The Club (1980)

Director:

Bruce Beresford

Writers:

David Williamson (play)
David Williamson (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 September 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

In this club nobody plays by the rules.

Plot:

Boardroom and dressing-room intrigues spill on to the field at the Australian Rules football club. |

Plot Keywords:

Club | Boardroom | Football | Australian Rules Football | Sports Star

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Jack Thompson	...	Laurie Holden
Graham Kennedy	...	Ted Parker
Frank Wilson	...	Jock Riley
Harold Hopkins	...	Danny Rowe
John Howard	...	Geoff Hayward
Alan Cassell	...	Gerry
Maggie Doyle	...	Susy
Lou Richards	...	Commentator
Toni-Gay Shaw	...	Stripper
Jack Harris	...	First club official
Frank Raggatt	...	Second club official
Jim Cain	...	Third club official
Gary Files	...	Second football commentator
Ed Turley	...	Tony
Scot Palmer	...	Newspaper reporter 1

Also Known As:

David Williamson's The Club (Australia) (complete title)
Players

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Collingwood Football Club, Collingwood, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Company:

New South Wales Film Corp.

Trivia:

The plot of the film sees the Collingwood Football Club come from the bottom of the ladder early in the season to win the premiership in the grand final. In the year the film was made, the real Collingwood came from the bottom of the ladder early in the season to make the grand final... and lose it by a record margin.

Quotes:

[on first seeing Geoff]
Danny Rowe: [to another player] I hope he's insured.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Meet the Team: The Making of 'The Club' (2003) (V)

Sport, testosterone and politics meet in this perceptive Australian comedy-drama

It looks dated and cheesy, but The Club is still a tremendously incisive examination of the Australian male psyche and its fixation with sport. Based on the award-winning play by David Williamson, The Club was set in and around a fictional Australian Rules football club, but actually used the ground, facilities and players of Collingwood, perhaps the most famous of all Australian sports clubs. This, and its use of media commentators of the time, gave the film a strong sense of realism. It still looks desperately in need of a remake, though it would be difficult to achieve effectively now - Australian Rules football has lost its community base and become far more corporatist and 'boardroom', run by the chardonnay set rather than street-level businessmen. The Club is therefore not only social commentary, but a record of times, people - types of people - and the 'way things were'.

The screenplay and cast combine well to demonstrate the effects of personality, ambition, machismo, reputation, perception and pressure on individuals within such a sporting body. Laurie (Thompson) is a former star player at the club, who has found the transition to coaching and the acquisition of success difficult; Ted (Kennedy) is a wealthy pie magnate who has risen to club president without a skerrick of football ability. Beneath them both is Jock (Wilson) an ex-coach who is now an ambitious, Machievellian club official determined to undermine them both while appearing to be a great bloke. Male ambition, pride, mistrust of others and inability to communicate are at the core of the problems these trio encounter, which are revealed subtlely along the way.

If it were left to just explore those relationships it would probably be too slow-moving and dull for the average viewer, so there is plenty of on-field footage - primarily using real footballers. The difficult job of coaching is explored to some extent too, Thompson finding out that the divide between being a great player and a great coach - between follower and leader - is a broad one. There is also a quirky sub-plot involving one of the players and a certain 'fondness' he has for his sister. There is resolution at the end, of course, but unlike most American sports-epics it isn't railroaded and signposted from 10 minutes into the movie.