AFL fixture 2016: Melbourne and Richmond to play Anzac eve
Date
October 26, 2015 - 8:01PM
Caroline Wilson
Chief Football Writer for The Age
Melbourne has scored a major victory with its playing schedule next season, having convinced the AFL to reprise its Anzac eve clash against Richmond at the MCG.
In a move which is expected to irritate Collingwood, the competition will return to the scene of its 2014 fixturing fiasco — Sunday night football — in order to satisfy the Demons and the Tigers which have worked to create a new regular event in the AFL calendar.
While the league was reluctant to schedule a Sunday night game – the timeslot registered some historically bad attendance numbers when it was used for experimental purposes to appease broadcasters in 2014 – the MCG co-tenants were adamant the fixture could work in 2016 as a one-off on the eve of a public holiday.
Collingwood and Essendon will stage the stand-alone April 25 blockbuster which falls on a Monday next season. Fremantle and Port Adelaide have also been successful in their bids to host home games at Subiaco and the Adelaide Oval respectively over the Anzac weekend.
Richmond and Melbourne made a joint bid to the AFL some 18 months ago to play each other at the MCG as a regular fixture on Anzac eve in a game. The clubs' bid involved a dedication to Frank Checker Hughes, a decorated World War I hero who played in two Richmond premierships and coached the Tigers one along with four flags as the Demons coach.
Last year's clash saw Ron Barassi light a flame in a moving pre-game ceremony which came with the backing of the RSL. Melbourne upset Richmond by 32 points in front of 58,000.
However, the Magpies opposed the new fixture, describing the Anzac Day calendar as already over-subscribed . Club president Eddie McGuire likened the April 24 night game at the MCG to "having Christmas twice."
Mindful of the Sunday night disasters in 2014 the AFL initially indicated its was unwilling to fixture the Melbourne-Richmond game in that slot but the two clubs told the league they wanted to back themselves to create the regular tribute game on whatever night it fell.
The AFL has fixtured no other Sunday night games next season with the Demons to take on Collingwood again in what has become the traditional public holiday clash on Queen's Birthday Monday.
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