Country of Origin

So the smog Olympics are nearly upon us. What I want to see this year is not which countries have won the most medals, but which countries gave birth to the most medal winners. Somehow I get the feeling that there would be two different tallies. Whatever happened to being born in one country and representing it. Now you only have to live somewhere for a couple of years and all of a sudden you can represent them.

It's a bit like Queensland claiming Greg Inglis or New South Wales saying that Ken Nagas was ours. Let's face it, at times half of the English cricket team comes from South Africa or Australia. Yeah I know that Andrew Simons was born in England so maybe that is who he should be playing for if it goes on your place of birth.

There are circumstances where children move to another country when they are quite young but at present, countries like the great USA bring teenagers into their college system and then treat them as their own. That is just not good enough.

I know that I couldn't care less how Tatiana went when she competed for us in the Olympics. I don't call Russell Crowe or Split Enz Australian and I would like to see a truly representative State of Origin which stands for what it says. I don't want situations where people can pick and choose who they play for depending on parents or grandparents or who they scored their first junior try for.

I want the Country of Origin Olympics. I want the State of Origin to relate to your birth certificate. Come on Australia let's get our teams to be totally home grown.