The E. J. Whitten Legends Game was an annual Australian sports entertainment Australian rules football match. It is played for charity played as an all-star game. Retired star players are reunited, along with selected non-footballing celebrities, in a State of Origin interstate game between Victoria and a composite side known as the All-Stars. The game has been contested almost annually since 1996 and is played in under Superules. History E. J. "Ted" Whitten, a former Footscray Football Club player who died of prostate cancer in 1995, was regarded as one of the greatest-ever players of the game. He was also passionate about State of Origin football. With his enthusiasm and ability to keep in the media spotlight, Ted had kept State of Origin going for many years, and his emotional farewell at the Victoria vs South Australia game at the MCG in 1995 has persisted as an enduring symbol of not only State of Origin passion but Australian rules football in general. Shortly after his death, the concept was brought into question, and the last such game was played in 1999. When he died, his son, Ted Whitten Jr., launched a foundation for research into prostate cancer, and the Legends Game raises money for the foundation. So far, almost a million dollars have been raised for the E. J. Whitten Foundation. The first-ever Legends Match was played at the Western Oval, home of the Footscray/Western Bulldogs, EJ Whitten's club. Most of the games have been televised free-to-air in Victoria and South Australia. Due to popularity of the event, later games were moved to bigger venues. Since 2003, the game has been held at Docklands Stadium. In 2007, the organisers included for the first time, female participants: Daisy Pearce and Shannon McFerran of the Victorian Women's Football League. Since this time it has become one of few high-profile mixed-gender-friendly events. In February 2016, it was announced that the Seven Network had secured the rights to televise this match for the next five years; in addition, the match was moved to the football-free weekend between the final round of the premiership season and the first week of the finals series. In 2018, the match was played at Adelaide Oval. This was the first game played in Adelaide since 1999. In 2019, the match was contested under the AFLX format – a high-scoring format played on a rugby-sized field – and was played