Anthem at Origin 1...

Melbourne's final score: Hucksterism 1, Origin O

RANGAS, God's clowns, Gingervitis, Fanta pants, the Prime Minister. You've heard all the taunts.

As a community, we are shamed by the vilification of our follicularly different red-headed minority. Even those, such as Paul ''Fatty'' Vautin, who have defied this debilitating condition and gone on to lead relatively normal lives.

However, before Wednesday's State of Origin match, society's lingering hairism was sorely tested. The re-emergence of redist hatred was inspired by ''Annie'' - or the most recent theatrical incarnation - singing the national anthem, a duty she performed wearing full costume, and in a high-pitched American whine that created wistful nostalgia for Julie Anthony's butt-clenchingly earnest rendition.

Advertisement: Story continues below The anthem at sporting events is, for some of us, a take-it-or-leave-it moment. Too often it is used to impose a sense of occasion that does not really exist. However, with thousands of travelling fans and expats packing Etihad Stadium, Origin I was a legitimate time to Advance Australia Fair.

So, for the Victorian government to use a supposedly sacred ceremony to promote a local musical in the hope of attracting yet more tourist dollars was a shameless piece of crass opportunism. Even worse than the now endless cross-promotions during televised sports, during which commentators break from the earnest dissection of a Test or the tennis to discuss the forthcoming adventures of a team of forensic scientists: ''Wow! Can't wait to see what happens - and all the drama begins next week!''

Before Origin I, debate had raged about whether the game should be transplanted in order to promote rugby league in Victoria - and, more significantly, to fill both vacant Melbourne hotel rooms and the coffers of the new commission. The answer was emphatic. Simply, the price of taking Origin out of the heartland was not worth the sacrifice.

Not because of Victorian Sports Minister Hugh Delahunty's hilarious gaffes about ''state of the origin''. But because, despite the head-in-the-sand protestations of a few local journalists seemingly embarrassed by the city's now suffocating AFL obsession, Origin failed to capture the heart of Melbourne. It is an event that deserves to be played in an environment in which it is cherished.

That said, you could at least make a cogent case for using Origin as a shop window in Melbourne. The quite surreal appearance of Annie was in quite another realm, the most breathtaking example, so far, of how promoters, and television networks particularly, are willing to compromise the integrity of a sport in order to flog other products. A piece of hucksterism so flagrant that you half-expected Daddy Warbucks to appear on the Queensland bench.

Annie's anthem was not the only case of the commercial tail wagging the sporting dog on Wednesday night. Pre-game, the crowd was told Delta Goodrem had ''taken time out from her busy schedule'' to belt out a couple of songs. Thus, we had two advertisements for the price of one: A promotion for the generously titled ''singer-songwriter's'' latest album, and for Nine's network-defining karaoke competition The Voice.

Then, during the half-time break, the ground announcer tried desperately to engage the crowd in a rendition of C'mon Aussie C'mon in celebration of Nine's new dramatisation of World Series Cricket. Thankfully, the fans responded with raucous jeers, leaving the announcer's face as red as Annie's wig.

At least sport is not the only one to suffer the cross-promotional frenzy. As the ABC's Media Watch noted, Nine's A Current Affair has temporarily abandoned the pursuit of dodgy refrigerator repairmen and the examination of miracle diets and is instead devoting resources to the major political stories of the day: revealing whether Delta and Seal are hitting it off on the set at The Voice, or how a contestant responded to a coach's taunt about the size of her backside.

Of course, taking away the gravitas from ACA is like removing the subtlety from a fart joke. The great sporting events, however, have at least tried to retain a semblance of self-respect. The all-white clothing policy at Wimbledon. The low-key advertising and strict rules for ''patrons'' - never ''fans''! - at the US Masters. Traditions intended to maintain a sense of dignity and consequence.

Yet, had the Origin promoters gotten their hands on those events, it is not too difficult to imagine Annie hitting the ceremonial first tee-shot at Augusta or sitting next to the Duchess of Kent in the Royal Box. (The All England Club have, after all, shown some tolerance towards red heads in allowing Boris Becker and Lleyton Hewitt to compete.)

Hopefully, the ARL Commission will keep Origin in the game's heartland. But, please, leave Annie where she is.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/s...#ixzz1vxMeRmis

This was such a ****ing disgrace.

Truly disgraceful, they should have sung:

Life is great in the Sunshine State,
every Qld heart sings a song,
To its tablelands and its golden sands,
we are proud to say we belong.

And our faith is great in the Sunshine State
For our Qld future is grand,
From the northern cane to the western plain
It's a full of promise land.

Every while, every mile, there's a sun-lit smile,
And a welcome hand shake too,
For friendship's great in the Sunshine State,
May its sunshine keep smiling for you.

Trivia: this was written by the late Horrie Dargie for the centenary celebrations of Queensland in 1959. It was played when I was at primary school. Dargie is better known to you younger blokes as the music for Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

I like it. Would love to hear the tune.