The first VFL matches played on the 25 April occurred in 1914 exactly 12 months prior to The First Division storming ashore at Gallipoli:

  • Geelong drew with Essendon
  • Fitzroy defeated Melbourne
  • Collingwood drew with Carlton
  • South Melbourne defeated University
  • St.Kilda defeated Richmond

From 1915-1960 Victorian legislation prohibited the playing of sport on ANZAC day. Only in 1953 and 1959 did 25 April fall on a Saturday within the football season thus requiring a gap in the fixture. By a change in the legislation in 1960 new terms permitted the playing of sport on ANZAC day after 2.00PM. The first matches played were:

  • Fitzroy (19.17) defeated Carlton (19.10) at Brunswick Street
  • St.Kilda (5.18) were defeated by Melbourne (10.12) at Junction Oval.

These matches had been part of 1960 Round 2, which was scheduled to be played on April 23 but had to be postponed because of heavy rain the previous two days.

Between 1960 and 2023 there have been 132 Anzac day matches for premiership points.

Since 1995 Essendon and Collingwood have played an annual match whose focus is commemorating Australian serviceman and ANZAC Day. The fixture has become a highlight of the season and a prestige appointment for umpires

See ANZAC Day clash in Wikipedia for more information.

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ANZAC Day umpire appointments 1960-2023

Field umpireTotal MatchesColl / Ess
David Ackland1
Brett Allen64
Ian Artso1
Michael Avon31
Murray Bird1
Don Blew1
Eric Brewer1
Jim Brewer1
Jamie Broadbent1
Nick Brown1
Ron Brophy2
Tony Bryant3
Peter Cameron7
Shane Carbines2
Peter Carey4
Ray Chamberlain53
Jim Chapman2
Ian Clayton2
Andrew Coates32
Ian Coates1
Jeff Crouch2
Jeff Dalgleish4
Curtis Deboy11
Bill Deller5
Chris Donlon31
Gavin Dore2
Mike Dye1
Jack Elder1
Martin Ellis 1
Luke Farmer21
Graeme Fellowes1
Rob Findlay33
Stan Fisher2
Craig Fleer1
Nick Foot31
Gary Forster1
Trevor Garrett1
Barry Gaudion1
Hayden Gavine32
Darren Goldspink65
Roly Grant1
Stefan Grun1
David Harris1
Shane Harris1
John Harvey63
Leigh Haussen1
Sam Hay31
Matthew Head2
Bill Hedger1
Craig Hendrie1
Mike Henry1
Harold Hodgson2
Brian Hood1
Brendan Hosking32
John Howorth1
Peter Howe4
David Howlett2
Graham Huggins1
Derek Humphery-Smith1
Jack Irving1
Glenn James2
Mathew James53
Scott Jeffery42
Don Jolley1
Alex Kamm1
Chris Kamolins31
Hayden Kennedy41
Charles lane1
Steve Luckman1
Andrew Malcolm1
Colin Mance 1
Dean Margetts31
Peter Matheson1
Steve McBurney32
Shane McDonald2
Shane McInerney 43
Mark McKenzie31
Anton McKernan1
Scott McLaren82
Edward McSherry1
Simon Meredith42
Chris Mitchell4
Jacob Mollison42
John Morgan3
Geoff Morrow1
Mark Nash1
Neville Nash4
Matthew Nicholls52
Arthur Norden1
Matt Norden21
Bob Nunn1
Rob O'Gorman11
Troy Pannell21
Tim Pfieffer11
Geoff Polites1
Justin Power11
Ken Quinn1
Paul Rebeschini1
Denis Rich31
Ian Robinson5
Brett Rosebury64
Corin Rowe11
Colin Rowston1
John Russo3
Ben Ryan1
Shaun Ryan54
Rowan Sawers81
Justin Schmitt31
Vince Sercia11
Bryan Sheehan3
Ray Sleeth2
Kevin Smith5
Michael Sneddon1
Andrew Stephens1
Matt Stevic54
John Sutcliffe4
Grant Vernon41
Michael Vozzo44
Stuart Wenn31
Alex Whetton1
Richard Williams1
Nathan Williamson11
Derek Woodcock21
Brian Woodhead1

