The Club - the things that change, the things that stay the same

[76woodenspooners]

The movie that was made in 1980 …





… classic Collingwood players Rene Kink (as Tank O’Donahue), Ray Shaw, and Ronnie Wearmouth are featured. You can get glimpses of Peter More and a young Peter Daicos. Tommy Hafey plays the role of trainer.

Film features the best commentator of all time, the late Lou Richards.

Film chronicles a tumultuous time for the club, the President resigns and the coach is under the pump. Much like recent times at Collingwood.

Much if the movie is prophetic. You could probably imagine most scenes and plot lines having happened in real life at some stage over the past 40 years. The plan to buy up big on players (and almost send the club broke) happened only a few years after the movie came out.

The things that have stayed the same

- “It’s been <insert number> years since we won a Premiership!”
- Board politics
- Concerns about the board meddling in footy department
- Sweeping scandals under the carpet
- Locker-room politics
- Ageing players struggling to come to terms with their longevity


The things that have changed

- Bigger gap between the board and players these days. Hard to imagine the captain barging into the board room these days.
- It’s probably been a while since we’ve had ghosts of players / coaches past around the joint living in the past.

Others?

 

[Jen2310]

Its definitely meant to be about collingwood.

 

[Collingwood 4 eternity]

Love him or not Today 23 years ago set the path to the Shaw spoon , getting MM as coach , B2B GFs , 3 prelims , 1 drawn GF then the eventual 2010 Premiership

 

[Sticky Daics Pudding]

Love this movie, the choice of GF opponent cracks me up.

 

[domus]

The movie that was made in 1980 …



… classic Collingwood players Rene Kink (as Tank O’Donahue), Ray Shaw, and Ronnie Wearmouth are featured. You can get glimpses of Peter More and a young Peter Daicos. Tommy Hafey plays the role of trainer.

Film features the best commentator of all time, the late Lou Richards.

Film chronicles a tumultuous time for the club, the President resigns and the coach is under the pump. Much like recent times at Collingwood.

Much if the movie is prophetic. You could probably imagine most scenes and plot lines having happened in real life at some stage over the past 40 years. The plan to buy up big on players (and almost send the club broke) happened only a few years after the movie came out.

The things that have stayed the same

- “It’s been <insert number> years since we won a Premiership!”
- Board politics
- Concerns about the board meddling in footy department
- Sweeping scandals under the carpet
- Locker-room politics
- Ageing players struggling to come to terms with their longevity


The things that have changed

- Bigger gap between the board and players these days. Hard to imagine the captain barging into the board room these days.
- It’s probably been a while since we’ve had ghosts of players / coaches past around the joint living in the past.

Others?

My mate Lethal Leigh Carlson features prominently in the finals footage! Legend.

 

[Cyclops]

"He was the King of seagulls" great film, decent play too. There's a simpler look at footy from earlier in the play "And the Big Men Fly", with Achilles Jones as the barefoot bush legend. Not enough good writing about footy, we need a Shakespeare to create a literary footprint for our great game.

 

[Vicky Park]

It’s a good day when Ronnie Wearmouth is mentioned.

 

[Vicky Park]

I’ve watched this film a few times over the years, and my main interest is seeing Vic Park!

 

[MyManLynch]

It’s a good day when Ronnie Wearmouth is mentioned.

Rotten Ronnie…

 

[76woodenspooners]

It’s a good day when Ronnie Wearmouth is mentioned.

Totally!

Watched a Tony Shaw interview where he said that his brother Ray gave him space, and that his real mentor at the club was Ronnie. Reckoned he was an awesome teacher.

Wouldn’t you just love to have Ronnie in our midfield today? Fast, skilful, durable, got his hands on the footy, great clubman who did it all. And Vicky Park , didn’t you just love to see that blonde mullet billowing out behind him like a windsock as he sliced through the midfield?

Things were different back then, the big blokes who kicked the goals were the ones who were wallpapered on kids bedroom walls. If Ronnie were playing today he’d be even more iconic than he was back then.

 

[Vicky Park]

Totally!

Watched a Tony Shaw interview where he said that his brother Ray gave him space, and that his real mentor at the club was Ronnie. Reckoned he was an awesome teacher.

Wouldn’t you just love to have Ronnie in our midfield today? Fast, skilful, durable, got his hands on the footy, great clubman who did it all. And Vicky Park , didn’t you just love to see that blonde mullet billowing out behind him like a windsock as he sliced through the midfield?

Things were different back then, the big blokes who kicked the goals were the ones who were wallpapered on kids bedroom walls. If Ronnie were playing today he’d be even more iconic than he was back then.

I loved him 76, but I don’t think he got much out of life after footy. Drifted around a bit. Although the club got him back a few years ago, for an event. 2019? Looked like he’d ‘been around’. A great character.

 

[Trickster]

The DVD has some cool extras. It goes behind the scenes of Vic Park (before we moved I believe) and even has the original Up there Cazaly.

Such an iconic movie. Remember reading the book at school too.

Not PC, but Jock telling Gerry they need to get rid of Hayward because 'he's been up his Mum and his legless sister and killed his old man' is hilarious.

