, Queensland 52 - 6 New South Wales  (Game III, 2015)
Most consecutive games won: 8, Queensland (Game II, 1987 - Game III, 1989)
Most consecutive series won: 8, Queensland (2006–2013)
Most series clean sweeps: 4, Queensland (1988–1989, 1995, 2010)

text: Individual[edit]

text:
Oldest player: 36 years 74 days, Petero Civoniceva (2012) (Queensland)
Youngest player: 18 years and 83 days, Ben Ikin (1995) (Queensland)

text: Playing[edit]

text:
Most games: 42 Cameron Smith (2003–2017) (Queensland)
Most consecutive games: 36 Johnathan Thurston (2005–2017) (Queensland)
Most games as captain: 30 Wally Lewis (1981–1991) (Queensland)
Most games won: 24 Cameron Smith (2003–2017) (Queensland)
Most series won: 11 Cameron Smith (2006–2013, 2015–present) (Queensland) & Johnathan Thurston (2006–2013, 2015–2017) (Queensland)1
Most Man of the Match Awards won: 8 Wally Lewis (1982–1991) (Queensland)
Most points: 224 Johnathan Thurston (2005–2017) (Queensland)
Most tries: 18 Greg Inglis (2006–present) (Queensland)
Most goals: 101 Johnathan Thurston (2005–2017) (Queensland)
Most field goals: 4 Andrew Johns (1995–2005) (New South Wales)
Most points in one game: 32 Ryan Girdler (Game III, 2000) (New South Wales)
Most points in one series: 52 Ryan Girdler (2000) (New South Wales)
Most tries in one game: 3 (Anderson, Boustead, Girdler, Tuqiri, Sing, King, Gagai, Holmes)
Most tries in one series: 5 Ryan Girdler (2000) (New South Wales), Lote Tuqiri (2002) (Queensland)
Most goals in one game: 10 Ryan Girdler (Game III, 2000) (New South Wales)
Most goals in one series: 16 Ryan Girdler (2000) (New South Wales)
Most field goals in one game: 2 Ben Elias (Game III, 1994) (New South Wales)
Most field goals in one series: 2 Ben Elias (1994) (New South Wales), Andrew Johns (2003) (New South Wales)

text: Coaching[edit]

text:
Most games: 30 Mal Meninga (2006–2015) (Queensland)
Most games won: 19 Mal Meninga (2006–2015) (Queensland)
Most series won: 9 Mal Meninga (2006–2015) (Queensland)

text: Other Records[edit]

text: Source

text:
Basic Records

Venue
Games
NSW
Drw
Qld
NSW pts
QLD pts
Total pts

Lang Park
52
18
1
33
745 (124-127-5)
1011 (170-167-8)
1756 (294-294-13)

S.C.G
6
3
0
3
68 (12-10-1)
76 (14-11-0
144 (26-21-1)

Long Beach
1
1
0
0
30 (5-5-0)
18 (3-3-0)
48 (8-8-0)

S.F.S
14
6
0
8
189 (33-28-1)
199 (34-31-1)
388 (77-59-2)

Olympic
1
1
0
0
12 (2-2-0)
6 (1-1-0)
18 (3-3-0)

M.C.G
4
3
0
1
67 (11-11-1)
52 (9-8-0)
119 (20-19-1)

Stadium Australia
25
16
1
8
471 (81-71-5)
318 (57-44-2)
789 (138-115-7)

QEII
2
0
0
2
32 (5-6-0)
66 (13-7-0)
98 (18-13-0)

Docklands
3
0
0
3
42 (8-5-0)
62 (11-9-0)
104 (19-14-0)

Totals
108
48
2
58
1656 (281-265-13)
1808 (312-281-11)
3464 (593-546-24)

text:
Leading Try Scorers

Try Scorer
State
Games
Tries (Ave.)

Greg Inglis
QLD
32
18 (0.60)

Darius Boyd
QLD
28
17(0.65)

Dale Shearer
QLD
26
12 (0.46)

Billy Slater
QLD
31
12 (0.44)

Michael O'Connor
NSW
19
11 (0.58)

Jarryd Hayne
NSW
23
11 (0.45)

Allan Langer
QLD
34
10 (0.29)

Darren Lockyer
QLD
36
9 (0.25)

Dane Gagai
QLD
10
10 (1.00)

Timana Tahu
NSW
12
8 (0.67)

Anthony Minichiello
NSW
11
8 (0.73)

Brad Fittler
NSW
31
8 (0.26)

text:
Leading Point Scores

Point Scorers
State
Games
Tries
Goals
Field Goals
Points (Ave.)

