Fab's fabulous rugby DVDs

PICK ME UP AND RUN

This is a simple and very entertaining guide, produced in conjunction with the Australian Rugby Football Union, to playing and watching the game of rugby. The national team shows us what they do, how to play the game and how to get the most enjoyment from it. The production uses humour, great match footage and Australia's best players to produce a highly paced and enjoyable introduction to this rapidly expanding sport.

CENSORSHIP RATING G LENGTH: 50 minutes COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: AUSTRALIA YEAR OF PRODUCTION: 1995 PRODUCER: Haydn Keenan & Peter Fenton DIRECTOR: Haydn Keenan & Peter Fenton

PERFORMERS:
Australia's Rugby team, The Wallabies. Narrated by "The Voice of Rugby" - Gordon Bray. Featuring the "Groundsman From Hell" - Peter "FAB" Fenton.

QUOTABLE QUOTES FROM MAJOR REVIEWS:
You don't have to know all the rules of the game - I certainly don't - the important thing is to enjoy the game. - David Campese (Australia's most capped international player).

SUBJECT AREA:

Sport/Psychology/Education

THE RUNNING GAME and THE AFRICAN CAMPAIGN, the two best films made about Rugby Union have now been released on DVD by Smart Street Films. Having been unavailable for some years their return is a timely insight into how the culture of Rugby has changed. These aren’t re-edited newsreel packages but personal interpretation by film makers Haydn Keenan and Peter Fenton of the people and the game itself.

In THE RUNNING GAME we join the Wallabies on one of the last long tours of the United Kingdom and Ireland. For three months The Seventh Wallabies of 1981/2, who had made sacrifices to participate which can hardly be understood today, were sustained by comradeship and hospitality as they travelled through Britain’s worst winter this century.

The Running Game is a classic account of their experiences on and off the field and was a revelation when released. For the first time cameras were allowed into a Wallaby dressing room. Unrivalled access to the team and the use of ground breaking camera techniques and slow motion montages, complemented by specially composed music and verse, provides a moving and exciting tribute to some of the great players of a bygone era. From uncompromising captain Tony Shaw to Loane, Hipwell, O’Connor, Hawker, Cornelsen, Poidevin and the emerging genius of Mark Ella here are Wallaby legends to thrill younger viewers and take older ones back to a glorious time.

In the years since it's initial release the stature of the film has grown. To lovers of the game and the players themselves it has become legendary.

As former Wallaby captain Nick Farr-Jones said, " I always ensured that we took a copy of THE RUNNING GAME with us on tour. It is inspiring viewing. It stirs the heart and makes you feel accountable for past Wallaby traditions. Before two of our greatest victories, and we were underdogs both times, at Strasbourg against the French in '89 and again in Wellington in 1990 when we broke the All Black's 23 match winning streak, I played the tape for the team. The effect was tremendous and we won both games."
Poetry, music and insight all come together in this film. It captures the spirit of Rugby as it was in 1982. As the late Bob Templeton said at the time "The film was very emotional." An unusual statement from a man like Tempo.

THE AFRICAN CAMPAIGN : In August 1992, Australia’s World Champion Rugby team, the Wallabies, arrived in South Africa to decide who was the best team in the world. Three lead up games and a single test match meant this short tour would be one of unprecedented intensity and drama. The sides had not met for twenty three years. Nick Farr-Jones, Marty Roebuck, Paul Carrozza, the young John Eales, Willie O, , Campese, McKenzie, Kearns and Co. were on a hit and run mission to decide the heavyweight champions of the world.

But it’s not just Rugby. THE AFRICAN CAMPAIGN gives us a real insight into the emerging South Africa; it’s culture, music and leading personalities.

Not only is there exclusive coverage of the games plus meetings with Nelson Mandela and President De Klerk, but also behind the scenes fun and drama with the players themselves. THE AFRICAN CAMPAIGN is as close to the champion team as you can get without being selected. A sensational combination of hard hitting football, African music, poetry and humour, this film is a unique record of a historic event.

Not many National teams have their own poets and film makers in attendance to record their feats. But in Peter Fenton and Haydn Keenan the Wallabies have talented artists who captured their spirit with quality film making skills.

PETER FENTON:
Chief sound mixer on approximately 150 feature films including, Newsfront, Picnic At Hanging Rock, My Brilliant Career, Gallipoli, Phar Lap, Six Degrees Of Separation. During this period he coached a number of First grade Rugby teams and the Sydney rep side. He has made three films on Rugby and one on Boxer Les Darcy. He has had 7 books published including sports biographies, (Les Darcy, Wayne Harris) and Poetry. He has just completed THEY CALLED HIM BOY a biography of Boy Charlton which will be released next year. At present he is a columnist for Inside Rugby Magazine and works as bookies’ clerk when drinking money is low.

HAYDN KEENAN:
Award winning film Director and Producer. Feature films include 27A, Going Down and Pandemonium. Thirty five year career working the left field in Australian film means you have to be a sociopath or have a sense of humour. Haydn has managed to combine the two. From angry young man to silly old fart. Currently finishing a major documentary on Artist Rock star Reg Mombassa of Mambo fame and rehearsing Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape.

To order any of the above DVDs please send a cheque for $30 each plus $5 postage and handling ($35 each total) to:

Peter Fenton
1/378 Ocean View Rd

Ettalong NSW 2257.

 

fabfenton@gmail.com

Back to top