AFL: Anzac Day match mooted

Sam Lonergan's Essendon could play in NZ. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand could stage a ground-breaking AFL Anzac Day fixture in 2015 to celebrate the Gallipoli centenary.

The traditional Anzac Day match between Collingwood and Essendon at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in April is the biggest game on the Australian Rules calendar with the exception of September's Grand Final.

Ismail Ozsoy, an Australian-born businessman with Turkish parents - and a lifelong Collingwood supporter - has successfully lobbied the Turkish Government to offer to stage the 2015 Anzac Day clash in Turkey for the Gallipoli centenary.

The match would be held at the Galatasary soccer club's home stadium in Istanbul, and Collingwood President Eddie McGuire, who yesterday confirmed his club had been contacted by the Turkish embassy on instructions from the Turkish Government, said he is "open minded" about the idea.

If that match is given the green light by the AFL, momentum is set to build for a similar Gallipoli Centenary match in New Zealand in the same year.

Port Adelaide president Brett Duncanson said his board would investigate playing a match against Saint Kilda.

"We haven't discussed that at board level, but I am sure it will be tabled at the next board meeting," he said. "It's got some merit."

While Australian rules side Hawthorn is the most active of all 16 AFL sides in New Zealand - the Hawks signed Kurt Heatherly, the 190cm, 14-year-old nephew of former All Black Jeff Hine as the club's first international scholarship player last year - an Anzac Day fixture has so far never materialised on these shores.

AFL legend Kevin Sheedy, a four-time AFL Premiership coach at Essendon before taking over the coaching reins at the Great Western Sydney franchise next year, has been a long-time advocate of an Anzac Day fixture in New Zealand and believes the 2015 Gallipoli Centenary is perfect timing.

"It would be fantastic for both Australia and New Zealand to arrange an Anzac Day game in New Zealand," Sheedy told the Herald on Sunday. "I've supported the idea for a long time because a lot of New Zealanders lost their lives fighting alongside the Australians at Gallipoli, so the game would be a great way to pay tribute to them in that country.

"I don't see any reason why an Anzac Day game can't be played in New Zealand."

Staging AFL matches in New Zealand is not new. Exhibition matches were played in 1991, 1998, 2000, and 2001. The Western Bulldogs have already confirmed plans for two home AFL matches at Wellington's Basin Reserve next year. In March, Bulldogs' chief executive Campbell Rose outlined the proposal to Prime Minister John Key, with endorsement from the AFL.

Hawthorn officials are also lobbying the AFL to provide finance for the appointment of two AFL development officers in NZ. The Hawks are prepared to spend six-figure sums each year to support its various programs and scholarships.