Johnathan Thurston
QLD
37
5
101
2
234 (5.94)

Mal Meninga
QLD
32
6
69
0
161 (5.03)

Michael O'Connor
NSW
19
11
42
1
129 (6.79)

Andrew Johns
NSW
23
4
38
4
96 (4.17)

Darren Lockyer
QLD
36
9
22
2
82 (2.28)

Ryan Girdler
NSW
8
7
27
0
82 (10.25)

Greg Inglis
QLD
32
18
0
0
72 (2.40)

Darius Boyd
QLD
28
17
0
0
68 (2.62)

Dale Shearer
QLD
26
12
9
0
66 (2.54)

Rod Wishart
NSW
22
5
22
0
64 (2.91)

Cameron Smith
QLD
42
5
19
0
64 (1.33)

text:
Venue Stats

Venue
State
Games
Total Attendance
Average

Lang Park
QLD
52
2,049,574
39,414

S.C.G
NSW
6
192,773
32,128

Long Beach
Neutral
1
12,439
12,439

S.F.S
NSW
14
521,836
37,274

Olympic
Neutral
1
25,800
25,800

M.C.G
Neutral
4
256,773
64,193

Stadium_Australia
NSW
25
1,862,616
74,504

QEII
QLD
2
97,430
48,715

Docklands
Neutral
3
161,821
53,940

text:
Appearance Stats

Players
State
Games
Years

Cameron Smith
QLD
42
2003-2017

Johnathan Thurston
QLD
37
2005-2017

Darren Lockyer
QLD
36
1998-2011

Allan Langer
QLD
34
1987-2002

Petero Civoniceva
QLD
33
2001-2012

Greg Inglis
QLD
32
2006-2018

Mal Meninga
QLD
32
1980-1994

Nate Myles
QLD
32
2006-2017

Wally Lewis
QLD
31
1980-1991

Brad Fittler
NSW
31
1990-2004

Billy Slater
QLD
30
2004-2018

text:
Leading Goal Kickers

Players
State
Games
Goals/Attempts (%)

Jamie Soward
NSW
3
9/11 (81.82%)

Mat Rogers
QLD
5
12/15 (80.00%)

James Maloney
NSW
11
21/23 (80.00%)

Jamie Lyon
NSW
10
8/10 (80.00%)

Johnathan Thurston
QLD
36
96/121 (79.34%)

Trent Hodkinson
NSW
6
12/16 (75.00%)

Tim Brasher
NSW
21
9/12 (75.00%)

Craig Fitzgibbon
NSW
11
20/27 (74.07%)

Darren Lockyer
QLD
36
22/30 (73.33%)

Ryan Girdler
NSW
8
27/37 (72.97%)

Cameron Smith
QLD
39
16/22 (72.73%)

text:
Most Points Scored In A Games

Players
State
Tries
Goals
Field Goals
Points
Game

Ryan Girdler
NSW
3
10
0
32
Game 3, 2000

Lote Tuqiri
QLD
3
3
0
18
Game 2, 2002

Johnathan Thurston
QLD
0
9
0
18
Game 3, 2015

Michael O'Connor
NSW
2
5
0
18
Game 1, 1985

Mal Meninga
QLD
2
4
0
16
Game 1, 1989

Darren Lockyer
QLD
2
4
0
16
Game 3, 2001

Dale Shearer
QLD
2
4
0
16
Game 3, 1989

Mal Meninga
QLD
0
7
0
14
Game 1, 1980

Darren Lockyer
QLD
1
5
0
14
Game 1, 2001

Johnathan Thurston
QLD
0
7
0
14
Game 2, 2008

Michael O'Connor
NSW
1
5
0
14
Game 4,1987

text:
Series List

Year
Winners
Games
Crowd Average

1982
Queensland
3
22,334

1983
Queensland
3
25,705

1984
Queensland
3
26,426

1985
New South Wales
3
30,301

1986
New South Wales
3
31,623

1987
Queensland
3
36,020

1988
Queensland
3
25,056

1989
Queensland
3
35,452

1990
New South Wales
3
32,817

1991
Queensland
3
35,715

1992
New South Wales
3
37,806

1993
New South Wales
3
35,465

1994
New South Wales
3
56,340

1995
Queensland
3
44,122

text: Under 20s[edit]

text: The Under 20s State of Origin has only had seven seasons so far (2012 to 2018)[37] with only one game a year, instead of three. New South Wales has won six of the seven, with Queensland winning their first in 2018[38]. They play for the Darren Lockyer Shield.

