On Anzac Day, Collingwood and Essendon will meet at the MCG for their annual blockbuster in front of more than 90,000 people.

The clash, first staged in 1995, honours those who served in the Australian forces.

It is the biggest home-and-away game of the season, and arguably second only to the grand final on the AFL calendar.

Essendon and Collingwood have become synonymous with the occasion. Our research shows this was not always the case.

The origins of a ‘tradition’

From 1960 to 1994, Anzac Day football was shared among clubs – a history largely displaced.

That displacement began in 1995, when a crowd of 94,825 watched Collingwood and Essendon play out a thrilling draw.

Almost immediately, the two clubs asserted an ongoing claim over Anzac Day football.

The media assisted with that claim. By April 1996 – before a second match had even been played – Age journalists were referring to it as “entrenched” in the annual fixture, and as the “traditional” Anzac Day clash.

In the years since, the origins of the match have been reinvented.

Then-Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy has been recognised as the architect of the Anzac Day game. Although the exact details have changed over the........

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