Tuesday's ANZAC Day clash at the MCG will be the 28th of its kind. Ahead of the first bounce at 3.20pm, here are five things you might not know about the history of the occasion.
FOOTBALL WAS PLAYED ON ANZAC DAY BEFORE 1995
Football has been played on Anzac Day before 1995 – but only after 1960, and mostly whenever the 25th of April fell on a Saturday. But there were some years when a game or two was played on Anzac Day even when it didn’t fall on a Saturday (especially for Fridays and Mondays).
The most famous of these was in 1977, when two games were played on Anzac Day Monday. One was Richmond against Collingwood at the MCG, and more than 91,000 people attended live. Kevin Sheedy was playing for the Tigers that day, and he would remember the crowd and the atmosphere many years later when coaching Essendon, when he raised the idea of a special one-off match to be played every Anzac Day.
THE BIGGEST ATTENDANCE
The crowd of 94,825 at the 1995 game remains the second biggest home-and-away crowd in history, beaten only by the 99,346 who watched the Melbourne-Collingwood Queen’s Birthday match in 1958.
OVER 2 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE WITNESSED ANZAC DAY LIVE
Total Anzac Day crowds since 1995 are a staggering 2,281,873 – an average attendance of 84,514.
In total, there have been eight 90,000+ crowds at Anzac Day matches since 1995.
THE ANZAC TROPHY
The Anzac trophy is made from a mixture of glass, silver and bronze. Its base is made of ironbark taken from an old ammunition wagon used during the First World War. The bronze columns which support the silver bowl at the top include metal salvaged from Gallipoli.
THE ANZAC MEDAL
The medal, awarded to the best player on the ground, was first introduced in 2000. In 2011, retrospective medals were awarded to those players deemed to have been best on ground from 1995-99.
