''The First Kangaroos'' is a 1988 British–Australian made for TV

sports film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport or a sports-related topic is prominently featured or is a focus of the plot. D ...

directed by

Frank Cvitanovich Frank Cvitanovich (14 August 1927 – 12 August 1995) was a Canadian documentary film maker, who made much of his best work for British television. Early years Cvitanovich was born in Vancouver, the son of a Croatian Canadian, Croat immigrant. ...

and starring

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', ''Minder (TV series), Minder'' and ''New Tricks'', singing the ...

Chris Haywood Chris Haywood (born ) is an English-born Australian actor, writer and producer, with close to 500 screen performances to his name. Haywood has also worked as a casting director, art director, sound recordist, camera operator, gaffer, grip, lo ...

and

Dominic Sweeney Dominic, Dominik or Dominick is a male given name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". The most promi ...

. It depicts the

1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain The 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the first ever such tour for the newly-formed Australia national rugby league team (or 'The Kangaroos'). The tour was to England and Wales and coincided with the first Wallabies Rugby Union tour of ...

, the first-ever such tour by the

Australia national rugby league team The Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competitions since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League Com ...

.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p62 ''The First Kangaroos'' drew complaints from the granddaughter of British rugby league legend

Albert Goldthorpe Albert Edward Goldthorpe (3 November 1871 – 8 January 1943) was an English rugby footballer from the period around 1895's schism in English rugby, which led to the formation of rugby league football around the turn of the century. Career One ...

for its villainous depiction of him. Some scenes featured the grandstand of ''Arlington Oval'' in the inner-western Sydney suburb

Dulwich Hill Dulwich Hill is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 7.5 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. Dulwich Hill stretche ...

which hosted women's competitions of the

1938 British Empire Games The 1938 British Empire Games were the third British Empire Games, the event that evolved to become the Commonwealth Games. Held in Sydney, Australia from 5–12 February 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary (150 yea ...

Cast

...

... James Joseph "J J" Giltinan *

... Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger *

Philip Quast Philip Mark Quast (born 30 July 1957) is an Australian actor and bass-baritone singer. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical three times, making him the first actor to have three wins in that category. He is perhap ...

... Alex "Bluey" Burdon * Tony Martin ...

Dan Frawley Dan Frawley (1882–1967) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer, a national representative player. He played his career as a with the Eastern Suburbs club in Sydney and is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 2 ...

Clarissa Kaye-Mason Clarissa Kaye (2 August 1931 – 21 July 1994) was an Australian stage, film and television actress. She was the second wife (1971–1984) of the British actor James Mason. After her marriage, she was often known as Clarissa Kaye-Mason. Biogr ...

... Mrs. Messenger * Jim Carter ... Arthur Hughes *

Alex Broun Alex Broun is an Australian theatre director/producer, playwright and screenwriter, who has worked extensively with Short+Sweet, a series of theatre festivals for productions of ten minutes or less. Born in Sydney, Australia, he has been refer ...

... Morton *

Wayne Pygram Wayne Pigram , better known by his stage name Wayne Pygram, is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as Scorpius in the science fiction series ''Farscape'' (2000–2003) and the miniseries that followed, '' Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars ...

...

Albie Rosenfeld Albert Aaron Rosenfeld (28 July 1885 – 7 September 1970) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer, a national representative whose club career was played in Sydney and in England. He played for New South Wales in the first rugby lea ...

* John Dicks ... Reverend Green *

Nell Schofield Nell is a traditional nickname for Eleanor. Nell is the name of: People Given name * Nell (artist) (born 1975), Australian artist * Nell Blaine (1922–1996), American painter * Nell Bryden (born 1977), American singer * Nell Tiger Free (born 1 ...

... Betty *

Kelly Dingwall John Dingwall (died 3 May 2004) was an Australian writer of film and television, best known for his screenplay ''Sunday Too Far Away'' (1975). Dingwall should not be confused with the Scottish journalist of the same name. Career Dingwall was ...

... Jim Devereaux * Robert Giltinan ... Reporter * Harold Kissin ... Trainer *

Allan Surtees Allan Joseph Surtees (31 December 1924 – 1 November 2000) was an English actor who appeared in many television productions and films over a 30-year period. Television appearances His television appearances included roles on ''Coronation S ...

... George the Barman *

Wayne Pearce Wayne John Pearce (born 29 March 1960 in Balmain, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. A for the Balmain Tigers, he was known as Junior. Pearce represented New South Wales in the State of Or ...

... Sid "Sandy" Pearce *

Andrew Ettingshausen Andrew "ET" Ettingshausen (born 29 October 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. He played his first grade Australian club football for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks ...

... Conlon *

Ian Gilmour Ian Hedworth John Little Gilmour, Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar, (8 July 1926 – 21 September 2007) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was styled Sir Ian Gilmour, 3rd Baronet from 1977, having succeeded to his fat ...

... Steamship Official Both

(

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995 to 1996) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and on ...

) and

(

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

) were current Australian rugby league test players when the film was released. Pearce had been a member of the undefeated

1982 Kangaroo tour The 1982 Kangaroo tour was the fifteenth Kangaroo tour where the Australian national rugby league team played a number of matches against British and French rugby league teams, in addition to the Test matches. The Australia national rugby lea ...

, while Ettingshausen would go on to be the leading try scorer on both the

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australia national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours too ...

Reception

Karen Hardy, reviewing the film in 2013 said, "Sure, it wasn't the finest sports movie ever made but there was humour – intentional or not, I wasn't quite sure – and conflict and pathos. And its story, which it admitted in the opening credits was ''sort of'' based on true events, was an interesting one."

References

External links

*
''The First Kangaroos''
at Oz Movies 1988 television films 1988 films Australian drama television films Rugby league films Australian sports drama films British sports drama films Cultural depictions of Australian people Cultural depictions of rugby footballers 1980s English-language films 1980s British films British drama television films English-language sports drama films {{sport-film-stub