On August 15th, 1914, the All Blacks were touring Australia and were playing a Metropolitan XV at the old Sydney Sports Ground. During the match, a message appeared on the scoreboard that would change the lives of all at the ground for years to come – WAR DECLARED.
We now commemorate the 25th of April of every year after the very first ANZAC Day, in which troops from Australia and New Zealand made up an allied invasion force that attacked a place now known as ANZAC Cove, named for those brave men who fought and died there.
It has been estimated that 5,000 Australian rugby players were involved in active service between 1914 and 1918. Not counting high school level, this is 98% of the playing numbers of the game at the time.
Many of those who went, would never return, being laid to rest overseas or left where they fell. Ten Wallabies, all of whom appeared in New South Wales colours were killed, 14 All Blacks were killed and seven Wallabies have been laid to rest on the Dardanelles Peninsula in Turkey.
War and rugby can sometimes bring humanity together the way nothing else can. At the end of World War I, a tournament between teams from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and Great Britain played in London for The King’s Cup, something that many consider now to be the first Rugby World Cup.
Twenty two Test Cricketers sacrificed their lives during World War One and World War Two (nine of them South African).
The two international Caps and rugby jerseys (of Australia and New Zealand) here remind us of the sacrifices made by generations passed who gave the ultimate sacrifice to their country and so had their sporting careers cut short.
I will now ask the boys to read the names of those Wallabies, All Blacks and Test Cricketers who sacrificed their lives so that we may enjoy the freedoms we have today.
“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.”