It’s 21 years since Collingwood and Essendon sparked a footballing tradition.

The two clubs famously played out a draw in front of 94,825 fans at a jam-packed Melbourne Cricket Ground on ANZAC Day 1995.

It’s a match that will be remembered for as long as the game of Australian football is played. But what do its participants remember of it?

In the lead up to ANZAC Day 2016, Collingwood Media spoke with three Magpies who took to the field that afternoon in 1995.

Paul Williams
306 games for Collingwood and Sydney between 1991 and 2006
ANZAC Day games: 5
ANZAC Day 1995: 13 disposals (9 kicks, 4 handballs), 3 tackles, 1 goal

It didn’t take long for the enormity of the occasion to sink in…
“My first memory is the amount of people who were locked out. We decided to catch a bus to the game, which was pretty unusual, from Viccy Park to the MCG. Brunton Avenue was full and we needed a police escort to get through the crowd. That was the first part! Then actually standing before the game for the National Anthem and the remembrance ceremony, once the crowd got involved after that, the actual ground felt like it shook a little. The buzz around was ridiculous. I’ve played in Grand Finals but that was equal to, or even bigger than that, in terms of the noise."

The decision to hire the bus proved to be a wise decision…
“It was a little bit unknown. We didn’t really know how crazy it was going to get, so the club at the time decided that, due to the potential that there might be a big crowd, that we perhaps should meet up at Victoria Park and catch a bus to the ground. When we turned into Brunton Avenue, it was full of people and we couldn’t get through. It took us ten minutes from Brunton Avenue to the MCG, just to get to the crowd. It was a bit crazy, and the amount of people that were locked out was phenomenal."

The match finished with both teams locked on 111 apiece…
“The game itself was very close. It ended up being a draw. I know Sav Rocca had a day out, which he normally did against Essendon during that era. I remember we had our chance late in the game, but it wasn’t to be. I think the legacy it has left now is one that means both Essendon and Collingwood are very lucky to be able to play on that stage. I don’t think anyone takes it for granted. Even Scott Pendlebury said during the week that the club hasn’t played finals for the last couple of years and how ANZAC Day is the closest thing to a final. He’s right, it actually is.

“It was an amazing experience and one that you look back on pretty fondly. I’m not one that can remember every game that I played, but you tend to remember the ANZAC Day ones. They have a pretty soft spot in your mind. Especially the inaugural one, it was pretty special.”

Four years later, Williams, in the absence of injured captain Nathan Buckley, kicked five goals in an eight-point loss to Essendon. But it’s not a game that has stayed in his memory bank…
“I don’t really remember it as much as what I do in 1995. The ’95 one sticks in my mind more than the ’99 one. I know in ’99 we had a horrible year, I remember that. To get pretty close to Essendon, especially given where they were in that three year window when they were very much on top of their game, it was a great effort to get as close as we did. Obviously it doesn’t mean anything when you don’t get the chocolates.”

Williams left Victoria Park to join Sydney at the end of the 2000 season, but he had already come to appreciate Mick Malthouse’s approach to the history of ANZAC Day…
“I only had Mick for one year, but he definitely embraced the ‘war’ part of the week more than anyone. History and war is something that is dear to Mick’s heart, and he made it clear to the entire group in 2000, for the one ANZAC Day that I had with him, to remember it for all the right reasons… The game is very much a battle and we definitely did approach it (that way) more so under him than anyone else.”

During his 306 game career, Williams played in 10 finals, including the 2005 Grand Final for Sydney. But he says the size of the crowd on ANZAC Day 1995 is comparable to anything he experienced during his 16-year career…
“The ’95 one sticks out the most. You shouldn’t do this at any stage, but I know I did, and I didn’t realise it until I left – you sort of take the crowd that Collingwood and Essendon generate half for granted, as if it was just a given that we would have a full stadium and the opportunity to play in front of 90,000. Once I left, I really did appreciate what that day does the deliver and what every Collingwood game does deliver in terms of support.

“It’s a great concept and one that I hope Collingwood and Essendon get to keep for a long period of time. I know there’s a lot of debate about whether they have the right to continue it, whether it should go to the Grand Finalists of the year before. For me, I’m biased, but I think it’s a great tradition to keep going given Collingwood and Essendon have embraced it for such a long period of time and all the fans have jumped on board as well. Unless they decide with their feet not to turn up, I don’t know why you would want to change it.”

Chris Curran
34 games for Collingwood between 1995 and 1998
ANZAC Day games: 3
ANZAC Day 1995: 5 disposals (2 kicks, 3 handballs), 1 tackle

The match was only Curran’s second senior game. It’s not one he will forget in a hurry…
“It was the first time we ever saw so many people at the ground. I can’t remember exactly how many we had, but it was something like 90,000. It was surreal.”

It was the era before high rotations and substitutes, so unfortunately for Curran, he spent most of the match on the interchange bench…
“They were the old days of footy. You look at all the rotations with the bench now, but when I played it was a bit different. You stayed on the bench for a little bit longer. My first game was in Geelong the week prior, and I stayed on the bench for two and a half quarters before coming on and playing pretty well. Leigh Matthews said ‘Next week, we’ll start you in the middle’. I played for 15 minutes and then sat on the bench for the last three quarters. It’s a little bit different to today’s footy.