text:
Year
Winner
Wins
Losses
Drawn

2012
New South Wales
1
0
0

2013
New South Wales
1
0
0

2014
New South Wales
1
0
0

2015
New South Wales
1
0
0

2016
New South Wales
1
0
0

2017
New South Wales
1
0
0

2018
Queensland
1
0
0

text: Women's State of Origin[edit]

text: The Women's State of Origin is the Women's rugby league version of the game, and has been running since 1999. The players play for the Nellie Doherty Cup. Furthermore, the current record for series won in the competition rests with Queensland, who won every series from 1999-2014, a better straight record than their male counterparts.

text:
Year
Winner
Wins
Losses
Drawn

1999
Queensland
1
0
0

2000
Queensland
1
0
0

2001
Queensland
1
0
0

2002
Queensland
1
0
0

2003
Queensland
1
0
0

2004
Queensland
1
0
0

2005
Queensland
1
0
0

2006
Queensland
1
0
0

2007
Queensland
1
0
0

2008
Queensland
1
0
0

2009
Queensland
1
0
0

2010
Queensland
1
0
0

2011
Queensland
1
0
0

2012
Queensland
1
0
0

2013
Queensland
1
0
0

2014
Queensland
1
0
0

2015
Draw
0
0
1

2016
New South Wales
1
0
0

2017
New South Wales
1
0
0

2018
New South Wales
1
0
0

text: All-Team Records[edit]

text: Points

text: Queensland: 1808 Points

text: New South Wales: 1842 Points


document_title: Pledge of Allegiance (United States)

question_text: when did they start saying the pledge of allegiance in schools

text: Pledge of Allegiance (United States)

text: Recital[edit]

text: Congressional sessions open with the recital of the Pledge, as do many government meetings at local levels, and meetings held by many private organizations. All states except Hawaii, Iowa, Vermont and Wyoming require a regularly-scheduled recitation of the pledge in the public schools, although the Supreme Court has ruled in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that students cannot be compelled to recite the Pledge, nor can they be punished for not doing so.[7] In a number of states, state flag pledges of allegiance are required to be recited after this.[8]

text: The United States Flag Code says:

text: The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag—"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."[9]—should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute. Members of the Armed Forces not in uniform and veterans may render the military salute in the manner provided for persons in uniform.[2]

text: Origins[edit]

text: Balch and Bellamy pledges[edit]

text: The Pledge of Allegiance, as it exists in its current form, was composed in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855–1931), who was a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist,[10][11] and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (1850–1898). There did exist a previous version created by Rear Admiral George Balch, a veteran of the Civil War, who later become auditor of the New York Board of Education. Balch's pledge, which existed contemporaneously with the Bellamy version until the 1923 National Flag Conference, read:

text: We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag!

text: Balch was a proponent of teaching children, especially those of immigrants, loyalty to the United States, even going so far as to write a book on the subject and work with both the government and private organizations to distribute flags to every classroom and school.[12] Balch's pledge, which predates Bellamy's by 5 years [which year?] and was embraced by many schools, by the Daughters of the American Revolution until the 1910s, and by the Grand Army of the Republic until the 1923 National Flag Conference, is often overlooked when discussing the history of the Pledge.[13] Bellamy, however, did not approve of the pledge as Balch had written it, referring to the text as "too juvenile and lacking in dignity."[14] The Bellamy "Pledge of Allegiance" was first published in the September 8 issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. The event was conceived and promoted by James B. Upham, a marketer for the magazine, as a campaign to instill the idea of American nationalism in students and to sell flags to public schools.[15] According to author Margarette S. Miller, this campaign was in line both with Upham's patriotic vision as well as with his commercial interest. According to Miller, Upham "would often say to his wife: 'Mary, if I can instill into the minds of our American youth a love for their country and the principles on which it was founded, and create in them an ambition to carry on with the ideals which the early founders wrote into The Constitution, I shall not have lived in vain.'"[16]

text: Bellamy's original Pledge read:

text: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.[1][17]

