New South Wales great Kurt Gidley called out the ground announcer during Wednesday’s State of Origin boilover.
Gidley took exception to something he heard during the Blues’ 38-18 demolition job on Queensland at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
It was early in the second half of game two when Gidley took to X to voice his frustration.
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“Can someone let me know how and why the Victorian ground announcer at the MCG is chanting ‘Queenslander’ over the PA?” he asked.
”Queenslander” is the chant made famous by Maroons legend Billy Moore and acts as a war cry for the players and their fans.
https://twitter.com/kurt_gidley/status/1805925190343553507?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
At the time Gidley posted, the Blues were leading 34-0 after stunning their rivals in a dominant first half.
NRL.com journalist Brad Walter noted, “Even (the announcer) can’t generate much enthusiasm though”, in response to Gidley.
Other responses pointed out the ground announcer had also chanted in favour of NSW at different stages of the game.
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Ground announcers at sporting events often do cheerlead for one team, but it generally favours the home side.
Gidley’s frustration stemmed from Wednesday’s contest supposedly being held in neutral territory.
But the 90,000-strong crowd at the iconic MCG did appear to skew rather heavily towards the Maroons.
Queensland generally has several representatives in the team who play for the Melbourne Storm, and the NRL club has feeder teams in the Queensland Cup.
Current Maroons coach Billy Slater is a Storm legend, while the likes of Harry Grant and Xavier Coates are current rugby league heroes in the Victorian capital.
The Blues, on the other hand, have no current players in the Storm squad.
That’s not to say they are friendless in Melbourne.
A group of NSW fans went to the trouble of making a giant AFL-style banner for the Blues to run through when they entered the field before kick-off.
NSW will experience far more hostility on July 17 when the Blues attempt to steal the Origin shield from Queensland inside a heaving Suncorp Stadium cauldron in Brisbane.