Boundary UTotal MatchesColl/Ess
Gordon Andrews1
Jordan Andrews11
Graham Baker1
Bob Barker1
Ross Barr3
Adam Bastick1
Michael Bell33
Matthew Bellizia11
Justin Bennison33
Graham Bergroth1
John Bigelow2
Simon Blight11
Callum Brown2
Paul Budge4
Chris Bull2
Ian Burrows74
Graham Carbery1
Gerald Carland2
Barry Carmichael1
Stephen Cato3
Amin Chehade2
Jace Collingridge2
Arthur Cook1
Allan Cook22
Adam Coote42
Pat Cran11
Jonathan Creasey1
Damien Cusack32
Fred Dainty1
Brett Dalgleish4
Bill Davies1
Aaron Deckys1
Justin Delaney2
Pat Dineen2
Nathan Doig6
Steve Donohue1
Mike Donsen3
Shane Doran1
Herbert Elliott1
Ryan England1
Chris Esler21
Kieran Ferguson1
Dan Field-Read1
Des Fitzgerald5
Ross Fitzgerald1
Ron Fitzgerald3
James Fleming11
Mark Foster44
Neil Foster1
Howard Fox1
Ray Frost2
Josh Furman11
Jack Geggie4
Ray Gibb1
Robert Gibson1
Jamie Giles4
Henry Goding1
Dan Gooch3
Tim Gooch2
Chris Gordon64
Gary Grant5
Cliff Green5
Ian Green11
Bob Gulliver3
Rob Haala55
Alan Hammond2
Darryl Hammond1
Michael Hane1
Greg Harding21
Basil Harris2
Walter Harvey1
David Hebblethwaite1
Richard Heptinstall1
John Hicks3
Mark Hill1
Graeme Hunichen3
Scott Hutton21
Ken Innes1
Shane Jansen65
Matthew Jenkinson21
Nathan Jessup1
Sydney Johnston1
Shane Jones31
John Kennedy1
Herb Kent2
Richard Kidd3
Matthew Konetschka21
Andrew Kovess2
Drew Kowalski11
Gerard Large11
Geoff Lee2
Mitch Le Fevre32
Richard Leslie11
Sam Leslie22
Tim Lougoon21
Bernie Lowden3
Ben Macdonald11
Chris Macdonald33
Damien Main11
Michael Marantelli22
Harold March2
Hadin Martin1
Josh Mather4
Dean Maxwell21
Adam McDonald11
Peter McDonald31
Bruce McLellan2
Troy McNamara11
John McNiff1
Gordon McQueen1
Kevin Mitchell3
Ken Mitchell1
Peter Monaghan1
Jason Moore21
John Morris64
Tim Morrison21
Chris Morrison11
Gordon Muir11
Adrian Murphy1
William Naismith1
Paul Nicholls3
John O'Leary2
Mal Owen51
George Pampacos3
Leigh Paterson4
William Payne1
Matthew Payton11
Andrew Pearson1
Doug Perry1
Laurie Pope1
Ray Prosser4
Lachlan Rayner22
Chris Roberts43
Adrian Ryan4
Ashley Sandison1
Peter Saultry2
Michael Saunders21
Graeme Scherger1
James Scully21
Randall Sheppard1
Glenn Sinclair22
Greg Smith4
Jason Smith1
Stephen Smith11
Chris Sporton4
Sam Stagg1
Matt Starr1
Bruce Stewart1
Gerard Sullivan1
Phil Sutton5
Bill Sutton3
Rod Tanner1
Robert Taylor1
Graham Taylor1
Shane Thiele21
Neville Thomas1
Mark Thomson4
Matthew Tomkins22
Pat Tongue21
Bill Treloar1
Matthew Vitiritti22
Cam Ward1
Andrew Wheeler1
Ian Wheeler1
Geoff Willcox3
Murray Williams4
Darren Wilson2
John Wilson11
Frank Wiinston1
Bryan Wood2
David Wood11
Ross Wright2
Alan Zanich4

Goal UmpireTotal MatchesColl/Ess
Kevin Andrews2
Terry Antoniou1
Chris Appleton42
Eric Armstrong2
Dick Auhl1
Steve Axon1
Kevin Barker4
Bob Barker2
Les Barratt4
Jim Barwick3
Joe Bell3
Dylan Benwell11
Gary Best2
Graeme Billing1
Anthony Black22
Eric Brewer1
Con Buckley1
Ron Buisman1
Steve Butler1
Mark Bywater1
Roly Caird2
Mark Canning33
Peter Challen1
Craig Clark63
Alan Cole2
Alf Collis1
Leo Corrieri1
Michael Craig11
Keith Cree3
Andrew Curtis1
Don Dalgleish1
Graham Danne6
Matt Dervan22
Percy Devine1
David Dixon64
Luke Edwards2
Dale Edwick4
Mark Ensbey21
Ray Fargie1
Barry Farrow3
Roy Ferguson2
David Flegg63
Charles Foletta1
Harold Forsythe2
Fred Franks1
Gerald Gaffney2
Alf Galea11
Bob Gilham3
Peter Gonis21
Doug Gourlay1
Alan Grant3
Bryan Grant1
Michael Hammond1
Mark Harrison22
Rob Hendrie1
Wayne Hendrie1
Peter Honeyman1
Colin Hood33
Daniel Hoskin1
Graham Hunt2
Peter Jeffers1
Ted Johnson6
Brian Jones1
Leigh Keen5
Peter Kelly1
Brodie Kenny-Bell1
Doug Langham1
Jack Lee1
Frank Leverett1
Walter Lindsey1
Max Lingwood-Smith1
Bernie Lowden1
Fred Lucas1
Bill Ludlow2
Greg Macdonald2
Jim Mahoney3
John Marrapodi1
Cos Martino1
Angus McKenzie-Wills11
Noel McLennan2
Michael Minahan1
David Mitchell1
Steve Murphy1
Peter Nastasi21
Mike Nicolai1
Matthew Norton1
Jim Orr1
Barry Page2
Laurie Page32
Michael Palm11
Dan Parsons2
Keith Pawley1
Reg Pawley2
Ante Perkovic1
Steve Piperno21
Mark Powell22
Brian Pratt7
Bill Pryde2
Mark Pulham1
Dale Puren1
Doug Purss3
Frank Raiti31
Michael Roache2
Les Robinson2
Chelsea Roffey32
Brett Rogers31
Tom Rossiter2
Mostyn Rutter1
Dick Sankey4
Ray Schwensen3
Roger Selwood2
David Shawcross1
Fred Sigmont1
Jack Simmonds1
Andrew Sinclair1
Terry Suitryk1
James Smith1
Paul Smith2
Mike Spear3
Steve Stevens2
Alex Stewart2
Steve Stirling32
Peter Stokes1
Bob Taggart1
Peter Taylor1
Keith Traplin4
Jason Venkataya11
Sergio Villagra1
Luke Walker 44
Sam Walsh11
Phil Watson1
Alf White1
David Whitling1
Graeme Williams4
Stephen Williams53
Dan Wilson33
Adam Wojcik43
Les Wright1