The film critic Paul Harris referring to the 1975 movie The Great Macarthy commented: “It surprised me that we would wait this long for a feature
film about a sport like Australian Rules football. It took a while didn’t it?”.
Five years later, of course, we got The Club – the big screen adaptation of David Williamson’s play about the brutal politics of a famous but failing club.
The Great Macarthy was made in the sex romp era of Alvin Purple and ‘Bazza’ McKenzie and so could not help itself.
The creator of McKenzie, Barry Humphries, plays the insurance tycoon and President of the South Melbourne Football Club, Colonel Ball-Miller Ad libbing and re inventing scenes Humphries revels in the role of loudmouth ‘benefactor’.
Eager to see Macarthy, the young star recruit and office employee, take a screamer he flings a bundle of insurance files at him, and during a game screams; “Rupture the bugger!”.
It’s interesting to note Humphries abhorred sport, particularly football.
Forced to attend games at his school Melbourne Grammar he either sat with his back to the action and knitted (!), or “shivering beside the mirey oval I would leap on a tram outside the school gates and make my way to the nearby city”.
The film’s major claim to prominence is the premonition that the South Melbourne Football Club would one day be owned by an eccentric businessman who travels by helicopter (having the club also relocate to a rugby league city was deemed too absurd).
Humphries’ Colonel Ball-Miller was Geoffrey Edelsten with elements of the uncouth Les Patterson thrown in (Patterson, as it happens, had just begun life as the Entertainments Officer of the St Georges Leagues Club).
Amazingly, Macarthy is a full forward given the then innocuous number of 39 which would become famous with the arrival of one Warwick Capper.
It also contains some valuable coaching advice for today’s wayward forwards: “It’s your follow through. It should be stronger. More of a line. Work on it!”.
Although the film portrayed the struggles of a simple country boy achieving fame in the city, it was considered at the time of release as “just a bit of fun”.
The Club was a slightly more complex and serious affair, and better directed. It also contained this marvellously sacrilegious outburst from a star player: “Alright, if you really want to know I’m sick to death of football and I couldn’t care less if I never play another game in my life. It’s a load of macho competitive bullshit!”
Both films suffer the age-old dilemma of sporting movies: actors can’t play athletes. John Jarratt (Macarthy) was a Sydney boy who had only ever
played rugby league.
He admitted later he couldn’t “catch”, handball or kick a football properly. Real game footage and a player double were used to disguise this fact but he’s sprung in the opening credits and some training scenes.
And The Club’s star Jack Thompson, playing a coach and former club champion, ruins everything when he attempts a handball at training.
The films aren’t, and didn’t aspire to be, works of art but they have become valuable nostalgia pieces.
Set during the time of Amco jeans, Ampol petrol and grounds advertising Winfields you can’t help but be drawn in. Players smoked and drank after games and were given sales or clerical jobs requiring little or no work by club sponsors.
There are the itchy woollen guernseys. Maccarthy gets to take his home – which would never have been allowed – to be worn by an otherwise naked Judy Morris who is also shown examining his jockstrap. I’ve never known any player who wore one.
The shorts became increasingly shorter as time went on. Capper’s always exceeded the limits of respectability and functionality.
The players looked a lot skinnier then thanks to the slim outfits and a lack of regimented weight training (the absurdly manic back-breaking sessions performed for the movie cameras don’t count as that).
The Club was filmed at Collingwood during the 1979 season and early 1980. As far as I know that has never been used as an excuse for the grand final losses suffered in those years.
It’s almost embarrassing to see the disintegrated state of Victoria Park , home of the most famous professional sporting club in the country. Even the members timber seats are rotting.
There is a scene showing cleaners sweeping up the steel tinnies that are scattered about the place. Then they set piles of rubbish alight in the terraces! South Melbourne’s home, The Lakeside Oval, seen in The Great Macarthy, doesn’t look
much better.
Certain players make regular appearances, including captain Ray Shaw and a young Peter Daicos looking about 45 years old. Rover Ronnie Wearmouth’s hair and CUB training shirt are everywhere, and Rene ‘The Tank’ Kink gets to call someone “a suck”.
Stan Magro plays himself being disappointed after losing a game. He was to look a lot worse at the end of the season after being one of Kevin Bartlett’s hapless opponents in the 1980 Grand Final.
The pre season runs through the streets surrounding Victoria Park and the neighbouring Yarra Boulevard bring back memories.
They unfortunately didn’t include the passing by of Her Majesty’s Prison Fairlea, a high security women’s prison whose invisible inmates would produce a chorus of wolf whistles that put the male occupants of city building sites to shame.
During filming a riot broke out in the prison and later several inmates escaped possibly to prey on Collingwood players who had fallen behind the pack.
Both films depict the era’s simplistic coaching techniques (circuit work and the jog twenty metres, sprint twenty) and unsubtle communication (“Move ya bloody arses!”).
The nasal race-call drone of Channel 7’s Lou Richards – so tedious to hear now – is heavily featured in the real and staged match footage.
