Proposal to have Arkansas and Arkansas State play a charity game is denied

Those who were hoping to see Arkansas and Arkansas State square off in a battle for state supremacy aren’t going to be happy.

A bill in the legislature aimed at forcing the two football programs to play a charity game in Little Rock was tabled in the House Rules Committee, ending the plight of Reps. Andy Mayberry (R-Hensley) and Harold Copenhaver (D-Jonesboro).

With Arkansas State winning 10 games in each of the past two seasons, the representatives thought it was time to start some sort of rivalry between the state’s two main programs. They even started an Internet poll to gauge fan support for the game. When the poll closed a couple weeks ago, 51.8 percent of respondents said they wanted the game, which prompted Mayberry and Copenhaver to continue to push the bill forward.

Unfortunately, they hit a wall of Arkansas grads, who recognize the programs are moving in two very different directions and didn’t want to see the game happen (read the Twitter timeline of @KATVLilley to see how it all went down).

This is just another in a long line of failed attempts by legislators to try to restart – or in this case start – a rivalry game using government strong-arming. So far attempts to get the Kansas-Missouri and Texas-Texas A&M rivalries going again also have failed.

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