The Club is a 1980 film adaption of the David Williamson play of the same name. It was directed by Bruce Beresford. It is about the inner dealing of Australian Rules Football. It starred Jack Thompson and Graham Kennedy and a young John Howard. It is inspired by the backroom dealing of Collingwood.

The plot

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The club pay a high price for Tasmanian recuit, 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 look to be over soon. Ted Parker (Kennedy), the club president is forced to resign following incidents of backstabbing from various board members, especially Jock (Frank Wilson) and Gerry (Alan Cassell). Upon discovering that the board wants to sack him (arising from a long grudge against held against him by Jock), Laurie inspires Geoff to start playing well. It is later transpired that Jock used to be a coach of Laurie. Jock was jealous because Laurie nearly surpassed his club record of 282 games. He also lost a grand final by making poor decisions under the influence of alcohol. Laurie then told the members that he was drunk. After being dismissed as coach, Laurie became the new coach and Jock tried to sabotage the club his best to get back at Laurie. 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'.

External links

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Australian films | Films based on plays | Sports films