[6] The Victorian Football Association attempted to capitalise on this, and with the RSL's support it moved a marquee match between rivals Sandringham and Moorabbin to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and put on a pre-match spectacle on a similar scale to that of the AFL's modern Anzac Day clash.

The 1975 Carlton–Essendon game attracted 77,770 fans to VFL Park, an Anzac Day record at the time; two years later, in 1977, Richmond and Collingwood drew 92,436 to the MCG.

Due to a total crowd of only 40,117 and various logistical problems, the League would not stage another single-venue doubleheader at any venue again until the establishment of the Gather Round in 2023.

[11] The modern version of the Anzac Day match was conceived by then Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy while pottering in his garden in the mid-1990s.

[5] Sheedy organised a meeting with officials from Essendon and Collingwood—as well as the then Victorian RSL President Bruce Ruxton, who was also a keen Collingwood supporter—and proposed his concept for a game which would honour the Anzac spirit.

[5] The first modern, specially scheduled Anzac Day match between Collingwood and Essendon was played on Tuesday, 25 April 1995 at the MCG.

When the gates were closed at 1.30 pm—still 40 minutes before the start of the match—20,000 additional people had to be dispersed by mounted police while would-be gatecrashers attempted to gain admission into the stadium.

Essendon started strongly in the final term, and when James Hird snapped a goal late in the quarter, he gave his team a six-point advantage.

[16][17] As a point of comparison, in the National Rugby League, the Sydney Roosters and St. George Illawarra Dragons have played on Anzac Day since 2002, but generally without the increase in crowd numbers compared to other games as seen in the AFL.

[19][20] Since 1996,[21] one year after the team's inception, Fremantle has held the Len Hall Tribute Game, named in honour of Western Australia's last Gallipoli veteran.

[1] Sydney-based journalist and former Australian rugby union national representative player Peter FitzSimons commented in the Sydney Morning Herald of the 2008 game that he had:...rarely seen something so impressive in the world of sport.

The atmosphere was electric and the general mood in the air one of reverence for the diggers and anticipation of the game to come...Somewhere, someone has done a superb job organising that landmark day in Australian sport.

[27]Collingwood's former president Eddie McGuire has stated that "veterans will see the reason why they fought so hard for the Australian culture with two great tribes going at each other".

[19][20] Conversely, some commentators such as Francis Leach, Liz Porter, Chris Fotinopoulos and Ruby Murray have criticised the Australian Football League for the way it promotes the event, arguing that it has exploited the sacredness and solemnity of the Anzac story for the purpose of financial profit.

[28][29][30][31][32] According to Porter: The commodification of "the Anzac spirit" as an AFL marketing device appears to have begun with the 1995 Essendon-Collingwood clash, after which a commemorative poster of the game was produced, bearing the words "Lest we forget".

[31][32] In the opinion of Fotinopoulos, "the real meaning of Anzac Day has become distorted by slick marketing campaigns designed to pass footballers off as war heroes.

"[33] Journalist Patrick Smith responded in The Australian that this comparison between the game of football and the sadness and bravery of war "belittles and trivialises the suffering of the men and women which Anzac Day is set aside to remember and thank.

[35]The trophy awarded to the winning team each year has etched on it the names of football players who died during war, images of soldiers from the Australian Infantry Forces and the words "Lest We Forget".

[37] As part of the pre-match ceremonies, a torch lit from the Eternal Flame at the Shrine of Remembrance is carried to the ground, where it lights a cauldron on an MCG stage to burn for the duration of the match.

Players from both sides, including coaches and officials, alongside returned servicemen and women, line up near the flame for the playing of the "Last Post" and "Advance Australia Fair".

[42] The winning club received the "Simpson–Henderson Trophy", named in honour of Australian John Simpson Kirkpatrick and New Zealander Richard Alexander Henderson, both known for carrying wounded soldiers from World War I battlefields on donkeys.