Synopsis
The story of six Wallabies, who after touring South Africa in 1969, realized that playing International rugby against South Africa would be condoning apartheid.
Making themselves unavailable for selection against the Springboks when they toured Australia in 1971 gave respectability to an otherwise radical campaign. Only one of the group would represent Australia again. The tour, which was supported by 85% of the population, not only changed the face of Australia, but played some part in the collapse of apartheid in South Africa some 20 years later.
Political Football pays homage to a group of relatively unknown Australian sportsmen, who dared to swim against the current, and sacrificed their personal ambitions for the sake of a principle.
Impact
Political Football was regarded by critics and viewers alike as an astounding insight into one of Australia’s most incredible pieces of Australian sporting and political history.
Few people realised the impact of the stand that these men took. The events changed Australia’s view of the Apartheid movement. Within the space of a few years and the election of the Whitlam government, a policy advocated by a bunch of ‘social misfits’ became official government policy for the next 20 years.
The film’s comprehensive and insightful look at these events even enlightened the players immediate families;
“ people don’t realize quite the extent of the protest movement that built up. My children had no idea until they saw the film” Jim Roxborough ( one of the rugby protesters)
The documentary succeeded in drawing a clever parallel to the Australian Aborigine’s ongoing struggle for equality;
“In addition to its examination of a major event in Australias sporting and social history, Middleton’s film offers an impression of the country in the late 60s and early 70’s and links the anti apartied protests to an merging awaremess of the plight of Aborigines in Australia."
Debi Enker, The Age
Political Football enlightened a whole new generation to the power that individuals can have in shaping the world in which we live.
“Political Football is one of the best documentaries you’ll see all year”
Scott Jenkins, Daily Telegraph”
Political Football was nominated for a Dendy Film Award in 2005
Director's statement
Many people today feel disempowered from the political decision making process. Many people, very often in a minority, disagree passionately with decisions the Government makes on their behalf, and are frustrated by their seeming inability to make a difference.
These feelings of disempowerment were very similar 30 years ago, when the Government, supported by an overwhelming majority of the population, and opposed by a radical minority, supported maintaining sporting links with South Africa.
It was then that a small group of young Australian men sacrificed their positions in the Australian Wallabies team, as the South African Springboks were due to tour Australia, as a protest against racism in sport.
All the players had played for Australia in South Africa, and were witness to a political system they found abhorrent.
In making their stand only of the seven players were selected to play for their country again. All the others, at the prime of there sporting careers, stopped playing. Their actions began to turn the tide of public opinion against the tour and eventually, with the change of Government, Government policy itself.
This documentary is the story of their stand; the Wallaby tour of South Africa in 1969, which opened their eyes to the reality of apartheid; their return to Australia and their refusal to represent Australia in the face of an approaching tour by South Africa in 1971.
For many, their actions were a betrayal, and once idealized, they were now spat on, the focus of an enormous social and political storm surrounding them. Not before long the spotlight began to turn onto racism being practiced in Australia, both on an official as well as social level.
Most of the players from this period are still alive and many of them highly entertaining story tellers.
The documentary covers all the sides of the dispute; from the spectators right to watch whomever they choose, the officials in both the sport and Government who made the decisions; the radicals who openly defied the authorities of the State in their attempts to close the games down and used strategies rarely ever before in Australia; the politicians, on both sides of the political spectrum, who attempted to make political ground over the issue; the predominantly right wing media, who trumpeting the views of the majority, declared their contempt for the protest movement.
The issues provide a fascinating microcosm of what was going on in Australia at the time. It is a portrait of a nation divided by a moral issue and of the men and women who stood up, made sacrifices, and played some small part in forcing the world to change."
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