Why is such a big deal made of the ANZAC game?

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HirdsTheWord said:
yes raising money for the RSL is such a sellout move....

nothing is more predictable year on year than a pack of minnow supporters having the annual whinge about ANZAC day.
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Not having a whinge about it really, nor am I asking for it have different teams, just agreeing with the OP that it is a vastly overrated game, wherein most instances, the quality of the game itself does not match the occasion or build up.

Yes it is the biggest Home and Away game of the season, but when was the last time you can honestly say it was the best ?
 
good4footy said:
I really don't understand the derision and whinging about commercialism by most on here.. This game helped a generation get back in touch with the sacrifce of our diggers and the fallen. Forget any hate towards the two clubs and therefore trying to play it down- this match is about much more. It has changed attitudes and educated many.

In the early games the calling out during the minutes silence was plentiful and moronic. Now the change in attitude and the respect of our fallen is depicted by the silence of 90,000 people contemplating the sacrifice of others.

It is more than the game now. It is an avenue to focus on something that may have disappeared as the soldiers and members of organisations like the RSL passed away. I get that some feel too cool for school to praise the AFL or opposition clubs like Collingwood and Essendon, but you must have your club or anti establishment goggles on to be anything but positve about the effect the event has had on how ANZAC Day is seen.
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its not just about making people aware.

The actual game raises an absolute shit load of money which goes directly to the RSL
 

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HirdsTheWord said:
its not just about making people aware.

The actual game raises an absolute shit load of money which goes directly to the RSL
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It's more the fact that silly coots like Malthouse and Sheedy compare the game of players going to 'war' and harnessing the spirit of our diggers for a football match is what annoys people like me.

I find that part of the Anzac game inappropriate and disrespectful tbh
 
Alphonse_ said:
Not having a whinge about it really, nor am I asking for it have different teams, just agreeing with the OP that it is a vastly overrated game, wherein most instances, the quality of the game itself does not match the occasion or build up.

Yes it is the biggest Home and Away game of the season, but when was the last time you can honestly say it was the best ?
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does not need to be the best? The day is not necessarily about football.

The game is about spreading awareness to people about ANZAC day especially the new generations and giving veterans a platform. Its also about raising money for the RSL to take care of returned soldiers and their families.
 
Alphonse_ said:
It's more the fact that silly coots like Malthouse and Sheedy compare the game of players going to 'war' and harnessing the spirit of our diggers for a football match is what annoys people like me.

I find that part of the Anzac game inappropriate and disrespectful tbh
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yes that is indeed stupid.

comparison should not be made between a game of footy and going to actual war.
 
Does anyone else think ANZAC eve is the most contrived bullshit the AFL has come up with? ANZAC eve isn't even a thing, it's literally something the AFL has made up out of nowhere to make more money. And people have got their backs up about Birds of Tokyo.
 
The concept of the ANZAC Day match is embarrassingly exploitative.

Fortunately, both teams are in good form this year so it will hopefully be a decent match.

The hype, lead-up and inevitable photo on the cover of tomorrow's Herald-Sun of Pendlebury and Heppell holding footys outside the Shrine is cringeworthy.
 
Ilksy said:
It’s a shame Gary Ablett Snr didn’t get the opportunity to add to his credentials in his court case with a multiple ANZAC Day medal listing. 3 times ANZAC Day medallist really adds impact in the courts eyes.
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Yeah, it's as though Hirdy stormed the beaches at Gallipolli (as opposed to being named BOG against a bottom 4 team)

3 Anzac medals!!!!

What a hero!!!!
 
It's been built up for nearly 25 years and people have bought into the hype.

Eddie, Sheeds, Malthouse etc have all pushed the 'only one ram ANZAC Day game, has to be Essendon and Collingwood' thing.

A lot of people attend but it's a nothing game most of the time. Two teams at 3-2 is at least mildly interesting this year.
 
good4footy said:
I really don't understand the derision.. This game helped a generation get back in touch with the sacrifce of our diggers and the fallen. Forget any hate towards the two clubs and therefore trying to play it down- this match is about much more. It has changed attitudes and educated many.

In the early games the calling out during the minutes silence was plentiful and moronic. Now the change in attitude and the respect of our fallen is depicted by the silence of 90,000 people contemplating the sacrifice of others.

