The Game That Got Away

Filmmaker Roger Mills authored this documentary in 1969 and managed to capture the spirit of rugby league in the north of England. Mills tells the story from his own perspective, as a middle-class rugby union-playing southerner who was taught nothing of the game at school and who never knew that far off in the 'cloth-capped' north men took money for a very different type of rugger. The film is beautifully shot and shows the sport on and off the pitch. It deals with league's difficult relationship with rugby union and differences in attitude and culture. Among his interviewees is the late Brian Redhead, who describes league as an intellectual game. The documentary ends with classic behind-the-scenes access to a game featuring Featherstone Rovers. About half the Featherstone Rovers side work in the mines - they live in a small community but their ground is regularly thronged by talent spotters and the national press.