5 November 2020

Probing the polls: Halloween and football teams - do you bleed Blue or Maroon?

| Genevieve Jacobs
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Are you a Queenslander forever, or do you bleed Blue at Origin time? Photo: File.

Halloween might be harmless fun but on our results, it looks like it gets up plenty of noses in the national capital.

Trick or treating has gathered steam in Australia in recent years and many neighbourhoods sported cobwebs, slime and ghoulish decorations. Fliers in letterboxes asked householders to nominate whether they were happy to participate.

But the Halloween holiday is arguably much more divisive than the Liberal Party leadership could ever be as Canberrans argue their firmly entrenched opinions about whether Halloween is a harmless bit of fun that brings the community together or a commercialised American holiday that has nothing to do with our culture.

Tina Shooks said: “Bunch of Scrooges, voting against it, where’s the harm? Let the kids have fun!!”

Toni Isaacson countered that there’s “nothing harmless about Hallowe’en”.

We asked Should we celebrate Halloween in Canberra? A total of 826 people voted.

Your choices were to vote Yes, it’s a harmless bit of fun for the kids. This received 35 per cent of the total, or 293 votes. Alternatively, you could vote No, it’s commercialised Americanised marketing nonsense. This was the clear winner with 65 per cent of the total or 533 votes.

This week the focus has shifted to Origin. It’s late in the season after a COVID-19 interruption threw the usual schedule out of whack, but judging by game one in Adelaide the passion remains.

The iconic series is truly pitting mate against mate with Raiders Jack Wighton and Nick Cotric went up against teammates Josh Papalii and Dunamis Lui. After a fast start, the Blues were worn down by the Maroons – a movie Blues fans have seen many times before.

But where do Canberrans stand on Origin? We’re geographically closer to NSW but with our own identity. Canberrans come from all corners of the country and owe allegiance to many home teams.

So are you Maroon or Blue when the great Rugby League contest takes place?

View Results

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