The Great Macarthy and The Club aren’t masterpieces – perhaps the documentary is the best means of conveying the experience of a footballer – but as Jack Dyer said about the former: “The birds are good! The footy’s great! And there’s something different about it too!”
joe blackswan
Guest
cheers stabpass. great story.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
I just stumbled across this on twitter, and thought I'd share it for a bit of fun (hope it's ok with the mods). I couldn't find it on YouTube, so unfortunately have to watch it from a BigFooty thread. Apparently a Russian TV crew wanted to do a short story on aussie rules to run during the Australian Open, so they got in touch with this ex-pat who is involved with the only aussie rules club in Moscow, and he hooked them up with Hawthorn. http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=905784 Some translation of what is being said: Aussie Rules is the most popular sport in Australia The players are huge and strong It's completely different to any game they're used to Even among such athletes - one really stands out - Lance Franklin. 2 metres tall and 100kg of muscle. That's what the Lionel Messi of Aussie Rules looks like Emphasis on Aussie Rules not being the same as rugby. Not allowed to throw etc. Only kick or punch The main thing is that physical contact is practically unrestricted Even at training, someone got their uniform ripped and someone got their head split open. But no doctors tended to anyone's wounds, as it would be insulting to the pride of the player We're used to formations like 4-3-3 and 4-4-2, but here it's more complicated - there are 18 players on the field at once.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
This story about the AFL pursuing more "hard news" on its website is an interesting one, as the AFL readies itself for future directions in media: http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-sets-news-agenda-20120129-1qnzz.html Part of this move is bringing AFL Films in-house, so that the AFL controls the production of films relating to the AFL. An example of this were the specials on the 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001 grand finals that were aired on Channel 9. Hopefully, this will become an annual event, and more content relating to the history of the game will be produced. Of course there is a negative to this development. People will rightly be concerned about films that are sugar-coated, that abhor a warts and all approach. Hopefully a happy medium can be worked out.
me, I like football
Guest
I saw it when it first premiered and quite enjoyed it. Another one although I haven't seen is "Australian Rules" set in outback SA.
stabpass
Guest
Valentines Day ... anyone, which was actually on the tele last night, did not see it, but looked a bit of a comedy, unfortunately i fell asleep. Set in Rushworth, a famous AF footballer gets 200 hours community service, and brings the town football club back up ..... aussie version of bad news bears i suspect. Premiered 2008 ... i had never heard of it.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Yes, you're right, forgot about that, never got to see it, but it had a bit of a following.
Andrew Sutherland
Roar Guru
Channel Seven had a reality show called The Club in 2002 in which David Rhys Jones, assisted/hindered by the audience, coached a team the Hammerheads to a premiership in a regular comp. It appeared to be a hit but was cut after the first year. Unsure of the ratings.
Andrew Sutherland
Roar Guru
Agree Cattery. Thanks for the link Stabpass. He mentions "rattling" home on the train. In The Club one of the blue trains is seen arriving at Victoria Park station with its doors wide open!
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Some sports have already dabbled in the reality TV concept, including soccer and cricket, but yeh, it's surprising that the AFL and NRL hasn't encouraged one around their own sport.
Chris Chard
Expert
Yep, its criminal the small amount of sports movies Australia has managed to trundle out. Haven't seen any of the Aussie Rules ones mentioned here (although I've read the play of 'The Club') but could definitely recommend 'The Final Winter' as an entertaining portrayal of the good (bad) old days in sport. 'Year of the Dogs' is great though and probably the closest Australian sport has come to replicating the epic 'Hard Knocks' NFL TV series, can't believe none of the major sporting codes have put their hands up to have a go at it. Reality TV+sport=$$$$ I would think
stabpass
Guest
Best sports movie i have seen ( off the top of my head) is The Natural with Robert Redford, not a baseball fan, but gee it was a enjoyable movie.
Australian Rules
Guest
yes, and Gary Sweet as Bradman. "Bodyline" was average at best and proves that sports movies need the actors to be at least decent pretenders. "PharLap" was probably better but I was diappointed with "The Cup"...great story to be told but it looked too much like an advert for the Spring Carnival at times. Sports films are either shmaltzy fairytales or gritty "real looks"...and no-one does them like the Yanks..
Nathan of Perth
Guest
To be perfectly honest, I always laugh when I see the 'stop piracy' messages of the Australian Film Industry because surely they're not actually trying to make money from their standard fare?
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Fantastic link - loved it.
mds1970
Roar Guru
There haven't been many. A friend a friend was an extra in a rugby league movie a couple of years ago, based on a flashback to an old era of Newtown playing at Henson Park. But that's the only rugby league one I can think of. For cricket in Australia, it wasn't a movie but I remember a TV series of Bodyline, with Hugo Weaving as Douglas Jardine.
stabpass
Guest
http://footyalmanac.com.au/?p=6905#more-6905 A great story written by Paul Chapmans half brother, it encompasses what a lot of poeple from around my generation have felt and seen about local suburban footy, and travelling to other suburban grounds. One of the best i have ever read.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Has always boggled my mind that Australia has never produced much of anything in the way of sports movies. Guess it has a lot to do with our very indie-arts focused cinema industry. You could say Australian-Rules or League projects are hamstrung by only have half the country each which cuts down on viability, but cricket movies, surely! Hollywood makes a tonne of them, often involving Australian cricketers (as villains).
stabpass
Guest
I actually remember going to Paul Salmons comeback game from a knee at Victoria Park, maybe in 1984 ?, the Pies faithfull had no qualms about him wanting to do another, and ket him know it, from memory there was a suprisingly big Greek contingent there, where i was standing at the Yarra end.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
stabpass that's so true of all the old grounds, as a kid, it didn't matter to you, as long as you were able to find some nook or cranny to get a glimpse of the game, or you collected beer cans to stand on.
mds1970
Roar Guru
I remember going to Vic Park in the mid-1980s - Paul Salmon had kicked 60-odd goals in half a season but did his knee there and his season was over. Even then, as a young teenager, I hated the place. We got there at 12.30 and could barely see in the standing room caverns there. But those films show a different era - suburban grounds, all games on Saturday afternoon and only a couple televised on replay, suburban grounds with standing room. And much less professionalism than we see today. Year of the Dogs shows a club struggling to make the transition.