ANZAC DAY 2016 INFORMATION

Summary

The ANZAC Day blockbuster between Collingwood and Essendon has become one of our biggest national sporting events.

The extraordinary support of Collingwood and Essendon members over many years has built the event into one of Australia’s greatest sporting traditions.

The ANZAC Day match pays tribute to the sacrifice of the servicemen and women of Australia and celebrates the ANZAC spirit – courage, sacrifice, endurance and mateship.

For the past twenty one years, Collingwood, Essendon and the AFL have worked closely in partnership with the RSL to appropriately highlight the contribution of Australians who have served in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations around the world.

This year is especially significant as it is the Anzac Centenary and the match will pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of Australian servicemen and women in the First World War and over the last century.

Whilst no comparison is made between war and football, the game provides a platform to highlight the spirit of ANZAC, with its human qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice – qualities that are a part of our sense of national identity.

The traditional Veteran’s Motorcade will take place prior to the observance ceremony and the commencement of the game.

The AFL clubs and the clubs work closely with the RSL regarding the presentation of the match.  The clubs and the AFL make a significant donation to the RSL from the gate receipts in addition to collections at the match and any other fundraising initiatives.

Over the past twenty one years the ANZAC Day clash between the Magpies and the Bombers at the MCG has become the biggest club match in Australia’s biggest national sport - second only to the AFL Grand Final.

Each year, over 90,000 people attend and millions watch on television.

This year’s blockbuster will be the 22nd annual clash between the two clubs since the tradition began with the memorable 1995 drawn match played in front of 94,825. The rivalry now stands at 12 victories to Collingwood, 8 victories to Essendon and a draw.

That first match still represents the second biggest home and away crowd in AFL history, behind the 99,346 fans that saw the 1958 Queen’s Birthday clash between Collingwood and Melbourne at the MCG.

The motorcade of veterans prior to the commencement of the game includes those currently serving along with returned veterans and returned nurses and servicewomen. This year the motorcade of eight cars will highlight the 50^th Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Three of the cars will include veterans from that battle.

Match Program

This year’s match will feature 

- The Australian Defence Force Band
- The Apia Band – Kate Ceberano, Darryl Braithwaite, Jon Stevens and John Paul Young 
- Half time – performance by Leigh Kernaghan
- Motorcade of ANZAC Veterans.
- Presentation of Match Day Footballs
- Joint Cheer Squad Banner
- Observance Ceremony
- Catafalque Guard slow march, flags are lowered to half-mast
- Major General David McLachlan recites “The Ode”
- One minute's silence
- Last Post
- Reveille
- National Anthem

Timings

2.10pm: Australian Army Band
2.11pm: Teams preliminary on-field warm-up
2.33pm: Motorcade of Veterans
2.42pm: Main Band – Apia Performance
2.54pm: Joint Cheer Squad Banner Display
2.55pm: Presentation of Match Day Footballs
2.57pm: Essendon Enters
3.00pm: Collingwood Enters
3.09pm: ANZAC Day Observance Ceremony
3.18pm: Coin Toss
3.20pm: Match commences
Half Time: Leigh Kernighan Performance
5.55pm: On-field post-match presentation Anzac Trophy & Anzac Day Medal winner announced

Gates

MCC Gates Open 12.00pm. Public Gates open at 12.30pm. Main entertainment starts from 2.10pm and the match will begin at 3.20pm.

Tickets

Tickets can be purchased to the ANZAC Day blockbuster through the Viagogo Box Office. Limited tickets remain, however you can click HERE to book tickets or find out what's available.

The Kip

Collingwood uses a traditional “kip” and a single 1942 Australian Penny for the coin toss. Two-Up is a traditional Australian game indelibly linked to the Anzacs and a regular part of ANZAC Day commemorations.

Cheer Squad Banner

The ANZAC Day match is unique in that the players from each team join together to run through a single cheer squad banner created by the cheer squads of both clubs - in recognition of the ANZAC Spirit and the way Australians came together as one in times of war. The banner lists the names of footballers from each club who lost their lives in war. The Captains and players both teams will meet to shake hands before they run through the banner together.

