Remembrance Round?
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them.”
Something great happened over the weekend and it went largely ignored by most around the Country. A simple ceremony at Coopers Stadium was my highlight of the weekend and it should become one that is celebrated by the entire league.
Prior to the Adelaide v Newcastle clash we remembered those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the various wars our brave men and women have fought in. There was little fan fare, a simple ceremony and the upmost respect shown by all at the stadium. Adelaide United should be proud of themselves and what they were able to portray in their Remembrance ceremony and this should become the minimum standard for the entire league for the second round of November in 2014 and beyond. Fox Sports must also be congratulated for their dignified and respectful coverage of the ceremony, showing the entire ceremony live.
Last season Adelaide played a game on Remembrance day, unfortunately this season this wasn’t able to be done but I think we should play a ‘Remembrance Round’ in the ALeague. One only has to look what the AFL and NRL have done for the popularity of ANZAC day. Thousands of youngsters have learned about the importance of the ANZAC’s through these annual fixtures and their legends continue to live on in Australia and New Zealand.
The FFA should approach the clubs and find which clubs would be interested in hosting a clash on ‘Remembrance Round’ and then work together with their various RSL’s and associated stakeholders. A brief 10 minute ceremony would be held, poppies could be sold around the ground before kickoff and we could even post some historic footage on the big screens before the game or articles placed in the various programmes around the league. I’m sure the increase of poppy sales would be welcome from all parties.
One aspect we could copy off the Premier League could be the commemorative ‘match day poppy shirts’ could be sold on EBay to raise money for the RSL or similar. Shirts could even be signed by individual players in an effort to maximise funds for those organisations.
These are simply some ideas that could be used to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. I would love to see your ideas how we could commemorate the round and teach the younger generations about the importance of Remembrance Day through our great game of Football.
David Gallop let’s see a ‘Remembrance Round’ in 2014.
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