Anzac vets cry foul over AFL crowd limit

Veterans have slammed the Victorian government’s plans for a pared back Anzac Day with just 5500 people allowed to march, on the same day as 75,000 AFL fans will flock to the MCG.

Australian Commando Association vice-president Steve Pilmore.

Veterans have criticised the Victorian government’s plans for a pared-back Anzac Day, with just 5500 people allowed to march, on the same day as 75,000 AFL fans will flock to the MCG.

As the state records its 51st day since its last case of community transmission, anger in the veteran community has spiked, with some Diggers calling out the double standard for public events.

Australian Commando Association vice-president Steve Pilmore said although he understood the government was acting on medical advice, he found it hard to understand why AFL matches with bigger crowds were allowed to go ahead.

“Australia lost 41 soldiers in Afghanistan; 16 of them were commandos and four were from SAS. Half of them were special forces.

“I think people should be allowed to march in the open air with the same rules as you can go to the footy.”

Vietnam veteran Maurice Benson said the situation was “a hell of a mess”, with veterans not being given the same priority as the ­Collingwood-Essendon match.

They have also railed against the Anzac Day events requiring pre-registration and being subject to a cap on attendance way below the turnout of past years, which reached 25,000 in 2019.

“My personal opinion is no one can tell a returned serviceman when he can and can’t march,” Mr Benson said.

The event has also suffered from low registration numbers, with just 1194 people registering as of Sunday afternoon, with the sign up to attend closing on Tuesday.

Anzac Day celebration in Sydney, which will be limited to 10,000 attendees, had 120 associations register to attend as of last week. “I would imagine there would be a number of people not registering because they don’t agree with the whole process,” Mr Benson said.

“There will be others who just don’t know how to sign up — a lot of veterans are getting on in years and may not be tech literate.”

RSL Victoria chief Jamie Twidale has called for unity, urging veterans who are unhappy — or contemplating storming the event — to “think of your mates” and abide by government advice.

“What I don’t want is conflict between veterans ... I sympathise with the frustration but that is the environment we have to work in.

“To those who say, ‘It’s not fair that we have to register’ or ‘If I have to register, I just won’t go’ — it takes a couple of minutes.

“We’ve had veterans in their 90s sign up to go.”

The Victorian government said it had worked closely with RSL Victoria “to ensure veterans and their families can march this year but are encouraging Victorians to commemorate locally on Anzac Day”.

Veteran Gavin Lee, who served in the military for 16 years, said he was among many fellow veterans who were outraged by the decision. “It’s all about the football. They don’t care about Anzac Day,” he said.

Mr Lee said speculation in the veteran community had been swirling that a group of angry servicemen was planning to either boycott the march or storm the event without registering.

It comes as dissatisfied Diggers made threats on social media to “just turn up and march”, which have been viewed by The Australian. “A lot of the younger vets have had a gutful,” Mr Lee said. “They’ve said they’re jumping fences and they‘re going to jump the fence and march.”

Meanwhile, NSW veterans groups are preparing for a relatively normal Anzac Day after the state government backflipped and moved the event cap up to 10,000 earlier this month.

NSW RSL president Ray James said he expected many veterans would choose to stay closer to home after they were given only two weeks to make arrangements to attend the march.

NSW Air Force Association president Ron Glew said he predicted the turnout would be about 5000 to 7000 as many veterans chose to stay away.