ANZAC Veterans Motorcade

A motorcade of eight cars prior to the commencement of the game will include those currently serving along with returned veterans and returned nurses and servicewomen. This year the motorcade of veterans will highlight the 50^th Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Three of the cars will include veterans from that battle.

CFC Anzac Day Partners

Collingwood supports a range of partnerships and programs as part of the Anzac Day game.

RSL

Collingwood and Essendon have worked closely with the RSL for the past 21 years to develop the ANZAC Day match into one of Australia’s great sporting events.

The extraordinary support of Collingwood and Essendon members and fans over many years has built the ANZAC Day match into one of Australia’s greatest sporting traditions.

The match has become an important part of the annual ANZAC Day commemorations and a great celebration of the life we are able to enjoy in Australia at this time. Traditional matches, rivalries, and blockbusters such as ANZAC Day are vital for the success of the competition and an important part of life in Melbourne.

The AFL and RSL prefer that the financial arrangements remain confidential and that the focus of the ANZAC Day match is on the match and the tribute to Australians who have served in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations around the world.

The clubs and the AFL make a significant financial contribution to the RSL from the gate receipts in addition to the collection at the match and other fundraising initiatives. Any fundraising initiatives must be approved by the RSL with proceeds going to the RSL.

Hawkeye Gissing Bryant – Warrior Concepts

HGB Warrior Concepts provides solutions and assistance for returned soldiers and military welfare organisations and helps to reintegrate wounded and injured military personnel back into normal life to realise a meaningful civilian career.

Bravery Trust

The Bravery Trust provides financial support to current and former ADF members and their families who have suffered injury or illness as a result of their service.

Black Arm Bands

The Collingwood players will wear black arms bands in honour of former player Jack Pimm.

Jack Pimm passed away earlier this year and had been the club’s oldest living veteran.

Jack played 58 games, kicked 113 goals, coached the Under 19 team and was a life member of the club.

He saw active service in New Guinea and Bougainville and was awarded the military cross “for inspired and gallant service” in 1945.

Jack’s daughter Julie Rush is attending the match in the President’s Function as a guest of the club.

Presentation of Match Footballs

Representatives from Collingwood and Essendon will present the footballs to the umpires on the MCG.

Collingwood’s representative in 2016 is the family of Jack Shorten.

In 1907, before WWI, at 19 years of age, Jack Shorten joined the Royal Australian Artillery as a gunner. He spent five years with the RAA, during which time he also began a senior football career with Collingwood.

He was a played 60 games for Collingwood mostly as a defender and was one of the stars of the Collingwood 1910 Premiership victory.

He dislocated his shoulder in 1912 and didn’t play again. Jack was a blacksmith by trade and had served his apprenticeship at the Sunshine Harvester Company. He moved to Tasmania in 1914 and played for Waratah, but as soon as the War broke out he was among the first to enlist.

Jack was part of the landing at ANZAC Cove on the first morning, and remained there for several months. He was quickly promoted to corporal, then sergeant, but re-injured his dislocated shoulder after falling into a deep hole while on a charge in April 1915. He carried on but reinjured the shoulder again in France the next year when he was tripped by barbed wire and fell into a shell hole, eventually having to be sent to England to recover before returning to France.

Jack won renown as a solider of great courage and determination. In August of 1916 he was recommended for a military medal “for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty” during an operation at Pozieres. The recommendation said that “by his gallant conduct and fine example during heavy bombardment of our trench on 25 July, he, being the only senior NCO left in his company, kept his men well under control and placed them in best available cover and commanded them with zeal and ability.”

Coin Toss – Damien Thomlinson

Collingwood’s representative to toss the coin in 2016 is Damien Thomlinson, an Australian veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

Damien served in Afghanistan with the 2nd Commando Regiment. On a night patrol he was severely injured by a Taliban bomb. As a result both his legs were amputated. He works as an ambassador for DefenceCare, Soldier On, and also supports the Commando Welfare Trust and other organisations aimed at raising awareness and support for injured soldiers and their families.

