State of Origin Crowds at the MCG

Last night, I attended the New South Wales v Queensland State of Origin match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Over 90,000 people were there - a new State of Origin record. It was a pretty good match as well, with NSW winning 26-18 to level the series, although it would have been more interesting if Queensland star Greg Inglis' try in the second half had not been disallowed.

What I wanted to write about was the experience of the crowd, which on reflection seemed to me somewhat uncommon, for these reasons:

- State of Origin matches are usually played in either NSW or Queensland, and so the crowd is usually heavily weighted one way or the other. It is only at the Melbourne matches that the support is roughly even. This 'bi-partisan' support made it more like an Australian Football League finals match, except...
-The supporters were divided into distinct 'blue' and 'maroon' zones. AFL matches have their zones, but not as clearly marked as this was. I guess at AFL matches it's not uncommon to go to a big match with a relative or friend who barracks for the opposite team, so you can't be too vicious towards a person you are travelling home with. That was probably less the case here, which brings me to my next point ...
-The two supporter bases really do dislike each other. I don't think I've seen AFL supporter bases, as tribal as they are, be that acrimonious towards each other. Nor cricket supporters, which are typically the only sports I see big matches for at the MCG.

What is equivalent? Events like the FA Cup, and the Super Bowl probably have similar crowds and roughly equal support, but my impression is that they have many attendees who are not heavily invested in the result either way. I suppose there were many Victorians there last night who weren't too worried, though support amongst Victorians did seem to lean towards Queensland, but it certainly didn't feel like an exhibition match. It was certainly different to the mostly one-way support I experience at Melbourne Storm matches. At the risk of sounding like I'm spouting a cliché, there actually is really nothing quite like an Origin match...