Mal Meninga: Let’s play to mark 100 years since Armistice Day
I LOVE Anzac Day and the role that league plays in helping Australians remember and celebrate the deeds of our defence forces. But after a recent visit to America, I flew home wondering if we are doing enough, writes Mal Meninga.
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YESTERDAY’S Anzac Day commemorations were a wonderful reminder of what is good about living in Australia.
It is a special day of the year for all Australians, one that resonates with true meaning in our society.
As a country, we unite to honour and celebrate the many men and women who sacrificed their lives so that we have the freedom to do things like take a day off work to be with our friends and family, and watch a couple of games of footy.
We pay our respects to the men and women serving in our military today, as well as those who previously bravely defended Australia and our way of life over the course of our history.
It is so heartening to see the younger generations so warmly embrace the Anzac traditions.
The crowds at our dawn services around the country get bigger, and younger, every year. It really is wonderful to see.
I also love the atmosphere that comes with the rugby league games played on Anzac Day.
They have become a tradition in themselves and the players respond as they should to playing in such a special event.
Seeing all of that respect, pride and patriotism yesterday got me wondering why we don’t do it more often.
I have been in America for the past few weeks and as we all know patriotism is something the US does better than most.
Even knowing that, I was still impressed with the way the Americans honour their servicemen and servicewomen at every opportunity.
At every sporting event I attended while in the US — Major League Baseball, NBA, NHL — there was some form of ceremony where a member of the military was commended for their service to their country — and the crowds duly stood and applauded them every single time.
It was stirring stuff.
And while I love Anzac Day and the role that league plays in helping Australians remember and celebrate the deeds of our defence forces, I flew home from America wondering if we are doing enough.
For many years we have held a Test between Australia and New Zealand played around the same time as Anzac Day, but even that has fallen by the wayside this year.
But there is an opportunity coming that I believe league should make the most of, using the game we love to celebrate the bravery and heroics of the men who served their countries so well in the battle for freedom.
November 11 this year marks 100 years since Armistice Day, when the Allies and Germany signed an agreement to end the horror of World War I.
What I am proposing is to use the game of league as a celebration of one of the most important moments in history by bringing together players from some of the Allied countries to play a historic match in honour of those that fought in the Great War. I would like to see a “southern hemisphere” team made up of players from Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea take on a “northern hemisphere” team comprising players from Great Britain and France.
The logistics would be relatively easy — New Zealand will already be on tour in England at that time anyway. The Kangaroos have three international matches scheduled for October 6, 13 and 20 — so there would be no danger of our players being out of practice.
So what if we took seven players from Australia and three from PNG and linked up with seven Kiwis to take on a combined northern hemisphere side? And seeing as the Armistice agreement was signed in Compiegne in northern France, we could hold the game somewhere nearby — and close to so many locations of our wartime past — and provide a boost for the game in France at the same time.
During the 1980s, we played a few of these exhibition matches — Australia against the Rest of the World, and Europa against Oceania to celebrate the 75th anniversary of league in France.
It would work again with Allied nations uniting through league to celebrate the victory of our countrymen that changed the course of the world.
I will be taking the idea to John Grant at the Rugby League International Federation to see if we can make it work.
This will be one of the most significant anniversaries and celebrations in human history.
It would definitely be great to see rugby league be a part of it.
Originally published as Mal Meninga: Let’s play to mark 100 years since Armistice Day
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