There are very few things Australians love doing more on a national holiday than getting together and watching some sporting drama unfold. Both the Australian Football League (AFL), the premier Australian rules football league, and the National Rugby League (NRL), the country’s top tier of club rugby league, stage special match days on Easter weekend, ANZAC Day (25 April), and the King’s Birthday, with traditional derby games hosted at packed stadiums every year. Whilst the King’s Birthday holiday is not celebrated on the same day across all Australian states, annual King’s Birthday Matches are still held on the same day – 12 June – in both the AFL and NRL.
The AFL King’s Birthday Match has been staged since 1897, during the inaugural season of the then-Victorian Football League (VFL). Traditionally, multiple games were played on the public holiday, which falls on the second Monday in June, but since 2001 the only fixture to be played on the date has been Melbourne versus Collingwood, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As 2 of the AFL’s oldest and most successful sides, Melbourne and Collingwood have been long-standing Victorian rivals, providing the King’s Birthday Match with an edge that attracts attention from all over Australia. Both sides have started the 2023 season in fine form, and both will expect to finish the campaign inside the AFL finals places. Although official tickets have now sold-out, fans hoping to see this high-quality derby game on 12 June can still purchase resale tickets, with ticket prices currently starting at AUD $100 (USD $66).
The NRL King’s Birthday Match is a much more recent addition to the Australian sporting calendar, having first been held in 2015. The fixture sees the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs go up against one of the Parramatta Eels or St. George Illawarra Dragons at the Accor Stadium in Sydney. The 2023 King’s Birthday Match will feature the Eels, a side which reached the 2022 grand final, but is this season struggling to find finals-grade form; both sides will go into the 12 June game towards the bottom of the NRL table, meaning a win for either side in Sydney will prove especially valuable in their efforts to climb the ladder. Adult ticket prices start at AUD $30 (USD $20).
For more information on the King’s Birthday Matches, click the links below: