SOUTH-WEST residents were touched by Anzac Day services on Tuesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But there was one tradition that was sadly missed by some.
The game once known as pitch and toss, which evolved into two-up, was conspicuously absent from service programs.
The game was first played in the trenches in World War I and these days it is played only on Anzac Day in pubs and clubs across Australia.
However, the game has had a hiatus across the south-west in recent years.
I’m one for tradition and for me it was part of Anzac Day.
- Richard Elliott
Winslow’s Richard Elliott said he was disappointed the tradition may not live on.
“On Anzac Day I had breakfast at the RSL and then I came home,” Mr Elliott said.
“I fed my horses and went back in for lunch and I made the comment then that there was no two-up.
“I’m one for tradition and for me it was part of Anzac Day.”
Mr Elliott said he didn’t know why the tradition had ceased.
“We have done it but you’ve got to have somewhere you can do it and don’t.”
Mr Elliott has fond memories as a spectator of two-up at Anzac Day services over the past two decades.
He was a member of the city’s lighthorse troop and marched on Tuesday wearing his uncle Bernard Kane’s medals.
Warrnambool RSL president John Miles said the issue was a lack of venue to host the game.
Mr Miles said the RSL had spoken about reintroducing the popular game.
“It would be good to see it return,” Mr Miles said.
“It was a traditional things years ago so we’ll see what happens down the track,” he said.
Two-up is a coin game whereby a nominated ‘spinner’ throws two coins in the air above head height. Players gamble on whether both coins will land heads or tails up.
Despite the omission of the game on Anzac Day, Mr Miles said he was delighted with the turnout at services across the south-west.
He said he believed about 4500 people attended the Warrnambool dawn service despite the wet weather.
Would you like to see two-up returned in 2018?
Email mpatterson@fairfaxmedia.com.au