So here we are, another major match for the St Kilda Football Club clashing with another important Jewish holiday.

The Jewish New Year starts at sunset tonight. About an hour later, the Saints, a club with a massive Jewish following, will step on to the MCG for a preliminary final, the next step in their quixotic quest to win a second premiership.

It has left many Jewish Saints fans in a major quandary - the traditional Friday night dinner (for which their wives and mothers will have spent days in the kitchen preparing for) or a a seat at the ‘G.

It smacks of 1966, when the grand final fell on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) which is the most solemn and serious day on the Jewish calendar, one for fasting and pretty much remaining in synagogue all day, praying for forgiveness for the sins of the previous year.

It says much about St Kilda's chequered history that the club's only premiership came on a day that many of its keenest supporters could not attend.

Of course, a Jewish player, Ian Synman did play for the Saints that day and a few Jewish supporters did attend the match, in spite of everything. And more than a few will attend tonight, putting off the traditional New Year feast and family gathering until the following day.

There are a smattering of Jewish supporters of the Western Bulldogs as well, none more prominent that club president David Smorgon. The Smorgon family call themselves ‘traditional Jews' as opposed to former Melbourne president Joseph Gutnick, a fully-fledged Orthodox Jew who never attended matches on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon.

The Smorgons won't be there, but have committed themselves to a quick family dinner before retreating to the nearest TV to watch the match. Unlike the Geelong-Collingwood match, the Friday night match is being televised on a slight delay, so the biggest challenge for the Smorgon family tonight will be to avoid turning on the radio, or checking the internet for the latest live scores.

Or, they could switch on the favourite device of many traditional Jews - Foxtel IQ - and watch the match in their own time as soon as the family dinner is completed.

Interestingly, the Bulldogs club doctors, Jake Landsberger and Gary Zimmerman are also Jewish. We wonder whether they have also been afforded the same luxury as their president of taking the night off.

We suspect we know the answer to that one.