On a gorgeous blue sky afternoon in Melbourne I was fortunate enough to have a marvellous day experiencing an Essendon Football Club function at the MCG with local Victorian craft beers (EFC partnership with CBCO) on show while taking in the historic ANZAC Day clash. 

This is a sporting event like no other and on the AFL calendar it is second only to the Grand Final. The teams, venue, sponsors and fans all make this day a special one to honour Australia’s involvement in all conflicts not just ANZAC Day and the game day production is respectful with the ceremonies and traditions. A game to try to get to if you’re ever in Melbourne around late April. 

While the day is a bit more low key on the fan engagement front and the home team is shared each year between Collingwood and Essendon, Collingwood’s being the home team this year had a few good fan engagement activations that stood out around the outside of the G. 

The free player posters for kids, face painting, skills drills and the ‘make your own trading card’ activation were all entertaining kids with big lines of fans wanting their own trading card the obvious winner. 

It was also good to see the MCG being inclusive once again and adding vegan food options for fans without it being just chips or a salad while the new Wait-Times tech continues to help fans get F&B options faster here by seeing what lines are moving in real time on IPTV screens in the concourses.