Mick Malthouse says Anzac Day game an occasion more than a football match

DEFEAT in today’s Anzac Day clash is curtains for the Magpies and if the Bombers lose it makes things very tough, MICK MALTHOUSE writes.

Essendon and Collingwood line up for the national anthem and Last Post before their 2011 clash.

Sacrifice. Courage. Camaraderie. Battle. Honour.

Anzac Day.

While the commemoration and the football match are both intrinsically linked, I would never compare a game of football to genuine warfare. How can you?

From the landing in Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 and beyond, ordinary Australians have done an extraordinary thing by fighting for our country.

These are men and women, some so young you couldn’t call them adults, who left their families, dressed in a uniform, armed themselves with artillery, worked side-by-side to dig trenches and scale rock cliffs, and came face-to-face with an enemy knowing they had to kill if they wanted to live.

That is sheer undeniable bravery. That is brutal. Horrific. Inconceivable to the rest of us.

Mick Malthouse with Collingwood’s new recruits visit the Shrine before their Anzac Day clash with Essendon in 2010.

So perhaps the closest we get to it is on a football field, dressed in team colours, armed with a game plan, working side-by-side at the stoppages and in the packs, treating the opposition as an enemy to destroy for a win.

Tuesday’s game between Essendon and Collingwood will be an occasion more than a football match.

Anzac Day is Australia’s finest day, in my book, and to be part of something that pays such fine tribute to our military is an absolute privilege.

Personally, I loved every Anzac Day clash I was lucky enough to be involved in.

I’m not sure how much kids learn in school these days about the 8000-plus Australian soldiers who died when they were sent to the shores of Gallipoli, alongside New Zealand forces, to defeat the Turkish resistance, capture the peninsula (and ultimately Constantinople) and open the Dardanelles; but I always gave my players a history lesson.

The Last Post played before an eerily quiet MCG crowd is always haunting.

We would gather as a team at the Shrine of Remembrance days before the game to hear about the hardships faced by those soldiers during eight months of fighting, the courage shown, the sacrifices made.

We would listen to the Last Post, and as the haunting sounds of the bugle echoed around us I could see in the faces of my players, the rookies in particular, that they understood.

This is a game to give your all in.

I remember — prior to coaching Collingwood every year on Anzac Day — in an Anzac round with West Coast, we dimmed the lights in the rooms before the game to give it the feel of a bunker and I read aloud some poignant words from the history books that line my bookshelves at home.

It was a surreal moment, and looking back maybe it was a bit over the top, but I remember the goose bumps and the lump in my throat and the admiration for our soldiers that emanated from everyone in the room.

My final Anzac Day football experience was like no other. I travelled to Wellington, New Zealand with Carlton to take on St Kilda. The match committee and I attended an emotional dawn service there and left it feeling grateful and inspired.

But it was with Collingwood for 12 years that I got to stand in the middle of the MCG in front of more than 80,000 people during a minute’s silence and conjure the Anzac legend and spirit to pay tribute to our service men and women.

To even be a small player on such a big day was an incredible honour.

The Pies-Bombers clashes were terrific games played in great spirit with so many defining moments.

Mark McGough with the Anzac Medal after his best-afield effort in 2002.

In 2002, a 17-year-old playing just his second game for Collingwood used the rain to his advantage and won the Anzac Medal.

I think some romanticism helped Mark McGough earn the title that day because Scott Burns was brilliant for us. But McGough was an appropriate recipient nonetheless.

In another wet match, in a display I’d prefer to forget, David Zaharakis kicked his first AFL goal and snatched victory from us in the dying seconds of the game. It was a fightback befitting of the day.

I will never forget our 2001 clash taking on the reigning premiers, the giants of the league then.

We fought with a spirit to match the occasion to trail by only a point with five minutes remaining.

We lost by eight points in the end and Chris Tarrant, with five goals, won the Anzac Medal. It was a team performance to be proud of, and a turning point in my time at Collingwood.

Chris Tarrant shows off his medal to Mick Malthouse.

The Anzac Day match is make or break for both clubs this year, which should ensure a thriller.

After a flying start to the season Essendon was left wanting in the wet against Carlton, before last weekend’s loss to Adelaide.

It makes them vulnerable if the weather is poor on Tuesday because a wet ground curtails their spread and speed.

The Bombers also seem to be relying too much on their “prodigal sons” who are quickly showing the effects of a year off. They need to get the balance right.

Collingwood hasn’t been disgraced at all in the opening rounds, but it is coming off a loss to the Saints which it was expected to win.

The Magpies have a full book of players but still have looked unsettled in their three losses. Consistency is key.

Defeat on Tuesday is curtains for the Magpies. If the Bombers lose it makes things very tough for them.

David Zaharakis sunk the Magpies in 2009.

So, there’s plenty of spice in what is already a big game.

There is always a temptation to play a first-gamer in this clash, to see how they perform on the biggest stage there is outside of the Grand Final.

Collingwood has that option in Josh Daicos, son of Magpie legend Peter Daicos. Wouldn’t that add a fairytale element to the day?

Whoever lines up for these clubs on Anzac Day, I’ll be envious of them, because it is more than a game. It is more than a tradition.

They’ll stand, arms linked, in silence as the notes of the Last Post stir them and inspire them to play with courage, determination and intent.

Four points will be at stake, not lives, but in watching this battle a nation can remember the importance of the most significant day in our history.

Lest we forget.

The two teams run through a tribute banner side-by-side on Anzac Day.

Originally published as Mick Malthouse says Anzac Day game an occasion more than a football match