THE LAME AFL ANZAC TRADITION

[joffaboy]

I really think Australians have really embraced Anzac Day as a result of Kevin Sheedy's promotion of it and I am happy to let them have it. I really do mean Australians because even when I lived in Sydney, this was a big game. One of the few times where an AFL game took centre stage in Sydney.

?

You mean ANZAC Day has been hijacked by clowns in shorts?

Whats next a passion play on the cricket square before the big Good Fiday game.

Next i'll be hearing Australians have embraced Easter because of some football match.

ANZAC Day has been hijacked by clowns in shorts.

a passion play on the cricket square before the big Good Fiday game.

Australians have embraced Easter because of some football match

Hic!

What in hell does that mean?

because i think this whole ANZAC Day crap that is foisted upon us every year is a varcarious attempt to achieve some type of insular Aussie pride by the actions of others, you disparage with that idiotic comment

The whole thing is disgraceful and embarrassing.

Have you ever been to a battlefield? have you ever seen devestation wrought upon a city through an Atomic bomb?

I have been to the Gallipoli peninsula, but not draped in an Aussie flag as some sort of bogan pilgrimage, I was there on a cold September day in 1986, and I still have no conception of what these boys went through.

I was in Nagasaki last year on ANZAC Day. I have seen with my eyes the horrors of nuclear war.

To bersmirch this day with the irrelevance of a football amtch and then to equate this match to anything to do with war is highly insulting to me.

And this is exactly the likes of Malthouse and Sheedy and Maguire have done. Malthouse last year berated his team because when they lost they "let down the ANZACs" FFS

These people thing they honor our veterans and the dead? They leech of them and make money off them.

Essendon and Collingwood have hijacked ANZAC Day and have corrupted it.

To say that a football match has brought people back to ANZAC day fills me with horror and disgust.

[markp]

Maybe the teams that played off in the previous years GF should be deemed to have have earned the right?

Yep what a great melbourne game GC17 V Western Sydney. They would pack it out.

If that ever happened, it would be after they'd both earned the right.

Do you think no one would turn up to a GF if those 2 teams were playing?

But yep, maybe it should all just be about making as much money as possible money from the day....

[matrix]

be easier if someone changed the avie........

[na exa]

Yep what a great melbourne game GC17 V Western Sydney. They would pack it out.

if they were grand finalists , replaying the game in the first third of the following season .... the g would be packed , imo.


and if it was 'about' the people ... the previous years grandfinal tickets could equal 'entry'.

2 of the hugest games for the price of 1.

[Moccha]

Yes I reckon the Grand Final teams from the previous year should play the ANZAC match at the G. f*** Malthouse, he's a turd of the highest order plus a liar!

[Leo.J]

I wreckon the 2 highest finishing Victorian teams at the end of the H&A season should earn the right.

Then it's like a reward for winning the victorian minor premeirship.

And the 2 top finishing interstate clubs play at night.

Then the right to play on Anzac day is earnt, it not a given.

[Leo.J]

Then you play for the Victorian Anzac cup.

And then the Anzac medal might have some significance to it also.

[satchmo]

Yes, as buckley says in the ad....ANZAC day is the biggest day in the sporting calendar, so for $150 you can get a membership that guarantees you a seat.

Perhaps we could rename it LEXUS day?

Of course ANZAC day used mean something else....might have been about biscuits.

[Saintsfan]

Whilst I dislike football being played on ANZAC Day and compared to the 'battle' of two football teams maybe it can be seen in a positive light?

The football game attracts millions of viewers and maybe helps those who wouldn't give two hoots about ANZAC Day and the legend to actually...give two hoots?

[degruch]

I like the idea of last year's Grand Finalists playing on Anzac Day but what if it was Sydney v WC?

I really think Australians have really embraced Anzac Day as a result of Kevin Sheedy's promotion of it and I am happy to let them have it. I really do mean Australians because even when I lived in Sydney, this was a big game. One of the few times where an AFL game took centre stage in Sydney.

ANZAC's are Australian's and New Zelanders...not just Victorians. It's all about money, not tradition, otherwise the AFL wouldn't hestitate to play North v Freo or Port v Swans. Wait until the NRL get their act together and put on an ANZAC Day game in Sydney...the next year Collingwood v Essendon will be dropped like a hot scone in favour of Sydney v GWS.

[ozrulestrace]

I don't have a problem with.

Just as long as both clubs donate ENTIRE takings to the RSL...

They are hijacking horrible memories for financial gain. They - or whoever else uses the day - should pay

You mean like the ad running on SEN with Nafan Buckley flogging a Pies package for tomorrow's game for $150?

It sickens me that this is now pencilled into the filth and Essendon's financial security.

No only should the funds go to the RSL but also Legacy who do the looking after the families as well.

[na exa]

I wreckon the 2 highest finishing Victorian teams at the end of the H&A season should earn the right.

Then it's like a reward for winning the victorian minor premeirship.

And the 2 top finishing interstate clubs play at night.

Then the right to play on Anzac day is earnt, it not a given.

i sorta like that idea.

pays a bit of honour to the Vics, as 'parents of the code' , on a day , everyone already honours past deeds.

[na exa]

http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/age- ... -tj5v.html

Anzac Day is the time when Australians gather in large numbers on hallowed ground to honour the great sportsmen who have risked hamstring strains, tours of duty on The Footy Show panel, beer showers and under-the-table payment schemes in order to make our lives better.

As the naming-rights sponsor of this day of sporting remembrance, returned servicemen have a small part to play on April 25.

[Saints43]

You mean like the ad running on SEN with Nafan Buckley flogging a Pies package for tomorrow's game for $150?

