By Tara Murray
Merrifield Panthers and Roxburgh Park will take centre stage on Friday night as the Panthers host Anzac Day football.
The Panthers in their first season in the Essendon District Football League thirds competition, will host a standalone thirds match on Friday night.
Roxburgh Park was more than happy to come on board, with the two clubs hoping to build an ongoing connection.
Panthers coach Simon Marchitto said it was a pretty special occasion for the club.
“We are pretty excited,” he said. “It’s a start up club [senior] and there’s a lot of great firsts.
“Everything is brand new and quite amazing. It’s something we planned a while ago and it was about getting an opposition that was keen.
“We found one in Roxburgh Park and hopefully the start of something between the clubs.”
Marchitto said it was still not only for the club, but the community to have an event on Anzac Day.
He said being a Friday night, it doesn’t clash with any of the other Anzac Day clashes in the AFL and locally.
“It’s a special day that not every club gets to be involved in,” he said. “We needed to organise a few things, a singer and some veterans.
“We were fortunate a lot came to us, the support has been extremely pleasing. To be able to have that support in the community has been fantastic.”
Roxburgh Park captain Brad Mullens said the Magpies were excited to be part of the night.
“The opportunity to play on Anzac Day is a special one,” he said. “My grandfather served in WW2 and it’s an honour to pay our respects to former & current servicemen and women who have served our great country.
“We really want to thank Merrifield FC for creating their own history in making this game a reality, they are a new club like Roxburgh was 20 years ago and hopefully this game can become an annual match
“We have a great group of players in our team at Roxburgh Park who have embraced the opportunity to play on Anzac Day and are really looking forward to paying their respects and giving their all.”
Adding to the night, both teams are currently undefeated in the thirds division 2- Hume competition.
Marchitto said while rain was predicted for Friday, they were hoping to still see a big crowd in attendance.
“It’s an opportunity for anyone who wasn’t able to go to a dawn service to come down on a Friday night and show their respects and honour the soldiers and the past.”
The pre-game Anzac Day service will start at 7.20pm, with the match underway from 7.45pm at Merrifield Recreation Reserve.