text: The Pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point. Bellamy designed it to be recited in 15 seconds. As a socialist, he had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity[15] but decided against it, knowing that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans.[18]

text: Francis Bellamy and Upham had lined up the National Education Association to support the Youth's Companion as a sponsor of the Columbus Day observance and the use in that observance of the American flag. By June 29, 1892, Bellamy and Upham had arranged for Congress and President Benjamin Harrison to announce a proclamation making the public school flag ceremony the center of the Columbus Day celebrations. This arrangement was formalized when Harrison issued Presidential Proclamation 335. Subsequently, the Pledge was first used in public schools on October 12, 1892, during Columbus Day observances organized to coincide with the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World's Fair), Illinois.[19]

text: Francis Bellamy's account[edit]

text: In his recollection of the creation of the Pledge, Francis Bellamy said, "At the beginning of the nineties patriotism and national feeling was (sic) at a low ebb. The patriotic ardor of the Civil War was an old story ... The time was ripe for a reawakening of simple Americanism and the leaders in the new movement rightly felt that patriotic education should begin in the public schools."[14] James Upham "felt that a flag should be on every schoolhouse,"[14] so his publication "fostered a plan of selling flags to schools through the children themselves at cost, which was so successful that 25,000 schools acquired flags in the first year (1892-93).[14]

text: As the World's Columbian Exposition was set to celebrate the 400th anniversary the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas, Upham sought to link the publication's flag drive to the event, "so that every school in the land ... would have a flag raising, under the most impressive conditions."[14] Bellamy was placed in charge of this operation and was soon lobbying "not only the superintendents of education in all the States, but [he] also worked with governors, Congressmen, and even the President of the United States."[14] The publication's efforts paid off when Benjamin Harrison declared Wednesday October 12, 1892, to be Columbus Day for which The Youth's Companion made "an official program for universal use in all the schools."[14] Bellamy recalled that the event "had to be more than a list of exercises. The ritual must be prepared with simplicity and dignity."[14]

text: Edna Dean Proctor wrote an ode for the event, and "There was also an oration suitable for declamation."[14] Bellamy held that "Of course, the nub of the program was to be the raising of the flag, with a salute to the flag recited by the pupils in unison."[14] He found "There was not a satisfactory enough form for this salute. The Balch salute, which ran, "I give my heart and my hand to my country, one country, one language, one flag," seemed to him too juvenile and lacking in dignity."[14] After working on the idea with Upham, Bellamy concluded, "It was my thought that a vow of loyalty or allegiance to the flag should be the dominant idea. I especially stressed the word 'allegiance'. ... Beginning with the new word allegiance, I first decided that 'pledge' was a better school word than 'vow' or 'swear'; and that the first person singular should be used, and that 'my' flag was preferable to 'the.'"[14] Bellamy considered the words "country, nation, or Republic," choosing the last as "it distinguished the form of government chosen by the founding fathers and established by the Revolution. The true reason for allegiance to the flag is the Republic for which it stands."[14] Bellamy then reflected on the sayings of Revolutionary and Civil War figures, and concluded "all that pictured struggle reduced itself to three words, one Nation indivisible."[14]

text: Bellamy considered the slogan of the French Revolution, Liberté, égalité, fraternité ("liberty, equality, fraternity"), but held that "fraternity was too remote of realization, and … [that] equality was a dubious word."[14] Concluding "Liberty and justice were surely basic, were undebatable, and were all that any one Nation could handle. If they were exercised for all. they involved the spirit of equality and fraternity."[14]

text: After being reviewed by Upham and other members of The Youth's Companion, the Pledge was approved and put in the official Columbus Day program. Bellamy noted that, "In later years the words 'to my flag' were changed to 'to the flag of the United States of America' because of the large number of foreign children in the schools."[14] Bellamy disliked the change, as "it did injure the rhythmic balance of the original composition."[14]

text: Changes[edit]

text: In 1906, The Daughters of the American Revolution's magazine, The American Monthly, listed the "formula of allegiance" as being the Balch Pledge of Allegiance, which reads:[13]

text: I pledge allegiance to my flag, and the republic for which it stands. I pledge my head and my heart to God and my country. One country, one language and one flag.

text: In subsequent publications of the Daughters of the American Revolution, such as in 1915's "Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Continental Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution" and 1916's annual "National Report," the Balch Pledge, listed as official in 1906, is now categorized as "Old Pledge" with Bellamy's version under the heading "New Pledge."[20][21] However, the "Old Pledge" continued to be used by other organizations until the National Flag Conference established uniform flag procedures in 1923.