“You’d rather be out there. In those days you expected to sit on the bench for two or three quarters, so that’s what you did. It probably wasn’t until the next couple of years where the game grew and started to change a bit.”

Like Williams, Curran has vivid memories of catching the bus to the ground…
“Normally we used to drive to the ground, but because it was a big event, we met at Victoria Park and caught a bus in together. We parked out the front and walked in. It was a little bit different, because in years after you would drive to the ground and walk through the crowd. But that day, for some reason, we got a bus and missed all the fanfare.

“I would probably rather drive in myself, because when you’re on the bus it’s like you’re already in the rooms preparing. But when you drive in yourself, you have your own time to do your own stuff. I found that a bit different.”

The majority of Curran’s memories are from his position on the interchange bench…
“Because you’re a competitive person, I was probably a bit annoyed that I didn’t get more of a go at the time. They took me off in the first quarter and I was still there in the fourth quarter, and the adrenalin went down a bit. I just wanted to be out there. It’s not the same feeling as it is for the blokes who are still on the ground.”

It’s 18 years since foot injuries forced Curran’s retirement, but the expectation that comes with playing for Collingwood looms large in his memories…
“There’s always pressure when you’re at Collingwood! There’s always pressure, in every game. It’s kind of different now with all the interstate teams, but in those days, when you played Collingwood, it was like everyone’s Grand Final, so it didn’t matter if it was St Kilda or the Bulldogs, or whoever, if you played Collingwood, you wanted to beat Collingwood. I’m sure it’s the same now. When you play for Collingwood, there’s no relaxing at all.”

Twelve months later, Curran enjoyed a better run on ANZAC Day, and made the most of his opportunities, winning 26 disposals in front of 87,549 people…
“In 1996, it was probably the first time where I felt part of the team, like I had earned my spot in the team. I have watched the match a few times on video. I was tagging Joe Misiti and Mark Mercuri at the time. It was probably the best game I played. We were about six goals down in the first quarter and we just gradually came back. I kicked it to ‘Bucks’ and he put us in front, and then I kicked a goal after that. Mum and dad were crying in the stands. It was probably the best games I’d ever played in. At the end of the day, Stan Magro (assistant coach) and Tony Shaw (coach) came up and shook my hand and said ‘You’re part of it, mate’. That was probably a turning point for me. It was a really good game.”

A moment of reflection…
“I was very fortunate that I got to play in the first one. It’s different now with all the substitutes and rotations, so I probably would have got more of a go, but if you ask anyone if they had played their second game of footy in front of 90,000 people, it’s a pretty good experience. That’s what’s so good about Collingwood. In the five years I played there, we weren’t starring, but you would always play in front of 40,000, 60,000 or even 90,000. No matter where we were, we would always draw a crowd. It was a privilege to play for the club.”

Scott Burns
264 games for Collingwood between 1995 and 2008
ANZAC Day games: 10
ANZAC Day 1995: 7 disposals (4 kicks, 3 handballs), 1 tackle

Like Curran, Burns was just a handful of games into his AFL career…
“I played my first game against Carlton in front of 85,000 at the ‘G. Then we played West Coast in the second round. They’d just won the premiership the year before, and we just got done. Then we went down to Kardinia Park to play Geelong, and I don’t think we lost that by a lot, either. So we came back here to the ‘G at 0-3.

“We knew it was a big event, but we still didn’t really understand it like we do now. There are so many neutral supporters who will go to this game. You run out onto the ground and you think ‘This is as full as I’ve ever seen it. I don’t think there are any spare seats’.

“It wasn’t until after the game that we found out that there were ten or fifteen thousand who were turned away. You look at the crowd, and there was 95,000, but there was actually nearly 110,000 who rocked up to the ‘G that day to come and watch.

“It was just playing Essendon, and then it was ‘Oh, it’s ANZAC Day too, is it?’ It was that sort of mentality. Now it’s ‘It’s ANZAC Day – and we’re playing Essendon’.”

As we all know, full forward Sav Rocca kicked nine of Collingwood’s 17 goals. At times, it was the No. 36 who stood between the Magpies and defeat…
“Sav was just fantastic that day. That was really the making of him in a lot of ways. He had some good years, but he kicked 93 goals and he absolutely dominated that game. It was just his touch. He was just such a beautiful kick too when he was having shots. He kicked nine goals. I’m not sure how many points he kicked.

“He was playing so well that Bucks decided to pass to him when he was in range to have a shot at goal! That’s how well Sav was playing, that Bucks was trying to feed him the ball! I was on a half back flank, I think. I had no idea how much time was left in the game and, look, for all intents and purposes, for how it has panned out from 1995 throughout the years to where it is now, it was really the perfect ending to the game. Not so much for our season though, as we didn’t have a win at that point in time.”