It sickens me that this is now pencilled into the filth and Essendon's financial security.

No only should the funds go to the RSL but also Legacy who do the looking after the families as well.

That is so right. And why do Collingwood play on Anzac day when they are one of four teams who did not disband during the whole of the Great War where the Anzac legend was born?

In 1916 Collingwood were in the competition while six other teams did not field teams while young were men in the trenches.

Collingwood won the premiership in 1917. The Great War 1914-1918.

[starsign]

OK here's my take ....the old fart from the bush!!
Time for a big change!!!

Let the current winner of these two favored clubs (Pies Bombers) stay on to defend next year, against the BEST PERFORMED Victorian side this season
Then continue with a fixture that pits the WINNER staying on to defend the ANZAC title against the next best Vic team of that year....simple!
Vic teams can Earn the right to challenge the ANZAC CUP holders and all win the right to play on the G on ANZAC day!

And IF feasible ...
Port could play the Crows in Adelaide on the day
Same over in WA
and for the moment Swans V Brissey with winner to play at home the following years

Then when GC arrives they play Swans and the Lions v the next best Vic team from the previous year ( or poor old Tassie if they ever get a run in the so called "A"-FL!!)

Maybe the last bit might be in the too hard basket to fixture , but it's a Vic thing so make our MCG clash the first one punched into the progam and if the rest can be jiggled well and good!

or does that sound too complicated???
At least it gives credence to one of the axioms the Diggers stood and fought for...as I see it..... ie ......." A FAIR GO MATE"

[35...LEGEND]

I wreckon the 2 highest finishing Victorian teams at the end of the H&A season should earn the right.

Then it's like a reward for winning the victorian minor premeirship.

And the 2 top finishing interstate clubs play at night.

Then the right to play on Anzac day is earnt, it not a given.

i sorta like that idea.

pays a bit of honour to the Vics, as 'parents of the code' , on a day , everyone already honours past deeds.

This get's my vote.

[Enrico_Misso]

Here's a radical idea.

Every other major sporting competition in the world has a fair draw.
All teams play each other once or twice.

Except the AFL.
Where some teams play each other once.
Others twice.
Some teams always play each other twice.
Some teams always play each other on certain days.
The fundamental premise is to maximise crowds.

Try explaining that to a foreign sports fan.
Try explaining how that is fair!

Solution?
If we can't extend the comp so everyone plays each other twice,
or reduce it so everyone plays each other once,
Then make it totally random.
No cosy arrangements.
Just a totally random draw.
So if next year the Anzac day game is Nth v Richmond then so be it.

The draw should be about FAIRNESS not Cosy little arrangements.

[saintsRrising]

I really think Australians have really embraced Anzac Day as a result of Kevin Sheedy's promotion of it and I am happy to let them have it. I really do mean Australians because even when I lived in Sydney, this was a big game. One of the few times where an AFL game took centre stage in Sydney.

Err, can you please explain why such ceromonies are also now very big with young Kiwis?

Kiws flock in great numbers to Gallipoli as do Aussies. I think most would never have heard of Sheedy or the Ess/Coll Anzac Game.

Personally I think it has more to do with time having faded the Vietnam anti-war movement and demonstrations which has many return Viet Vets on the nose and often hassled when they admitted their participation. This flow through to Anzac Day.

There is a whole new generation now not colored by the Vietnam War, the first TV war.

Not knocking Sheedy's efforts, but to credit him with the resurgance is wrong IMO.

[georgie girl]

I wreckon the 2 highest finishing Victorian teams at the end of the H&A season should earn the right.

Then it's like a reward for winning the victorian minor premeirship.

And the 2 top finishing interstate clubs play at night.

Then the right to play on Anzac day is earnt, it not a given.

i sorta like that idea.

pays a bit of honour to the Vics, as 'parents of the code' , on a day , everyone already honours past deeds.

This get's my vote.

Gets my vote too!
Thought the idea of the Grand Finalists from previous year playing was good but then if interstate clubs were involved it would fall flat. This idea would overcome that problem, allow the Anzac Day experience to be shared and offer a good possibility that it would also be a good game to watch!

[plugger66]

I wreckon the 2 highest finishing Victorian teams at the end of the H&A season should earn the right.

Then it's like a reward for winning the victorian minor premeirship.

And the 2 top finishing interstate clubs play at night.

Then the right to play on Anzac day is earnt, it not a given.

i sorta like that idea.

pays a bit of honour to the Vics, as 'parents of the code' , on a day , everyone already honours past deeds.

This get's my vote.

Gets my vote too!
Thought the idea of the Grand Finalists from previous year playing was good but then if interstate clubs were involved it would fall flat. This idea would overcome that problem, allow the Anzac Day experience to be shared and offer a good possibility that it would also be a good game to watch!

Could you imagine the thrill of North v the Doggies. What a huge game that would be.

[maverick]

I wreckon the 2 highest finishing Victorian teams at the end of the H&A season should earn the right.

Then it's like a reward for winning the victorian minor premeirship.

And the 2 top finishing interstate clubs play at night.

Then the right to play on Anzac day is earnt, it not a given.

i sorta like that idea.

pays a bit of honour to the Vics, as 'parents of the code' , on a day , everyone already honours past deeds.

This get's my vote.

Gets my vote too!
Thought the idea of the Grand Finalists from previous year playing was good but then if interstate clubs were involved it would fall flat. This idea would overcome that problem, allow the Anzac Day experience to be shared and offer a good possibility that it would also be a good game to watch!

Could you imagine the thrill of North v the Doggies. What a huge game that would be.

Would just shade Port v St Kilda though....