Damien is hoping to represent Australia in Snowboarding at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.

ANZAC Medal

A presentation of the ANZAC Day Medal will be made on the field at the conclusion of the match.

The ANZAC Medal is awarded to the player in the match who best exemplifies the ANZAC Spirit - skill, courage, self-sacrifice, teamwork and fair play. The medal is an engraved bronze disk, incorporating battlefield metal, surrounding a glass centre into which is set an image of the RSL badge.

ANZAC Day Trophy

A presentation of the ANZAC Day Trophy will be made on the field at the conclusion of the match.

The President of the Victorian RSL, Vietnam Veteran Major General David McLachlan, will present the trophy to the Captain of the winning team.

The trophy comprises a silver bowl, which is supported by four bronze columns and a central glass pillar. The glass pillar has images of servicemen and footballers and is etched with the names of all VFL footballers that gave their lives on active service. The wooden footing of the trophy comes from an ironbark plank, part of an ammunition wagon, which saw service in Villers-Brentonneux in France. The bronze columns incorporate metal salvaged from Gallipoli battlefields.  The trophy and ANZAC Medal were kindly donated to the RSL by UNIBIC, makers of ANZAC Biscuits.

Collingwood Football Club: 1917 Horseshoe

Each year Collingwood takes a special horseshoe to the game for good luck and in honour of two former players Paddy Rowan and Malcolm Seddon.

The horseshoe was sent from the Western Front by Malcolm ‘Doc’ Seddon. The inscription on the horseshoe, fashioned out of a German shell, says "From France to CFC, Good luck from Doc, 1917."

Doc’s best friend and teammate Paddy Rowan had been killed in action nine months earlier.

Jock McHale used the horseshoe to inspire Collingwood to the 1917 Premiership.

Doc promised to look after Paddy’s wife Louise and their child if anything happened to Paddy. Eventually, some years later, Doc and Louise married.

Made Under Fire from Hun Shell and Aeroplane (article)

Mr E. W. Copeland, secretary of the Collingwood Football Club, today received a welcome gift from one of the old players who is now doing “his bit” in the great match against the Germans. The gift, which is a horseshoe, was displayed in the Collingwood dressing-room at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and it cheered the Collingwood players.

It was from the old Collingwood player, Malcolm (“Doc”) Seddon, now at the front.

Accompanying the horseshoe is a letter from Seddon, explaining that it was made under fire by the shoeing smith with his company. The shoe was made from the driving-band of a German 15-inch shell which Seddon found at Bapaume. The nails were made from pieces of a German aeroplane which the Australians brought down at the Somme. He had recently seen Dan Minogue, the old Collingwood captain, who was looking well.

“I hope”, wrote Seddon, “that this shoe will bring the boys to the top of the tree this year.” The players regarded the arrival of the shoe as a good omen.

ANZAC Day event spaces and functions

HARRISON ROOM

Tickets remain for Collingwood’s pre-match function in the Harrison Room on Anzac Day. For more information and to book tickets to this special event, please call 1300 MAGPIE (1300 62 47 43).

LEGENDS LOUNGE

Please note due to pre-booked functions, the Legends Lounge bar will not be operating in the Harrison or Ryder Rooms on ANZAC Day.

Legends members will have access to the Social Club bars as per previous years.

• Level 2 Ponsford Stand: Dean Jones Bar
• Level 2 Southern Stand: Hassett Room

GLASSHOUSE

The Glasshouse Eatery will be open from 11.00am. Food and drinks will be available for purchase as well as a BBQ & bar located outside the Eatery.

SOCIAL CLUB AT THE GLASSHOUSE

Please note due to a pre-booked function, the Glasshouse will not be open to Social Club members on ANZAC Day. 

Social Club members have access to the following Social Club bars at the MCG:

• Level 2 Ponsford Stand: Dean Jones Bar
• Level 2 Southern Stand: Hassett Room