Firstly before I forget, I want to thank Mr John Richardson who is the Director of Marketing for the South Sydney Football Club.
I emailed www.rabbitohs.com.au as a general enquiry as to whether I could have permission to use their traditional club song in my film. I explained I was making an animated film for Uni and a general gist regarding the rivalry of Souths/Easts with a character based on my pop who played with the club.
Long story short, Mr Richardson replied the next day (today) and said it’s not a problem and they would like a copy when we finish.
So I’m very pleased. I wish to use a section of the song at the end of the film and through the credits.
Ok, this weekend I endeavor to begin some storyboard panels- working over last weekend plus getting sick slowed me down in that regard, I put that stuff aside to focus on getting better and animating for my W.I.L project. The first draft script is done, and is below, but I don’t think I will deviate much further from this- It’s really a 6th/7th draft script if you count the previous 5 to 6 I worked on for the lion/zebra which I scrapped. However, in hindsight, although I am extremely stressed and frustrated when I think of the time, energy and brain power I spent on the last idea, I feel I conntect more on a personal level to this story as the elements are so personal to me.
Now I previously mentioned that some of this idea, particularly the rivalry/class struggle stems from the aussie doco “Fibros vs. Silvertails” which was about the Rivalry between the Western Surburbs Magpies and the Manly Sea Eagles in 1978 in particular. I’ve been a Souths fan since I was about 11 when my Dad first introduced me to them, before then I wasn’t really into Footy much, I remember watching State of Origin here and there and (rather disgusting to think about) because of being born in Paddington, Sydney,I had a mild connection to the Eastern Surburbs roosters (I assure you, it was just a young 5 year old wondering who I was suppose to follow. Living at Bondi at the time, one doesn’t have much of a choice).
My Dad and his Dad (my Pop, Ray Mason) thankfully showed me the light. I cant remember anything specifically that switched me over, but at any rate I get a massive thrill to see the red and green jersey cross the line to score a try.
The street in Redfern where Dad grew up. I think this phot is mid 60's.
A few points stick out in my memory. 1, was a gift from my Aunty Sue (my Dad’s sister) who gave me my first encyclopedia of Rugby League players (1995 if I remember correct). In there was a small sentence about my Pop. Now my memory is terrible but I think it said “Nippy Souths Half back played during South’s Goldern Era of the 1950’s ( basically, in 1st Grade, Pop and the team won a number of premierships, plus his reserve grade sides did too). Pop was very reserved about himself in that he never boasted, but I remember going to his house in Umina, NSW (purchased after he moved from Redfern) where my Aunty Julie now lives, and seeing all his Football photos and team photos up on the walls, red and green memorabilia on the bar etc.
Another point is my 18th birthday, the year when Souths got back into the competition after illegally getting kicked out by New Limited during their stupid super league thing. Basically, it was the ultimate in the Underdog win and we were pleased to see them back again. Anyway, Dad and I caught the train into Central and walked to Redfern where we dropped in to see “Tugger” who was best mates with Dad since Birth. Tugger was Coaching Souths at the time and for those who don’t know, I believe he sits as the player who’s played the most games for bunnies. Anyways, that day I joined Souths, and still carry around that key chain with the gold logo on it. That day also, Dad showed me Redfern Oval and Waterloo oval where he played footy as a kid, and also where Pop’s house was where he grew up, which is located opposite Redfern oval just around the corner from Souths Leagues club. It’s not there anymore, it had been knocked down yeahs ago to make way for Housing commission houses, but it was still nice to be there.
I think that year too was the year when Pop and I went and watched the Bunnies play St George. Pop was a life member of the club and every year would receive free season ticket passes to see the games. They were general admission seats but that day we had walked all the way around the stadium (“Aussie Stadium” if that’s still it’s name…the one at Moore Park next to the SCG) and couldn’t find where we were suppose to sit. By this stage pop was getting impatient and we were missing the reserve grade match, so we walked up to the last section which happened to be special seating, I think for where the Sotuh supporters group “The Burrow” sat. When the bloke refused us entry my Pop pulled out his life membership badge, which was a gold necklace that hung around his neck. He showed the bloke this, raising his voice about the drama we’d gone through, and I guess to save an argument and risk upsetting a life member, Pop and I were let through. Sotuhs didn’t win that day, but we had a great time and “The Burrow” supporter songs kept us entered all day. It was the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced at a football match, and I’ve attended NRL grand finals. The charity shields are fantastic though too. I guess it’s never the same when your own team isn’t playing.
Sorry that took ages, believe me, I was trying to keep it brief. Going back to the film though I was originally wanting to keep an animal rivalry similar to my first idea of Lions/zebras. However, after watching “Fibros…” I decided that not only could I represent two animals that aren’t really predator and prey in the natural world, but in an Australian context, represent long standing animosity from not only a sporting perspective, but also of a class perspective (the haves vs. the have nots, the richer class vs. the lower class) and a geographical perspective. At first I was thinking Souths vs Manly, which runs back to the 1960s/70s (?) due to the richer Manly club poaching players from Souths. My pop had two shirts buried with him at his funeral: one was his souths jersey, the other was his t-shirt” I barrack for Souths and anyone who hates Manly”, however when doing my research I began to lean more to the Eastern Suburbs Roosters (now Sydney Roosters) for a number of reasons.
The Rivarly between Sotuhs and Easts is the oldest Sporting Rivalry in the World. Both clubs were established in 1908 (100 years this year) with the Roosters forming 1 week after us (and they call Easts, “Big Brother” to Souths... :S), The first grand final, we snatched victory, and hatred has brewed ever since. Despite the Rooster’s success as compared to Souths in recent years, South still remain the most successful Rugby League team in the World with a total of 20 Premierships. Oh, andthe Roosters have poached a lot of South players and Juniors over the years. So I had my characters and their respective backgrounds.
In regards to the Rabbit, I named him “Raymond” basing him on Pop, and some of pop’s backstory and personality in that Pop never had a mortagage on his houses. He paid them outright with the money he earnt. So Raymond has his property in Redfern. When talking to Dad, I was trying to see in he had any photos on the street. “No” but luckily I drew for him a picture of his house based on a painting done on it years ago. So I have a jist. Now dad had no idea what year the terrace houses in the street were put in, knocked down or how old Pop’s house was but he did say a few things which helped the story. At this stage I was trying to give the rooster a reason to have conflict with the rabbit. One possible storyline was that he was the landlord raising the rent on the rabbit, but I couldn’t work out a resolve after this initial layout. But Dad described that the strett was full of these old English style terrace houses that still exist today in parts of Sydney and in London (I’ve stayed in them before…they suck :P), except Pop’s house which had it’s own large front yard where Dad and his mates played footy, and on game days they could sit in the house and see the game playing at Redfern oval with a perfect view.
I had my plot, thanks to Dad. The Rooster WANTS that property, cause he’s all about money. The rabbit, is all about his mates, and the community. Sticking together. There’s my theme. The Underdogs. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog (which was something I always kept in my mind before my Taekwon-do fights).
Now Im not trying to be totally accurate with the dates. Im still referencing the time period in “The Sting”, around this time the depression was still hitting the aussie family and it was this photo I found surfing the net that helped me with the script also. This Anzac was put out on the street (redfern) with his stuff and family during the depression of the 20’s/30’s. Now the one thin that’s going to seem funny is the fact that Redfern oval is a reference in the film but in actual fact I think 1947 was the year the rabbits began playing there….I think I will keep the year ambiguous and I wont let the facts in that regard get in the way of the story.
I believe this photo is of Surry Hills, but same concept in the street proximity.
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