ON FRIDAY night they will be fierce rivals, but Essendon and Adelaide joined forces on Thursday to launch a national Call to Arms to raise cancer awareness among men.

Call to Arms was born out of the AFL's Clash for Cancer match first held by the Essendon Football Club two years ago, where the players wore yellow armbands as a symbol of support for Bomber Adam Ramanauskas who had been diagnosed with the disease.

This year the Crows have jumped on board to help make Call to Arms a national event and the AFL has given the thumbs up for Friday night’s ‘yellow’ themed game at AAMI Stadium.

The umpires will be decked out in yellow, as will the centre square and the goal flags. The Cancer Council will also be on hand selling yellow armbands to raise money to support its research, education and support programs.

Ramanauskas was thrilled the Call to Arms initiative would reach a national audience courtesy of the free-to-air television coverage on Friday night.

"We’ve been doing this now for a couple of years at the club. It started off with something very simple, just with the boys wearing a yellow armband in a game and we got fined $20,000 for it," he said with a smile.

"Last year we went around Victoria with it and half of all the Victorian clubs wore the yellow armband and, I think, on one particular weekend more than 7000 people were wearing it.

"It’s a very significant cause and the issues around men’s health are pretty major because, historically, men think they are a bit tougher than everyone else and they won’t go to the doctor or tell too many people about their problems.

"So if we can raise awareness by going national with the program, I think it’s just fantastic."

According to statistics, one in two men will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in their lives and are less likely to survive the condition than women.

Ramanauskas, who is in remission after being diagnosed with cancer twice (the second time in 2006), joined teammate Jobe Watson and Crows Nathan van Berlo and Ben Rutten in promoting Call to Arms in Adelaide.

"I don’t particularly like talking about my cancer every day or every week but when I do talk about it, I want to relay a message to the people out there that it is an important cause," he said.

"We’re trying to do something as a club and as The Cancer Council to beat this because the facts are that one in two men will get cancer at some stage in their life.

"That means that of the four of us sitting up here today ... two of us are going to get it and I’ve already had it. They are the odds, whether you like it or not.

"The early detection and prevention is vital and I also think there is significance in it being a real men’s related issue as well."

Van Berlo said it was great the Adelaide Football Club had followed Essendon’s lead.

"We know that cancer is an issue in society," he said.

"If we can help raise the awareness, I think we will have well and truly reached the cause and made a significant improvement on what’s there nowadays."