The Anzac Day clash
The ANZAC Day clash of 2011
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| First meeting | 25 April 1995 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | 25 April 2016 Collingwood 22.10 (142) def. Essendon 11.7 (73) |
| Next meeting | 25 April 2017 |
| Broadcasters |
Seven Network (1995-2001, 2010, 2012-present) Nine Network (2002-2006) Network Ten (2007-2009, 2011) |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 22 |
| All-time series (Australian Football League only) | Collingwood – 13 wins Essendon – 8 wins 1 draw |
| Largest victory | Collingwood – 73 points (25 April 2008) |
The Anzac Day clash is an annual Australian rules football match between Collingwood and Essendon, held on Anzac Day (25 April) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
During many wars, Australian rules football matches have been played overseas in places like northern Africa and Vietnam as a celebration of Australian culture and as a bonding exercise between soldiers. Despite this, League football was not played on Anzac Day for many years; in 1959, for example, when all VFL games were played on Saturday afternoons, Anzac Day also fell on a Saturday, and the entire round was postponed to the following Saturday. The first VFL matches played on Anzac Day occurred in 1960 after an Act of Parliament which lifted the previous restrictions on this activity.
The Anzac Day Act required a donation of a portion of the gate to the R.S.L., so the R.S.L. was active in encouraging the VFL to play on the day. The VFL was initially unenthusiastic, and on Anzac Day Tuesday in 1961 it scheduled smaller games at Windy Hill and Punt Road Oval for the day. The Victorian Football Association attempted to capitalize on this, and with the R.S.L.'s support it moved a marquee match between rivals Sandringham and Moorabbin to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and put on a pre-match spectacle on a similar scale to that of the AFL's modern Anzac Day clash. The crowd of just under 14,000 was similar in size to the VFA's largest Sunday crowds at the time, but still fell well short of the VFA's pre-match expectations; nevertheless, the match was a pioneer in the treatment of football on Anzac Day as a special occasion.
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