text: In 1923, the National Flag Conference called for the words "my Flag" to be changed to "the Flag of the United States," so that new immigrants would not confuse loyalties between their birth countries and the US. The words "of America" were added a year later. Congress officially recognized the Pledge for the first time, in the following form, on June 22, 1942:[22]

text: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

text: Addition of "under God"[edit]

text: Louis Albert Bowman, an attorney from Illinois, was the first to suggest the addition of "under God" to the pledge. The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution gave him an Award of Merit as the originator of this idea.[23][24] He spent his adult life in the Chicago area and was chaplain of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. At a meeting on February 12, 1948,[23] he led the society in reciting the pledge with the two words "under God" added. He said that the words came from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Although not all manuscript versions of the Gettysburg Address contain the words "under God", all the reporters' transcripts of the speech as delivered do, as perhaps Lincoln may have deviated from his prepared text and inserted the phrase when he said "that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom." Bowman repeated his revised version of the Pledge at other meetings.[23]

text: In 1951, the Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization, also began including the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.[25] In New York City, on April 30, 1951, the board of directors of the Knights of Columbus adopted a resolution to amend the text of their Pledge of Allegiance at the opening of each of the meetings of the 800 Fourth Degree Assemblies of the Knights of Columbus by addition of the words "under God" after the words "one nation." Over the next two years, the idea spread throughout Knights of Columbus organizations nationwide. On August 21, 1952, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus at its annual meeting adopted a resolution urging that the change be made universal, and copies of this resolution were sent to the President, the Vice President (as Presiding Officer of the Senate), and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The National Fraternal Congress meeting in Boston on September 24, 1952, adopted a similar resolution upon the recommendation of its president, Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart. Several State Fraternal Congresses acted likewise almost immediately thereafter. This campaign led to several official attempts to prompt Congress to adopt the Knights of Columbus policy for the entire nation. These attempts were eventually a success.[26]

text: At the suggestion of a correspondent, Representative Louis C. Rabaut (D-Mich.), of Michigan sponsored a resolution to add the words "under God" to the Pledge in 1953.[27]

text: Before February 1954, no endeavor to get the pledge officially amended had succeeded. The final successful push came from George MacPherson Docherty. Some American presidents honored Lincoln's birthday by attending services at the church Lincoln attended, New York Avenue Presbyterian Church by sitting in Lincoln's pew on the Sunday nearest February 12. On February 7, 1954, with President Eisenhower sitting in Lincoln's pew, the church's pastor, George MacPherson Docherty, delivered a sermon based on the Gettysburg Address entitled "A New Birth of Freedom." He argued that the nation's might lay not in arms but rather in its spirit and higher purpose. He noted that the Pledge's sentiments could be those of any nation: "There was something missing in the pledge, and that which was missing was the characteristic and definitive factor in the American way of life." He cited Lincoln's words "under God" as defining words that set the US apart from other nations.[citation needed]

text: President Eisenhower had been baptized a Presbyterian very recently, just a year before. He responded enthusiastically to Docherty in a conversation following the service. Eisenhower acted on his suggestion the next day and on February 8, 1954, Rep. Charles Oakman (R-Mich.), introduced a bill to that effect. Congress passed the necessary legislation and Eisenhower signed the bill into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.[28] Eisenhower said:

text: From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.... In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource, in peace or in war.[29]

text: The phrase "under God" was incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance on June 14, 1954, by a Joint Resolution of Congress amending § 4 of the Flag Code enacted in 1942.[28]

text: On October 6, 1954, the National Executive Committee of the American Legion adopted a resolution, first approved by the Illinois American Legion Convention in August 1954, which formally recognized the Knights of Columbus for having initiated and brought forward the amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance.[26]

text: Even though the movement behind inserting "under God" into the pledge might have been initiated by a private religious fraternity and even though references to God appear in previous versions of the pledge, author Kevin M. Kruse asserts that this movement was an effort by corporate America to instill in the minds of the people that capitalism and free enterprise were heavenly blessed. Kruse acknowledges the insertion of the phrase was influenced by the push-back against atheistic communism during the Cold War, but argues the longer arc of history shows the conflation of Christianity and capitalism as a challenge to the New Deal played the larger role.[30]

text: Salute[edit]

text: Swearing of the Pledge is accompanied by a salute. An early version of the salute, adopted in 1887, known as the Balch Salute, which accompanied the Balch pledge, instructed students to stand with their right hand outstretched toward the flag, the fingers of which are then brought to the forehead, followed by being placed flat over the heart, and finally falling to the side.

