''The Club'' is a satirical film based on the play of the same name by the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n playwright and dramatist

David Williamson David Keith Williamson (born 1942) is an Australian playwright, who has also written screenplays and teleplays. He became known in the early 1970s with his political comic drama '' Don's Party'', and other well-known plays include '' The Clu ...

. It follows the fortunes of an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

club over the course of a season, and explores the clashes of individuals from within the club. It was inspired by the backroom dealings and antics of the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...

. The film was produced in 1980, written by Williamson and directed by

Bruce Beresford Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director, opera director, screenwriter, and producer. He began his career during the Australian New Wave, and has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally ...

. It stars John Howard, Jack Thompson, Graham Kennedy and Frank Wilson. The film was described as a "hilarious, sharply observed slice of life". The film features Mike Brady's 1979 football anthem " Up There Cazaly".

Plot

The club pays a high price for

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

n recruit, Geoff Hayward (Howard). Geoff does not play well initially, infuriating the dedicated coach, Laurie Holden (Thompson). With the club playing so badly, Laurie's coaching days may be over soon. Club president Ted Parker (Kennedy) is forced to resign following an assault on a stripper. The incident could have been kept quiet but for backstabbing from various board members, especially Jock ( Frank Wilson) and Gerry ( Alan Cassell). Laurie discovers that the board wants to sack him (arising from a long grudge held against Laurie by Jock), so Laurie inspires Geoff to start playing well. It is later revealed that Jock used to be Laurie's coach when Laurie played for the club. Jock was jealous because Laurie nearly surpassed his club record of 282 games. He also lost a

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

by making poor decisions under the influence of

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

. Laurie then told the members that Jock was drunk. After being dismissed as coach, he was replaced by Laurie and tried to sabotage the club his best to get back at him. The team start winning and eventually make the grand final, beating Fitzroy. The film ends with Gerry saying, 'Laurie's a great coach', then looking at Jock, 'God knows why some members of the board wanted to get rid of him'.

Differences from the play

The major differences between the play and the film versions include: *In the film, there are some scenes that take place outside The Club's hallowed halls. In the play, all of the scenes are inside The Club and are acted out in real time, whereas the film takes place over a season. *In the play, The Club is never named to be one specific club. In the film, Collingwood's guernsey is used, the entire film was shot on location at Collingwood's then home ground of Victoria Park, the Collingwood theme song is used as a motif, and Collingwood players such as Peter Daicos and Rene Kink, as well as coach Tom Hafey, are featured in speaking and non-speaking roles. Although only commentators refer to Collingwood by name, everyone else in the movie refers to it as 'the club'. *In the film, the incident with the

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events. Modern forms of stripping m ...

is shown, whereas in the play, she is an

unseen character An unseen character in theatre, comics, film or television, or a silent character in radio or literature, is a character who is mentioned but not directly known to the audience, but who advances the action of the plot in a significant way, and w ...

. *The play does not show the club winning the premiership, instead ending after Laurie vows to make the finals and dissolve the club's board.

Characters

The plot revolves around six central characters: * Geoff Hayward ( John Howard) – a new recruit with a huge reputation lured to the club with big money in an attempt to haul the team up the ladder. Hayward resents that the club sees him as a commodity to be bought and sold. * Laurie Holden ( Jack Thompson) – the respected and earnest coach of the club whose champion playing career was ended by injury just short of the record number of games played for the club. Holden's credo is honesty and discipline, but the team has struggled to find success under his coaching and he knows that he is under pressure to avoid the sack. Holden is generally regarded as the second best coach in the league behind Hawthorn's "Rostoff", who was also the coach the club's board wish to replace him with. * Ted Parker ( Graham Kennedy) – club president and owner of a pie factory named "Parker's Pies". Parker is just a fan with a lot of money that the club want a share of. Although his knowledge of the game's intricacies is limited, he has watched virtually every game played by the club since he was a small boy. When Hayward demands an extra A$10,000 to join the club, Parker puts up the money himself. * Jock Riley ( Frank Wilson) – ex-champion player from an earlier era, the successful coaching predecessor to Laurie and now an influential committeeman. Jock has a finger on the pulse of everything that happens around the club and he regularly meddles when he thinks it necessary. He wants to get rid of Holden so that his most games coached record with the club remains unbeaten. The name Jock is a tribute to long serving Collingwood player and coach Jock McHale. * Gerry Cooper ( Alan Cassell) – a new breed administrator recently hired to drag the club into a more professional era. Gerry sees the club as a business, his appointment as merely a job and eschews emotion in his decision making. He is in it more for personal gain than for the benefit of the club. * Danny Rowe ( Harold Hopkins) – Player and captain of the team. His career is almost finished and the club consider trading him.

Minor characters

Prominent football commentators such as Fred Cook, Lou Richards, Jack Dyer, Bob Davis and reporters Scot Palmer and

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy Awards, and is also a Cello, cellist who has reco ...

have parts in the film, as do Collingwood footballers at the time, Peter Daicos (as himself) and Rene Kink (as Tank O'Donohue). Collingwood's coach at the time, Tom Hafey, features as the assistant coach. Maggie Doyle plays Geoff Hayward's girlfriend.

Setting

In the script, Williamson uses the arrival of Hayward at the club as a device that gets these characters interacting to express their opinions on Hayward's poor early-season form and attitude, thus exploring several themes relevant to the culture of any sporting club. The original play and the movie were created at a time when Australian football was in a state of flux, moving from a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

state (where players were paid "beer" money for their services) to the modern, fully professional, franchised structure that is known today as the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

. This process began in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

Box office

''The Club'' grossed at the box office in Australia. Williamson rated the film as one of the best made from his work, saying it was "very well done".Greg Gallaghan, "10 questions - David Williamson", ''The Australian'' 18 December 2010
Retrieved 5 April 2014

References

External links

*
''The Club''
at Oz Movies
The Club at the National Film and Sound Archive

Peter Fitzpatrick study guide for Currency

Collingwood Football Club

Screen Australia

The New York Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Club, The 1980 films Australian comedy films 1980 comedy films Australian rules football films Films based on works by David Williamson Films directed by Bruce Beresford Films shot in Melbourne 1980s English-language films Australian films based on plays 1980s Australian films