This Sporting Life : Tue Aug 27, 2013 11:52 am  

Do any of you remember the 1963 film "This Sporting Life" with Richard Harris? I was a 14 year old, standing behind the sticks at Belle Vue (Wakefield) during the scene where he scored a try in front of 27,000 people, awaiting the start of a challenge cup match between Trinity and Wigan. Scenes were also filmed at Thrum Hall (Halifax) and many of the players from Trinity and Halifax had small parts in the film.

Anyway, for those of you who are still with me, there will be a three-hour Radio 4 dramatisation of the story next Saturday (31st August) at 2.30pm, directed by our own Johnny Vegas (who else?) It's the only decent film I've ever seen about our great game so I sincerely hope the radio dramatisation does it justice. With Johnny in charge, you can bet it will....!

Re: This Sporting Life : Tue Aug 27, 2013 3:07 pm  

I was at that game it was played in March 1962 and Wigan lost 5 - 4. Frankie Parr had a try disallowed for putting his foot in touch after breaking blindside from a scrum (but he was well inside the touchline, my excellent 13 year old eyes could see it ) Robbed again.

Re: This Sporting Life : Tue Aug 27, 2013 3:21 pm  

This Sporting Life is arguably the best film about sport ever - certainly the best film about British sport. The original novel by David Story is worth reading, too. It is of the same period and literary movement as the 'angry young man' novels/plays such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Billy Liar and so on. The film had major stars in it ( Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts would be the equivalent today of Daniel Craig as Machin and Helen Mirren as Margaret) - can you imagine that in a film about RL now?

I'll tune in to the play as it's always worth revisiting.

Re: This Sporting Life : Tue Aug 27, 2013 5:37 pm  

Great film. Up there with Raging Bull as sporting films go (probably because both of them are more about human brutality than sport per se). Decent kitchen-sinky novel too.

Re: This Sporting Life : Wed Aug 28, 2013 8:48 am  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

I was at that game it was played in March 1962 and Wigan lost 5 - 4. Frankie Parr had a try disallowed for putting his foot in touch after breaking blindside from a scrum (but he was well inside the touchline, my excellent 13 year old eyes could see it ) Robbed again.

You can't have been there. I didn't see you.......!
Anyway, Fred Smith scored the try for Trinity and Neil Fox (my all-time sporting hero) kicked the goal.
Good to know fans of our age still enjoy the gane so much, irrespective of which team we support.

Re: This Sporting Life : Wed Aug 28, 2013 10:13 am  

Mi dad told me about that film, he said those were the days when men were men. Then the gum shields became popular and we all lost our identity!