text: In 1892, Francis Bellamy created what was known as the Bellamy salute. It started with the hand outstretched toward the flag, palm down, and ended with the palm up. Because of the similarity between the Bellamy salute and the Nazi salute, which was adopted in Germany later, the US Congress stipulated that the hand-over-the-heart gesture as the salute to be rendered by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem in the US would be the salute to replace the Bellamy salute. Removal of the Bellamy salute occurred on December 22, 1942, when Congress amended the Flag Code language first passed into law on June 22, 1942.[31] Attached to bills passed in Congress in 2008 and then in 2009 (Section 301(b)(1)of title 36, United States Code), language was included which authorized all active duty military personnel and all veterans in civilian clothes to render a proper hand salute during the raising and lowering of the flag, when the colors are presented, and during the National Anthem.[32]

text: Music[edit]

text: A musical setting for "The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag" was created by Irving Caesar, at the suggestion of Congressman Louis C. Rabaut whose House Resolution 243 to add the phrase "under God" was signed into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.[33]

text: The composer, Irving Caesar, wrote and published over 700 songs in his lifetime. Dedicated to social issues, he donated all rights of the musical setting to the U.S. government, so that anyone can perform the piece without owing royalties.[34][35]

text: It was sung for the first time on the floor of the House of Representatives on Flag Day, June 14, 1955 by the official Air Force choral group the "Singing Sergeants". A July 29, 1955 House and Senate resolution authorized the U.S. Government Printing Office to print and distribute the song sheet together with a history of the pledge.[36]

text: Other musical versions of the Pledge have since been copyrighted, including by Beck (2003), Lovrekovich (2002 and 2001), Roton (1991), Fijol (1986), and Girardet (1983).[37]

text: Controversy[edit]

text: In 1940, the Supreme Court, in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, ruled that students in public schools, including the respondents in that case—Jehovah's Witnesses who considered the flag salute to be idolatry—could be compelled to swear the Pledge. In 1943, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court reversed its decision. Justice Robert H. Jackson, writing for the 6 to 3 majority, went beyond simply ruling in the precise matter presented by the case to say that public school students are not required to say the Pledge on narrow grounds, and asserted that such ideological dogmata are antithetical to the principles of the country, concluding with:

text: If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.[38]

text: In a later case, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held that students are also not required to stand for the Pledge.[39]

text: Requiring or promoting of the Pledge on the part of the government has continued to draw criticism and legal challenges on several grounds.

text: One objection is that a democratic republic built on freedom of dissent should not require its citizens to pledge allegiance to it, and that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right to refrain from speaking or standing, which itself is also a form of speech in the context of the ritual of pledging allegiance.[40][39] Another objection is that the people who are most likely to recite the Pledge every day, small children in schools, cannot really give their consent or even completely understand the Pledge they are making.[41] Another criticism is that a government requiring or promoting the phrase "under God" violates protections against the establishment of religion guaranteed in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.[42]

text: In 2004, linguist Geoffrey Nunberg said the original supporters of the addition thought that they were simply quoting Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, but to Lincoln and his contemporaries, "under God" meant "God willing", so they would have found its use in the Pledge of Allegiance grammatically incorrect and semantically odd.[43][44]

text: Legal challenges[edit]

text: Prominent legal challenges were brought in the 1930s and 1940s by Jehovah's Witnesses, a denomination whose beliefs preclude swearing loyalty to any power other than God, and who objected to policies in public schools requiring students to swear an oath to the flag.[45] They said requiring the pledge violated their freedom of religion guaranteed by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The first case was in 1935, when two children, Lillian and William Gobitas, ages ten and twelve, were expelled from the Minersville, Pennsylvania, public schools that year for failing to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.[46][47]

text: In a 2002 case brought by atheist Michael Newdow, whose daughter was being taught the Pledge in school, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the phrase "under God" an unconstitutional endorsement of monotheism when the Pledge was promoted in public school. In 2004, the Supreme Court heard Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, an appeal of the ruling, and rejected Newdow's claim on the grounds that he was not the custodial parent, and therefore lacked standing, thus avoiding ruling on the merits of whether the phrase was constitutional in a school-sponsored recitation. On January 3, 2005, a new suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on behalf of three unnamed families. On September 14, 2005, District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled in their favor. Citing the precedent of the 2002 ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Karlton issued an order stating that, upon proper motion, he would enjoin the school district defendants from continuing their practices of leading children in pledging allegiance to "one Nation under God."[48]