It is more than the game now. It is an avenue to focus on something that may have disappeared as the soldiers and members of organisations like the RSL passed away. I get that some feel too cool for school to praise the AFL or opposition clubs like Collingwood and Essendon, but you must have your club or anti establishment goggles on to be anything but positve about the effect the event has had on how ANZAC Day is seen.
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Some of us are old enough to remember plenty of Anzac Days prior to 1995 :rolleyes:

The AFL, Collingwood and Essendon did not invent Anzac Day, nor add anything new to what has long been a solemn public holiday

Perhaps it's been an education process for all the Collingwood bogans who weren't paying attention in the 3 years they repeated Grade 2 in primary school and didn't learn about Anzac Day. They needed the AFL to teach them that it's not cool to scream "you black campaigner" at Nicky Winmar & Michael Long, so maybe you're right - they probably needed a Herald Sun liftout and Last Post before a Pies game (for 10 successive years) to realise that young men fought and died for our country and they should shut their pieholes for the minute's silence.
 
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kickazz said:
Hands down has delivered the best games on a consistent basis.
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Yeah, Easter Monday is 100% my favourite non-North game of the H&A season.
 
Apple isn't the only organisation capable of great marketing.

What do people do on ANZAC day though? Apart from the early risers who go to the dawn service, I think people like to go to the game so they feel like they are paying their respects in a way apart from just sitting on the couch knocking back piss.
 
Back One Out said:
Some of us are old enough to remember plenty of Anzac Days prior to 1995 :rolleyes:

The AFL, Collingwood and Essendon did not invent Anzac Day, nor add anything new to what has long been a solemn public holiday

Perhaps it's been an education process for all the Collingwood bogans who weren't paying attention in the 3 years they repeated Grade 2 in primary school and didn't learn about Anzac Day. They needed the AFL to teach them that it's not cool to scream "you black campaigner" at Nicky Winmar & Michael Long, so maybe you're right - they probably needed a Herald Sun liftout and Last Post before a Pies game (for 10 successive years) to realise that young men fought and died for our country and they should shut their pieholes for the minute's silence.
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Collingwood bogans...something something...uneducated...something something...racist...something something stereotype...

Anyone with a memory of Anzac Day before the 1990s might recall --for example-- that the dawn services of the early 1980s attracted a few hundred people, compared to the thousands who attend these days. It wasn't so long ago that a pilgrimage to Anzac Cove was unheard of, and a few years ago Malcom Fraser suggested that even a trip to Anzac Cove on Anzac Day as Prime Minister (i.e. 1975-1983) would have been seen as odd. You're right, Anzac Day has always been a solemn event, but it hasn't always attracted the attention it gets these days and it hasn't always been seen as so central to national identity.

Did the Anzac Day game contribute to the 'revival' of Anzac Day? No, that gathered pace throughout the late 1980s and into the 1990s. But the Anzac Day game was (and is) one manifestation of that renewal of remembrance, and I'd argue that it makes a positive contribution to the way in which Australia's Anzac past is remembered in the present, along with many of the other ways in which people now think about that past.
 
More preferential treatment for Victorians teams, I still don't know why we can't ever get 2 AFL games in a weekend over here ffs. Its easy, make any club who can't get more than 25k to a game at Etihad or the G play that game over here. Its an easy solution but the AFL is hell bent on bending non Victorian and non East Coast clubs over all the time.
 
Back One Out said:
Some of us are old enough to remember plenty of Anzac Days prior to 1995 :rolleyes:

The AFL, Collingwood and Essendon did not invent Anzac Day, nor add anything new to what has long been a solemn public holiday

Perhaps it's been an education process for all the Collingwood bogans who weren't paying attention in the 3 years they repeated Grade 2 in primary school and didn't learn about Anzac Day. They needed the AFL to teach them that it's not cool to scream "you black campaigner" at Nicky Winmar & Michael Long, so maybe you're right - they probably needed a Herald Sun liftout and Last Post before a Pies game (for 10 successive years) to realise that young men fought and died for our country and they should shut their pieholes for the minute's silence.
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They do shut their pieholes, it's all the neutrals that keep whining about not getting the game that don't shutup.
 
Tom_Thumb said:
More preferential treatment for Victorians teams, I still don't know why we can't ever get 2 AFL games in a weekend over here ffs. Its easy, make any club who can't get more than 25k to a game at Etihad or the G play that game over here. Its an easy solution but the AFL is hell bent on bending non Victorian and non East Coast clubs over all the time.
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Because then you'd have weekends with zero games over there?
 
Scotland said:
It's been built up for nearly 25 years and people have bought into the hype.

Eddie, Sheeds, Malthouse etc have all pushed the 'only one ram ANZAC Day game, has to be Essendon and Collingwood' thing.

A lot of people attend but it's a nothing game most of the time. Two teams at 3-2 is at least mildly interesting this year.
Click to expand...

Mick has changed his tune & he's allowed to, even though the screams may deny it.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-24/afl-coach-mick-malthouse-calls-for-anzac-day-match-to-be-shared/11029448
 

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Why is such a big deal made of the ANZAC game?

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