RECORD FEATURE: ANZAC DAY

The Ode

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them.

The Ode is older than Anzac Day. Part of a poem, For the Fallen it was written not long after the start of World War I in 1914, the year before the Australian and New Zealand forces landed on the shores of Gallipoli.

In a few sombre lines, The Ode sums up the enormity of sacrifice and the importance of commemoration.

It’s in the spirit of remembrance that Robertson Oval hosts the fourth edition of commemorative games.

Wagga Tigers and Wagga Kangaroos bring the rugby league and Australian rules communities together, hosting games against Collingullie-Glenfield Park and Wagga Brothers respectively.

“I think it’s absolutely fantastic – and only Wagga could do it – that two codes of football can play side by side without any bad will and it’s a nice afternoon,” Wagga RSL sub-branch president, Kevin Kerr, said.

“You must remember too that Wagga’s virtually a military town with the two bases and that all coincides as well.”

The sub-branch has worked closely with Tigers and Kangaroos over the past three years in helping organise the day with Wagga City Council also involved in getting the event off the ground.

Kerr believes it’s brought something special to Anzac Day in Wagga.

“I think it has,” he said.

“All the big cities have their big games, why can’t we? It’s not only the Aussie rules, and the rugby league but it’s also the netball.”

As the nation marked 100 years since the Gallipoli landing, the scene at Robertson Oval was something special.

“Last year was really good with the banner parade on to the ground and the marching band,” Tigers president Scott Bance said.

“Having the two rugby league sides and the two Australian rules football sides and the netball girls lined up out there, it was good. We got a lot of good comment about the actual ceremony side of things last year. You could hear a pin drop really.”

It’s a special occasion for footballers and netballers with the build-up to the game unlike any other week all season.

“The young ones really embrace Anzac Day, I think they really get it,” Bance said.

“They probably don’t understand to the depth of what the soldiers went through but they’re quite nostalgic about the day.

“Our players really look forward to playing on Anzac Day… they see it as a real privilege.”

Tigers’ Scott Oehm was on the original committee organising the event, along with Kangaroos’ Neil Cronin.

“It’s just footy giving something back into the community,” Oehm said.

“The first year we had a great year and it’s continued on like that… I think it is a fixture on the calendar now for everyone involved.

“It does make you feel proud that a club you’re involved with is involved in a community event like this.”

Last year’s event also helped highlight the 100-year anniversary of the Kangaroo March in which, in December 1916, 88 young men set out to walk from Wagga to Sydney to join the war effort. When they arrived, their number had swelled to 222.

Bance said Tigers and Kangaroos have had a good association going back to the 1970s when they shared a sponsor. (They also shared success – and a ceremonial stage, of sorts – in 1975… After both clubs won premierships in their respective competitions, they were celebrated with a street parade and mayoral reception for restoring honour to the city’s sporting pride!).

While the Kangaroos weren’t formed until the 1950s the name was used in rugby league in the early post-war days.

“After the first World War, they were playing rugby league (in Wagga) and this side they formed, they called themselves the Kangaroos after the blokes that marched to Sydney,” Neil Cronin said.

Cronin said the Kangaroos club took its name from that early history of the sport in the city. He said the Roos are proud to be involved in a family event on a day of reflection.
“It’s been great, the families love it. Kids get down there and they can run around, there’s plenty of room. It’s a good family atmosphere. It’s not promoted as a drinking thing but the kids can run around and parents can have a couple of beers and relax like a family day out. It’s been really good.”

The clubs alternate who plays first and second, with the Group Nine game to kick off at 1.30pm this year and the Riverina League game at 4pm.

Neither club collects gate takings from the event. Admission is by gold coin donation which is donated to the RSL. Tigers also take up additional collections during the game.

“I think making it a gold coin donation was the difference,” Oehm said.
“People knowing their money’s not going to a footy club, it’s going to the RSL sub-branch for the great work they do in helping returned servicemen and women.”

Kerr said the donations go towards looking after veterans in need, pointing out that there are many ‘contemporary’ veterans from modern campaigns who need assistance.

“We’ve still got areas of conflict and they’re coming back with lead in the saddle bags like everybody else,” he said.

“There’s still conflict in the world and we need to support those coming back.”

Similarly, Anzac Day’s significance goes beyond Gallipoli. It’s the day the nation remembers those who served and died in all wars and on operational service.

Those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, put so eloquently in another World War I poem, Flanders Fields:

Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Lest We Forget