Burns played in 10 ANZAC Day matches between 1995 and 2006. Now, as an assistant coach, he is preparing for his involvement in the 22nd instalment of the tradition…
“One area of growth in the ANZAC Day game is that no one says anything during the Last Post now. Back then, in the first two years, there would always be one or two supporters who would yell out, which was a bit disrespectful, because they wanted to be heard. That’s been great, I reckon, the respect that is shown for the significance of the day. You hear those few little things for the first year or two.

Like Williams, Burns would hate to see the ANZAC Day tradition ended in favour of allowing other clubs to play on the MCG that afternoon…
Having the draw, the amount of people in there and so many turned away helped start a tradition. It’s been built on over a number of years now and it’s a great event, it’s great that it has kept going. I like the fact that the two clubs who started it are still involved in it.

“I try and be as unbiased as I can when looking at it, but even when I went away for five years to West Coast and that was raised, I love the idea of the two big Melbourne clubs who owned it from the start. I love the fact that Richmond and Essendon should always be the Dreamtime game. There will be other things that happen with other clubs eventually. There will be two Good Friday teams, I would suspect, down the track. Whether that’s the Grand Final replay or not, I’m not sure, but there will be something.

“You’ve got to look back at the clubs and who really initiated it, like Kevin Sheedy. It’s certainly the game, as a Collingwood or Essendon player, that you look at when you’re looking at the home and away fixture where you think ‘Geez, I’d love to be fit and picked for that one’.

“I would like to think that over the journey Collingwood, Essendon and the AFL can feel proud in the sense that I believe it’s created more awareness of what happened in those two World Wars.”

The significance of ANZAC Day is not lost on Burns, whose grandfather, Ken, served in the Second World War…
“My grandfather marched on ANZAC Day over in Adelaide, and there was a period there around ’95 where some of those fighters started to pass away and it was their children or grandchildren who marched in their place with the other Diggers. I remember reading at the time that some people were saying it didn’t look right, but it made me think ‘Well, if you want to completely eradicate that next generation, which you fought for, what’s going to be remembered?’

“It’s only a small part we played as players, as there are a lot bigger people behind the scenes, but it’s nice to feel that you can represent the club in a way and display those attributes that people before you have displayed – although comparing war and footy is a bit silly at times.

“As footballers, we’re youthful, between 18-30-years-old, and a lot of those fighting in the war were 18, 19, 20, 21, so you can certainly sit back and reflect on where you are right now compared to where people were 90 or 100 years ago, and be grateful for where you are at and appreciate it. You’ve got an opportunity to play in the AFL at the MCG. At the end of the day, we’ve got football and that’s our game there, because of the sacrifices people made so many years ago.”

Of the nine ANZAC Day game Burns played beyond 1995, one that remains vivid in his memory is the match in 2002, when teenager Mark McGough was best afield in wet conditions…
“The wet game was great. That started giving us a little bit of momentum going through that season, really. It was a good grounding for us. We weren’t that sure where we were at as a group, and it probably couldn’t have come at a better time to have a wet, hard game.

“Goughy was excellent. A lot of players played really well that day and just did what they had to do. I remember we finished our goals, too, which made it harder for Essendon to get back in a low scoring game.”

Before the team ran out in 2002, coach Mick Malthouse stirred the emotions when he read a letter from an Australian soldier to the players…
“Mick read a letter out from an 18-year-old in the bunker, to his mother. He knew it was his last letter. He read that one out to the boys and he spoke about the sacrifices that people make and the courage to write it – he knew what was coming but he still fronted up, all those sorts of things, and where we were at and all the opportunities that we’ve got on so many levels that so many had sacrificed. It was probably very similar to what Sheedy was saying to the Essendon boys, but Mick loved the war side of things, with strategies and tactics. He was very knowledgeable on those subjects.

“We went to the Shrine a few times during the week, and there was always something that you didn’t know had happened. Obviously the Gallipoli story is told a fair bit, and we all know it from a young age, but there are so many stories in the war that you don’t know about where Australians have had big roles to play."

The enormity of the occasion, and its greater meaning beyond a game of football, is not lost on Burns…
“You’re just grateful that you have the opportunity to go out there and play on an occasion that means so much to Australia. The focus is on that one game on that particular day, especially if it’s a weekday because there are no other games played. You want to play and show the character in some small sense that others have shown."

The club’s involvement in the tradition that honours the ANZACs provides its players with a sense of pride…
“Maybe it’s a little bit self indulgent, but Collingwood, Essendon and the AFL, as a collective, in the tradition that these clubs have in playing on that day and how they have represented themselves, has helped Australians in the big football states – especially Victoria, but the other football states are watching closely – embrace the significance of the day. And that’s something we can be proud of.”

“You hear ‘flick-flick-flick’”…
“You remember the Last Post – you could nearly play it yourself on a trumpet (if you could play) after a while. The other thing is when (master of ceremonies) Craig Willis asks everyone to stand for the Last Post and a minute’s silence. When everyone stands, you hear the flicking of the seats. When you’re out on the ground, it’s a really eerie feeling. You hear ‘flick-flick-flick’ as everyone gets up. There’s a bit of a murmur and then there’s just silence. It’s a pretty good place to be, out in the middle. You can’t replicate that out in the stands, to be out in the middle when you hear all the seats flick up.”