High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 1997 Rugby league State of Origin series was the 16th year that the annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches contested between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams was played under `State of Origin` selection rules. It was a dour series, fought out against the backdrop of public disillusion and a game bitterly divided due to the Super League war. The spirit was there, and some new faces, but the intensity wasn`t quite the same.