And the guy in the crowd yelling out that Collingwood are just as bad as Parker's (Pres Ted Parker) Pies is funny too.

Always chuckled in the credits when they refer to Bob Davis as Bob David.

Great cast and awesome movie.

 

[Trickster]

The things that have stayed the same

Collingwood chasing the Hawthorn coach mid season. Actually Rostoff is a bit like Clarko

 

[Jen2310]

Watched the movie for the first time last night. Its very good. You can tell 5 mins in who this movie was about.

Basically the Ern Clarke reign as president.

So weird seeing Vic Park prior to they demolished the stands. And you can see where I currently live, in one of the tower buildings over the ground.

 

[Mkcaptain]

 

[MyManLynch]

Collingwood chasing the Hawthorn coach mid season. Actually Rostoff is a bit like Clarko

I always assumed that Rostoff was a fictional character based on Ron Barassi.

 

[jmac70]

Remember listening to that on the Sunday after losing to Carlton in 81.
Thought my dad was going to top himself.

 

[Trickster]

Watched the movie for the first time last night. Its very good. You can tell 5 mins in who this movie was about.

Basically the Ern Clarke reign as president.

So weird seeing Vic Park prior to they demolished the stands. And you can see where I currently live, in one of the tower buildings over the ground.

It's interesting because the book had no mention of Collingwood or any club for that matter, but when it was made for the small screen they adapted it to Collingwood and added all the Pie players in. The fictional names were the same.

It may well have been based on Collingwood originally by Williamson as it fitted our description but not 100% sure. Would love to know if Williamson ever confirmed whether it was based on us.

 

[jmac70]

It's interesting because the book had no mention of Collingwood or any club for that matter, but when it was made for the small screen they adapted it to Collingwood and added all the Pie players in. The fictional names were the same.

It may well have been based on Collingwood originally by Williamson as it fitted our description but not 100% sure. Would love to know if Williamson ever confirmed whether it was based on us.

It’s a play. Not based on Collingwood, but rather club politics.

 

[Trickster]

It’s a play. Not based on Collingwood, but rather club politics.

That was my thought also. I think the TV adaptation included the Collingwood slant / players to it along with the other VFL teams.

 

[Jen2310]

It's interesting because the book had no mention of Collingwood or any club for that matter, but when it was made for the small screen they adapted it to Collingwood and added all the Pie players in. The fictional names were the same.

It may well have been based on Collingwood originally by Williamson as it fitted our description but not 100% sure. Would love to know if Williamson ever confirmed whether it was based on us.

Even if you took out any mention of collingwood, it was plain us from the start. Just in the first 5 mins it was plainly obvious. Even if the original was not meant to be, but not sure how similar the play was from the movie, but too many facts that stare at you in the face.

Big club.
Been almost 2 decades since a flag
Players used to want to play for us just to have the honour of the jumper.
Over 100 years of history.

That's even before you factor into the ground itself.

If it was meant to be about club politics... No club does politics like collingwood lol

 

[jmac70]

“I wrote the club in 1977 as both a celebration and a satire on the great code of afl. But more specifically, it was about politics and politicking. in a sense it was a satire of male, macho, competitive behaviour and how absolutely ruthless that can be.
the truth is, the greatest target of my satire was the bad behaviour of males towards other males. a competitive, political world where treachery is called acumen.”
David Williamson

 

[Trickster]

Even if you took out any mention of collingwood, it was plain us from the start. Just in the first 5 mins it was plainly obvious. Even if the original was not meant to be, but not sure how similar the play was from the movie, but too many facts that stare at you in the face.

Big club.
Been almost 2 decades since a flag
Players used to want to play for us just to have the honour of the jumper.
Over 100 years of history.

That's even before you factor into the ground itself.

If it was meant to be about club politics... No club does politics like collingwood lol

I agree it all points to us but not sure whether the initial play was.

No mention of the ground or anything in the play / book, it was only the 6 characters. Pretty sure it doesn't even go as far as the GF so a few variations in the movie.

I think it was more broadly about politics and macho male behaviour.

Other clubs also had a drought at that point. Esse, Melb, St.K and were probably just as dysfunctional. I don't know if he ever came out and confirmed or denied it.

 

[Trickster]

As a side note, Ted Parker's house where Geoff returns the $10k is on Keilor Rd in Esse (service lane, heading away from city closer towards the fwy entry).

 

[76woodenspooners]

1:33 mark of the film, the train going over the Eastern Freeway railway bridge was an old red rattler. The doors didn’t automatically close and in the summertime we’d usually just leave them open for ventilation (there was no air conditioning either). People usually (but not always) did the right thing and didn’t run onto the train after the conductor blew their whistle. Good times standing by the doorway and watching the world go by and feeling the wind in your hair.

The W Class trams were similar - they didn’t have any doors at all. It was forbidden to ride on the running boards but it didn’t stop people from trying. The conductor would yell out at them, and they’d either have to get on board (packing in tight like a can of sardines) or get off. Any cartoons drawn of trams at the time would show people bulging out of them (but never on the running boards) because that’s what trams were like in peak hour.

We live in a very different world today with it being so safety conscious!