The lowest attendances for a premiership round since the Super League war has strengthened the argument for changes to the scheduling around State of Origin matches.

In fact, if crowds were combined for each round of the rival ARL and Super League competitions in 1997, the turnout for this weekend's matches was the worst since clubs aligned to News Ltd forfeited the opening round of the 1996 season.

Punished: Saturday's match between the Tigers and Cowboys was minus a host of superstars due to Origin commitments. Credit:Getty Images

On that occasion, just 30,198 fans attended the four matches that went ahead after the ARL won a court injunction preventing the Super League clubs playing in their own "Ultra League" competition under names such as the Cronulla Dolphins, Canberra Vikings, Penrith Cats and Brisbane Brumbies.

The smallest aggregate crowds for the split competitions in 1997 were 40,064 for the ARL and 39,845 for Super League, although as this column has previously reported some past attendance figures were questionable.