The modern version of the Anzac Day clash was conceived by then Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy while pottering in his garden in the mid-90s. Sheedy, who had done two years service in the army after being drafted to Richmond in 1969, thought back to the success of the Collingwood-Richmond game in 1977, and considered how the football on Anzac Day could pay suitable tribute to those who had served their country. Sheedy organised a meeting with officials from Essendon and Collingwood, and the then Victorian Returned and Services League (RSL) President Bruce Ruxton, who was also a keen Collingwood supporter, and proposed his concept for the match day and game which would honour the Anzac spirit. Despite their previous opposition to football on Anzac Day, Ruxton and the RSL agreed with Sheedy's proposal, as did the AFL.
The first annual Anzac Day match between Collingwood and Essendon was played on Tuesday, 25 April 1995 at the MCG. The round-four match received limited publicity as there had already been AFL matches played on 25 April. Essendon had won its first three games of the season, however, Collingwood were without a victory. Soon after the Anzac Day march in the city, patrons flocked to the ground. Crowds outside the ground were so substantial at 12.30 pm, that Collingwood coach Leigh Matthews thought the gates to the ground must have still been locked. When the gates were closed at 1.30 pm-still 40 minutes before the start of the match-20,000 additional people had to be dispersed by mounted police, while they attempted to gain admission into the stadium. Thousands of these people descended to the nearby Fitzroy Gardens, where they listened to the match on radio.
Played on a sunny autumn day, both teams kicked six goals in the first quarter. Before a three-goal-to-one second quarter helped Essendon lead by 16-points at half-time. However, the momentum swayed in the third-quarter, when Collingwood kicked seven-goals-to-two, giving them a 14-point lead at the break. Essendon started strongly in the final term, and when James Hird snapped a goal late in the quarter, he gave his team a six point advantage. Saverio "Sav" Rocca leapt and took "one of the marks of the year" in the forward-line soon after. At the 28-minute mark he capitalised by kicking the goal and levelling the scores. With just seconds left, Nathan Buckley had an opportunity to score; however, he elected to kick to Rocca, who was cut off. Seconds later, the siren sounded; both team's score on 111. Roars from the 94,825 crowd during the match could easily be heard from a kilometre away; and the crowd remains the second-highest home and away crowd in VFL/AFL history, surpassed only by the 99,346 who attended the Collingwood-Melbourne Queen's Birthday clash in 1958.
Today, this game is often considered the biggest match of the AFL season outside of the finals, sometimes drawing bigger crowds than all but the Grand Final, and often selling out in advance. As a point of comparison, in the National Rugby League, the Sydney Roosters and St. George Illawarra Dragons have played on Anzac Day since 2002, but generally without the increase in crowd numbers compared to other games as seen in the AFL. However, Anzac Day matches have been a regular part of the rugby league season for over 80 years.
In recent years, other clubs and some sections of the media have lobbied for the game to be shared amongst all clubs, not just Collingwood and Essendon. Since 1996, one year after the team's inception, Fremantle has held the Len Hall Tribute Game, named in honour of Western Australia's last Gallipoli veteran. This game is regularly held on Anzac Day as a Western Australian featured game. With Anzac Day falling on a Saturday in 2009, four games were scheduled for the day, yet the largest fixture (the MCG) continued to host Collingwood and Essendon at the exclusion of other clubs. Critics have argued that this fixture should be shared.
| Match Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year
|
Winner
|
Collingwood
|
Essendon
|
Attendance
|
Anzac Medallist
|
| 1995 | Draw | 17.9 (111) | 16.15 (111) |
94,825
|
Sav Rocca (Collingwood) |
| 1996 | Collingwood | 17.15 (117) | 16.9 (105) |
87,549
|
Scott Russell (Collingwood) |
| 1997 | Collingwood | 14.15 (99) | 10.10 (70) |
83,271
|
Damian Monkhorst (Collingwood) |
| 1998 | Collingwood | 15.18 (108) | 12.16 (88) |
81,542
|
Sav Rocca (Collingwood) |
| 1999 | Essendon | 15.10 (100) | 15.18 (108) |
73,118
|
Mark Mercuri (Essendon) |
| 2000 | Essendon | 15.10 (100) | 21.14 (140) |
88,390
|
James Hird (Essendon) |
| 2001 | Essendon | 14.11 (95) | 15.13 (103) |
83,905
|
Chris Tarrant (Collingwood) |
| 2002 | Collingwood | 9.12 (66) | 4.9 (33) |
84,894
|
Mark McGough (Collingwood) |
| 2003 | Essendon | 12.9 (81) | 23.9 (147) |
62,589
|
James Hird (Essendon) |
| 2004 | Essendon | 11.13 (79) | 17.10 (112) |
57,294
|
James Hird (Essendon) |
| 2005 | Essendon | 10.9 (69) | 11.17 (83) |
70,033
|
Andrew Lovett (Essendon) |
| 2006 | Collingwood | 15.16 (106) | 12.17 (89) |
91,234
|
Ben Johnson (Collingwood) |
| 2007 | Collingwood | 12.23 (95) | 11.13 (79) |
90,508
|
Heath Shaw (Collingwood) |
| 2008 | Collingwood | 23.16 (154) | 12.9 (81) |
88,999
|
Paul Medhurst (Collingwood) |
| 2009 | Essendon | 12.16 (88) | 13.15 (93) |
84,829
|
Paddy Ryder (Essendon) |
| 2010 | Collingwood | 18.12 (120) | 8.7 (55) |
90,070
|
Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood) |
| 2011 | Collingwood | 16.11 (107) | 11.11 (77) |
89,626
|
Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood) |
| 2012 | Collingwood | 11.14 (80) | 11.13 (79) |
86,932
|
Dane Swan (Collingwood) |
No comments :
Post a Comment