Two-up all weekend, and Middle East veterans honoured at Anzac Day 2022

Come in spinner! Fans can legally play two-up throughout the Anzac Day long weekend this year, as the government scales up commemorations for our war veterans.

Two-up will be played for three days, Middle East veterans honoured, and events will be Covid restriction-free this year — the first full-scale Anzac Day since the pandemic began.

After last year’s events were scaled down, and in 2020 events cancelled completely, this year the beloved Anzac game two-up will be made legal across NSW pubs and clubs for the entire long weekend — the Saturday and Sunday preceding Anzac Day as well as on the day itself, Monday, April 25.

Veterans Minister David Elliott, who is finalising the NSW government submission to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide ahead of releasing the interim report on Anzac Day, said the initiative would give back to veterans who missed out during the pandemic.

“These Anzac Day events are vital for the welfare of our vets, and many of them were very distressed by missing or inhibiting commemorations over the past two years, so the NSW government is giving them their two days back,” Mr Elliott said.

“Anzac Day 2022 will be a significant event as many veterans reconnect with their mates to attend traditional annual reunions, marches and Dawn Services across the state.”

Anzac Day two-up at the Clovelly Hotel in 2021. Picture: Monique Harmer

Two-up, a game popularised by soldiers in World War I, is banned in NSW on all days bar Anzac Day.

Hospitality Minister Kevin Anderson said the game would bring together ­veterans and families in a much-needed boost for pubs and clubs.

“Two-up will give an added incentive for people to head to their local on the Anzac long weekend and get involved in playing or watching this traditional Anzac game,” he said.

For army veteran and Coogee-Randwick RSL branch secretary Ben James, preserving the legend of two-up is crucial to the Anzac spirit.

Army veteran Ben Jones and serving naval officer Chief Petty Officer Kylie McGuinness are looking forward to Anzac Day. Picture: David Swift

“As the next generation of the RSL, it’s important to me that traditions like these continue to foster camaraderie and mateship among veterans and the communities we live in,” he said.

Along with the extension of two- up and previously announced free transport during the Anzac weekend, RSL NSW is also planning to celebrate veterans of recent Middle East conflicts at the first march since Australia’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.

President Ray James said the young veterans will have a “place of prominence” in this year’s CBD march.

With no restrictions on hospitality venues, the CBD march itself, or travel, and the Dawn Service at Martin Place open to the public, 2022 is shaping up to be the biggest Anzac Day celebration since 2019.

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Originally published as Two-up all weekend, and Middle East veterans honoured at Anzac Day 2022