ANZAC Day at The Bowlo

[The InnFORCEr]

As in past years the Leederville Sporting Club will be hosting breakfast on ANZAC Day, the schedule is as follows.

8.00 Service at Memorial in Rose gardens at the forn of the club

9.00 Fully cooked breakfast $10 adults and $5 kids, bookings essential via the club

10.30 Two Up

12.00 Collingwood v Essendon on the Big Screen

1.00 ANZAC Day Shield Bowls Challenge - mixed teams of four, bookings essentail via the club.

Please note the club does have a special licence so the bar will be open from 9am, not 12 noon as is the case in most other places

To book your breakfast contact the club on 9381 2544.

Lest We Forget

[Darren]

do we have to watch the AFL

[Lonzy]

... yes coach ... yes we do...

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, professional football was not played on ANZAC Day for many years; in 1959 for example, when all VFL games were played on Saturday afternoons and when ANZAC Day also fell on a Saturday, the entire round was withheld and played on the following Saturday.

The first VFL matches played on ANZAC Day occurred in 1960 following an Act of Parliament which lifted the previous restriction on this activity. Over the years these games sometimes drew huge crowds, with the 1975 Carlton versus Essendon game attracting 77,770 fans to VFL Park, a then record for the day, while two years later in 1977 Richmond and Collingwood would easily surpass this, drawing 92,436 to the MCG.

In 1986 the league used ANZAC Day to attempt its first ever doubleheader. Held at the MCG, Melbourne and Sydney played in the afternoon, followed after a short break by a North Melbourne and Geelong match in the evening under lights; with a total crowd of only 40,117 and various logistical problems, the league has never attempted another doubleheader. Through the years until the mid-1990s it was common for at least two matches to be played on the ANZAC Day public holiday.

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 in 1969, thought back to the success of the huge 1977 game when he was playing for Richmond, 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, and the first match in its current form was played in 1995 in front of the league's second biggest ever home-and-away crowd of 94,825, with up to 20,000 further fans estimated to have been turned away at the gate.

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.

(thanks wikipedia)

[The InnFORCEr]

bump

[blueandblack]

bump

[youtube]lcWtw62LoVY[/youtube]

[normie]

... yes coach ... yes we do...

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...... ANZAC Day matches have been a regular part of the rugby league season for over 80 years.

(thanks wikipedia)

Respect, Lonz.

---------- Post added at 19:01 ---------- Previous post was at 18:55 ----------

do we have to watch the AFL

Don't think of it as 'AFL' coach, think of it as that bizarre curiosity once known as Aussie Rules, first devised back in 18something to keep cricketers off the streets during winter!