''The First Kangaroos'' is a 1988 British–Australian made for TV

sports film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the s ...

directed by

Frank Cvitanovich Frank Cvitanovich (14 August 1927 – 12 August 1995) was a Canadian documentary film maker, who made much of his best work for British television. Early years Cvitanovich was born in Vancouver, the son of a Croat immigrant. His father founded ...

and starring

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', '' Minder'' and '' New Tricks'', singing the theme tunes of th ...

, Chris Haywood and Dominic Sweeney. It depicts the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, the first-ever such tour by the

Australia national rugby league team The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian ...

.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p62 ''The First Kangaroos'' drew complaints from the granddaughter of British rugby league legend

Albert Goldthorpe Albert Edward Goldthorpe (3 November 1871 – 8 January 1943) was an English rugby footballer from the period around 1895's schism in English rugby, which led to the formation of rugby league football around the turn of the century. Career O ...

for its villainous depiction of him. Some scenes featured the grandstand of ''Arlington Oval'' in the inner-western Sydney suburb

Dulwich Hill Dulwich Hill is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 7.5 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. Dulwich Hill ...

which hosted women's competitions of the

1938 British Empire Games The 1938 British Empire Games was the third British Empire Games, the event that evolved to become the Commonwealth Games. Held in Sydney, Australia from 5–12 February 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary (150 yea ...

Cast

...

* Chris Haywood ... James Joseph "J J" Giltinan * Dominic Sweeney ... Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger *

Philip Quast Philip Mark Quast (born 30 July 1957) is an Australian actor and singer. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical three times, making him the first actor to have three wins in that category. He is perhaps best known f ...

... Alex "Bluey" Burdon * Tony Martin ...

Dan Frawley Dan Frawley (1882–1967) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer, a national representative player. He played his career as a with the Eastern Suburbs club in Sydney and is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of t ...

Clarissa Kaye-Mason Clarissa Kaye (2 August 193121 July 1994) was an Australian stage, film and television actress. She was the second wife (1971–1984) of the British actor James Mason. After her marriage, she was often known as Clarissa Kaye-Mason. Biography ...

... Mrs. Messenger * Jim Carter ... Arthur Hughes *

Alex Broun Alex Broun (born 16 March 1965) is an Australian playwright and screenwriter, who has worked extensively with Short+Sweet, a series of theatre festivals for productions of ten minutes or less. Born in Sydney, Australia, he has been referred to ...

... Morton * Wayne Pygram ...

Albie Rosenfeld Albert Aaron Rosenfeld (28 July 1885 – 7 September 1970), also known by the nickname of "Rozzy", was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer, a national representative whose club career was played in Sydney and in England. He played f ...

* John Dicks ... Reverend Green * Nell Schofield ... Betty *

Kelly Dingwall John Dingwall (13 July 1940 – 3 May 2004) was an Australian journalist, writer and director of film and television, best known for his screenplay ''Sunday Too Far Away'' (1975). Dingwall should not be confused with the Scottish journalist of t ...

... Jim Devereaux * Robert Giltinan ... Reporter * Harold Kissin ... Trainer *

Allan Surtees Allan Joseph Surtees (31 December 1924 – 1 November 2000) was an English actor who appeared in many television productions and films over a 30-year period. Television appearances His television appearances included roles on '' Coronation ...

... George the Barman * Wayne Pearce ... Sid "Sandy" Pearce * Andrew Ettingshausen ... Conlon Both Wayne Pearce ( Balmain Tigers) and Andrew Ettingshausen ( Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks) were current Australian rugby league test players when the film was released. Pearce had been a member of the undefeated

1982 Kangaroo tour The 1982 Kangaroo tour was the fifteenth Kangaroo tour where the Australian national rugby league team played a number of matches against British and French rugby league teams, in addition to the Test matches. The Australia national rugby league ...

, while Ettingshausen would go on to be the leading try scorer on both the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours t ...

Reception

Karen Hardy, reviewing the film in 2013 said, "Sure, it wasn't the finest sports movie ever made but there was humour – intentional or not, I wasn't quite sure – and conflict and pathos. And its story, which it admitted in the opening credits was ''sort of'' based on true events, was an interesting one."

References

External links

*
''The First Kangaroos''
at Oz Movies 1988 television films 1988 films Australian drama television films Rugby league films Australian sports drama films British sports drama films Cultural depictions of Australian men Cultural depictions of rugby footballers 1980s English-language films 1980s British films British drama television films {{sport-film-stub