text: A 2005 Bill, H.R. 2389, to prohibit the Supreme Court's and most federal courts from considering any legal challenges to the government's requiring or promoting of the Pledge of Allegiance, died in the Senate after having passed in the House. This action is viewed[by whom?] in general as court stripping by Congress of the constitutional power of the judiciary. Even if a similar bill is enacted, its practical effect may not be clear:[opinion] proponents of the bill have said that it is a valid exercise of Congress's power to regulate the jurisdiction of the federal courts under Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution, but opponents say Congress does not have the authority to prevent the Supreme Court from hearing claims based on the Bill of Rights, since this can only be done through Constitutional Amendment. Judges and legal analysts have said that if Congress can remove from the judicial branch the ability to determine if legislation is constitutional, the US separation of powers would be disturbed, or rendered non-functional.[49]

text: Mark J. Pelavin, former Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said of court stripping in regard to the Pledge of Allegiance that:[50][51]

text: Today's House adoption of the so-called "Pledge Protection Act" is a shameful effort to strip our federal courts of their ability to uphold the rights of all Americans. By removing the jurisdiction of federal courts, including the Supreme Court, from cases involving the Pledge, this legislation sets a dangerous precedent: threatening religious liberty, compromising the vital system of checks and balances upon which our government was founded, and granting Congress the authority to strip the courts' jurisdiction on any issue it wishes. Today, the issue was the Pledge of Allegiance, but tomorrow it could be reproductive rights, civil rights, or any other fundamental concern.

text: In 2006, in the Florida case Frazier v. Alexandre, a federal district court in Florida ruled that a 1942 state law requiring students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.[52] As a result of that decision, a Florida school district was ordered to pay $32,500 to a student who chose not to say the pledge and was ridiculed and called "unpatriotic" by a teacher.[53]

text: In 2009, a Montgomery County, Maryland, teacher berated and had school police remove a 13-year-old girl who refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom. The student's mother, assisted by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, sought and received an apology from the teacher, as state law and the school's student handbook both prohibit students from being forced to recite the Pledge.[54]

text: On March 11, 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in the case of Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School District.[55][56] In a 2–1 decision, the appellate court ruled that the words were of a "ceremonial and patriotic nature" and did not constitute an establishment of religion.[55] Judge Stephen Reinhardt dissented, writing that "the state-directed, teacher-led daily recitation in public schools of the amended 'under God' version of the Pledge of Allegiance... violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution."[57]

text: On November 12, 2010, in a unanimous decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston affirmed a ruling by a New Hampshire lower federal court which found that the pledge's reference to God does not violate non-pledging students' rights if student participation in the pledge is voluntary.[58][59] A United States Supreme Court appeal of this decision was denied on June 13, 2011.[60][61]

text: In September 2013, a case was brought before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, arguing that the pledge violates the Equal Rights Amendment of the Constitution of Massachusetts.[62] In May 2014, Massachusetts' highest court ruled that the pledge does not discriminate against atheists, saying that the words "under God" represent a patriotic, not a religious, exercise.[63]

text: In February 2015 New Jersey Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman dismissed a lawsuit, ruling that "… the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the rights of those who don't believe in God and does not have to be removed from the patriotic message."[64] The case against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District had been brought by a student of the district and the American Humanist Association that argued that the phrase "under God" in the pledge created a climate of discrimination because it promoted religion, making non-believers "second-class citizens." In a twenty-one page decision, Bauman wrote, "Under [the association members'] reasoning, the very constitution under which [the members] seek redress for perceived atheistic marginalization could itself be deemed unconstitutional, an absurd proposition which [association members] do not and cannot advance here."[64] Bauman said the student could skip the pledge, but upheld a New Jersey law that says pupils must recite the pledge unless they have "conscientious scruples" that do not allow it.[65][66] He noted, "As a matter of historical tradition, the words 'under God' can no more be expunged from the national consciousness than the words 'In God We Trust' from every coin in the land, than the words 'so help me God' from every presidential oath since 1789, or than the prayer that has opened every congressional session of legislative business since 1787.”