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 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.
Please note that the clubs and the AFL make a donation to the RSL from the gate receipts in addition to collections at the match and any other fundraising initiatives.
Over the past twenty 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 21st 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 11 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.
This year, as part of the ANZAC Centenary Celebrations, the Collingwood Football Club is hosting a special ANZAC Day Exhibition at the Westpac Centre from 19 April, 2015 until the end of June. The exhibition features the jumper worn by then Collingwood Captain Dan Minogue, in the famous services match played in London in 1916 between rival teams from the AIF. This is one of the most significant jumpers in football history, and is being loaned to the club by Dan Minogue’s family for the duration of the exhibition.
Match Program
This year’s match will feature
- The US Air Force Band
- The Australian Defence Force Band
- Tex Perkins Band and dedicated Anzac Song
- Half time Camp Gallipoli Flame Ceremony
- 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 minutes Silence
- Last Post
- Reveille
- National Anthem
Timings
12.55pm: United States Airforce Band
1.30pm: Australian Army Band
1.31 – 1.51pm: Teams preliminary on-field warm-up
1.54pm: Motorcade of Veterans
2.02pm: Entertainment – Tex Perkins
2.10pm: Club Cheer Squads Set Up on Arena
2.14pm: Joint Cheer Squad Banner Display
2.15pm: Presentation of Match Day Footballs
2.17pm: Collingwood Enters
2.20pm: Essendon Enters
2.29pm: Anzac Day Observance Ceremony
2.38pm: Coin Toss
2.40pm: Match commences
5.15pm: On-field post match presentation; ANZAC Trophy & ANZAC Day Medal winner announced
Gates
MCC Gates Open 11.00am. Public Gates open at 12.00pm. Main entertainment starts from 1.30pm and the match will begin at 2.40pm.
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.
Presentation of Match Footballs
Representatives from Collingwood and Essendon will present the footballs to the umpires on the MCG. Collingwood’s representative in 2015 is Dan Minogue the grandson of Dan Minogue who was Captain of Collingwood in 1914, 1915 and 1916 and served in World War 1.
Dan Minogue
- 85 games
- 37 goals
- Played for Collingwood from 1911 to 1916
- Captain of Collingwood 1914 - 1916
- Havelock Medal Winner 1914
- VFL Representative 1913
Minogue played in the ruck and at Centre Half Back and Centre Half Forward. He was a tough courageous player, a superb kick and a powerful mark, and was also considered particularly adept at handball.
He was enormously popular with players and fans alike and was regarded as an outstanding leader of men. Minogue was appointed Captain of Collingwood at the age of 22 in 1914. In the same year he won the Havelock Medal for Best Player in the League.
An example of his courage was the 1911 Grand Final against Essendon when he broke his collarbone in the last quarter, but kept playing as there were no substitutes. He bravely took a one handed mark and kicked a goal but Collingwood lost the match.
In 1916 he served in World War 1 and saw action as a gunner. He played in the historic AIF exhibition football matches in London in 1916.
On his return from the war in 1919 he had a falling out with the club over the club’s treatment of one of his close friends Jim Sadler, who played 130 games for Collingwood. He left the club in great controversy and went to Richmond, leading them to two Premierships in 1920 and 1921. At Victoria Park his picture was turned around to face the wall!
RSL Collection
A collection for the Returned & Services League will be held at the match. One hundred and twenty volunteers will collect at the gates prior to the beginning of the match.
ANZAC Medal
A presentation of the ANZAC Day Medal will be made on the field at the conclusion of the
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 Veterans Motorcade
A motorcade of 8 cars prior to the commencement of the game will include those currently serving along with returned veterans and returned nurses and servicewomen.
Collingwood Football Club Functions and Events
The club is hosting functions at Melbourne Park Function Centre and at the MCG in the Yarra Park and Harrison Rooms. The Westpac Centre will be open from 11.00am on Anzac Day.
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.
Westpac Centre ANZAC Centenary Exhibition
As part of the ANZAC Centenary Celebrations the Collingwood Football Club will be hosting a special ANZAC Day Exhibition at the Westpac Centre from 19 April, 2015 until the end of June.
The exhibition will pay tribute to the contribution Collingwood footballers who served in the First World War.
It is the first time so many items relating to Collingwood’s ANZAC experience have been brought together and displayed in the one place.
The exhibition will feature
- The jumper worn by then Collingwood Captain Dan Minogue, in the famous services match played in London in 1916 between rival teams from the AIF. This is one of the most significant jumpers in football history, and is being loaned to the club by Dan Minogue’s family for the duration of the exhibition;
- The display also includes the transcripts of letters sent by a number of Collingwood footballers from the Front to the club or to their friends. The letters are poignant, and at times funny, and give an amazing insight into their time as soldiers.
- An honour board listing of all the Collingwood Anzacs – 58 in total.
Other items include:
- ANZAC Day Trophy
- A framed commemorative photo of the two teams from the London match;
- A decorated biscuit sent back from Egypt by Doc Seddon to a friend, to show what the soldiers were surviving on;
- A Good luck horseshoe sent by Doc Seddon to his mum, from France, made from parts of a German shell;
- A mounted piece of German Zeppelin shot down over London, sent to the club by Dan Minogue;
- The original honour board from the Club of those who served in WW1 (since updated);
- Life Member certificates for soldiers Jim Jackson and Doc Seddon;
- Photos of players as soldiers, including Minogue, Seddon, Rowan, Keays, Wright, Shorten, Cordner and others;
- A special tribute to those who lost their lives – Cordner, Rowan, Wright, Martin & Fielding, Worle, Langtree & Campbell
- ANZAC Day Player Medal and jumper from Ben Johnson.
