Back in the days before the Brisbane Broncos entered the competition there wasn’t much chance for northeners to represent their home turf in a Sydney match.
One was obviously the State of Origin, and the other was the midweek competition - the Amco Cup, the Panasonic Cup or whatever else it was called over the years.
Sometimes, they’d cobble together a team from the best in the Brisbane comp. That’s what happened in 1984, where a Combined Brisbane side met up with the midweek cup champions the Roosters in the final at the home of midweek footy Leichhardt Oval. Not sure why so many night-time games were played there - maybe it was the only suburban ground at the time with lights.There are also a few other things unique to the midweek comp - the black smear of paint under the eyes (a Jack Gibson innovation which I never understood how it worked) and the white footy with brown stripes.
And get a load of the condition of that field - there’s a huge swathe right down the centre that’s nothing but dirt.
And here’s Combined Brisbane at it again in 1979, in the Amco Cup final against the Sharks
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