Each Anzac Day, upwards of 90,000 people pack the Melbourne Cricket Ground and millions more tune in on television to watch Collingwood play Essendon in the AFL's famed Anzac Day Match. Audiences see buglers play the 'Last Post' and 'Reveille', hear the 'Ode of Remembrance' and have the traditions of wartime service and sacrifice evoked symbolically through a game of football.
On Good Friday, everyone stays at home.
Football on Good Friday has long been a topic of discussion in Melbourne, the home of Australian football, as well as SA, WA and Tasmania. And for as long as football has been played, the controversy has been firmly settled in favour of leaving the day sport-free.
But in doing so, the Church is missing a wonderful opportunity, and Anzac Day could provide a working template of change for the better. Anzac Day and traditions around the wartime service of Australians have received a massive boost from their association with the AFL. Why not the Easter message too?
In the past the Church could, by virtue of its position in society, rely on an ability to shout louder than everyone else in the market square. This is no longer true. It can't shout loud enough to drown out sports, politics, advertising or popular culture. However much we might wish it to be otherwise, the Church is but one of many voices competing for the attention and allegiance of the public.
It does the Church no credit to insist that its holy days be respected by a largely secular society when most people couldn't name the reason for the holiday, let alone identify with it. For most Melburnians Good Friday is associated with a charitable appeal and a lack of AFL football. If the Church wants its holidays to be relevant to a non-churched community it needs to make them so.
Good Friday football would not be a case of simply playing a normal, garden-variety match. The day could be used to promote the Church's mission and give a public face and voice to Easter's true meaning. And just like on Anzac Day, the excitement and interest generated would be immense.
Collectors taking donations for the Good Friday Appeal could be positioned outside the ground. The match could be preceded by several moment's silence, or dimmed house lights and candles or glowtubes. A nominated church leader could offer a prayer of thanks and protection.
The entire day could be a tremendous