Retrogram: Footy stars in soaps and sitcoms

Actors Christopher Atkins and Mark "Jacko" Jackson in the film Signal One, released in 1994. Source: News Corp Australia

AUSTRALIAN football has appeared in numerous television sitcoms and soapies over the years; one enduring memory of my youth was of footy being discussed on the early '80s comedy Kingswood Country.

Central character Ted Bullpitt ("money on the fridge'') puts down his newspaper to ask his son-in-law Bruno what he is watching on television. "Football,'' Bruno replies.

"Bulldust,'' snorts rugby-league fan Ted. "If that's football, why aren't they bleeding?

"Look at 'em. Bunch of pansies skipping around in their little sisters' shorts.''

Of course footballers have appeared as themselves on our screens, whether it be as panellists, hosting kids' shows or on reality TV shows.

Peter McKenna was one of the original co-hosts of Hey Hey It's Saturday, while Graham Cornes introduced the Wacky Races to a generation of South Australian kids in the 1970s.

Ryan Fitzgerald was on Big Brother, former Hawk Robert Dickson won the Australian version of Survivor, rover Johnny Platten bobbed up on Gladiators, Russell Robertson sang on It Takes Two, and ruckman Peter Everitt and forward Brendan Fevola cut a rug on Dancing with the Stars.

Peter Everitt and professional dancer Luda Kroitor practice for Dancing With the Stars. Source: News Limited

Garry Lyon was called out to come on down on to the Price Is Right, while Wayne Carey appeared in his North Melbourne jumper on Perfect Match in 1990 (asked by his prospective date what the headline would be if his photo appeared on page one of the newspaper, he predicted: "Probably 'Found guilty on all charges'.''

Former Saint Michael Roberts had a stint as a model on Sale Of The Century (extra points to anyone who can recall him appearing alongside teammate Michael Nettlefold on a 1982 episode of Countdown, presenting a St Kilda jumper to Toni Basil before she performed her No.1 hit Mickey).

Ryan Fitzgerald played 18 games with Sydney and Adelaide before being evicted from Big Brother. Source: News Corp Australia

But it's the soaps and sitcoms we're after. So we've delved into the pictorial archives and found 10 photos of footballers who found their way onto the set for a cameo. If you can think of any notable omissions leave a comment below or send a tweet to @_warwickgreen and we'll publish a selection next week.

1. Dipper in The Flying Doctors

HAVING won the 1986 Brownlow, the Hawks wingman was asked the following year to play a brief role as "Bruce the Brute'', a pill-popping truckie who pursues his girlfriend to Coopers Creek and ends up in big trouble.

"I'm not certain why they chose me, because I'm a footballer,'' DiPierdomenico said at the time. "I can't tell you the plot or if I get the girl in the end, but I'm called on to get a bit aggro and to drive one of those big trucks."

Robert DiPierdomenico and co-stars on The Flying Doctors. Source: Supplied

Dipper said the toughest part about the gig was the ribbing he got from his Hawks teammates. Another league footballer, former St Kilda forward and Test cricket all-rounder Simon O'Donnell, appeared on another episode on the show, but in the context of playing in a charity cricket match.

Actor Aaron Pedersen on set with Saints Sam Fisher, Brendon Goddard and Xavier Clarke. Source: News Limited

2. St Kilda players in The Secret Life Of Us

The early 2000s drama, about a group of 20-somethings living in a block of flats opposite Luna Park, began to take off on a tangent by season four.

One of the key characters, Kelly, began dating fictional St Kilda footballer called Corey Mailins (Aaron Pedersen). Mailins could boast that he took the 1995 mark of the year over Mick Martyn, won two best-and-fairests and finished fifth in the 1998 Brownlow.

One of the scenes called for footage from a training session, involving young Saints such as Raphael and Xavier Clarke, Nick Dal Santo, Leigh Montagna, Brendon Goddard and Sam Fisher. Pedersen, who is related to the McAdam brothers and Brisbane's Daryl White, did not look too out of place. He was actually a pretty handy footballer who played A-grade footy in Alice Springs at age 16.

Policewoman Briony Behets has a fag and arrests Alvin Purple (Graeme Blundell). This was the 70s, remember. Source: News Limited

3. Leigh Matthews in Alvin Purple

After the successful 1973 film Alvin Purple, the ABC screened a 13-part spin-off series for television. As inconceivable as it seems now, Hawthorn champion Leigh Matthews played a small role in an episode called Footy Widow during the 1976 premiership season.

Womaniser Alvin (Graeme Blundell) was training with the local footy club and getting up to no good behind the scenes. "Lethal" played a character called Max, who stepped in to warn Alvin that several upset husbands were going to try to knock him out at training.

"My part in the show was to tell him something like 'I hope you've got your box on'. Like a cricket box,'' Matthews said this week. "I don't remember a hell of a lot about it. I know I flew up to Sydney for the filming, and my involvement took a few hours, even though it was only 15 seconds or something in the show.''

4. Collingwood players on Neighbours

Back in 2011 Collingwood players Travis Cloke, Alan Toovey, Tyson Goldsack and Cameron Wood took themselves along to Ramsay St to appear as extras in an episode of Neighbours.

Inexplicably, they appeared in a scene in the Eastside Dingoes Gym, dressed in full Collingwood training gear.

They walked on treadmills (that were not actually moving) and pedalled stationary bikes. Cloke spent an eternity stretching as he prepared to lift the world's lightest barbell.

Collingwood players Travis Cloke, Alan Toovey, Cameron Wood and Tyson Goldsack work out at Erinsborough. for some reason Source: News Limited

What they were doing there, apart from sightseeing, is not really clear. It was Wood's idea to appear on the show and he approached the club, who helped make it happen. "I used to watch the show when I was at high school and Toady was always my favourite,'' Wood said. "We saw all the different sites, Lassiter's Lake and Harold's shop. It was fun."

5. Brodie Holland on Neighbours

THEN again, it's not like Neighbours hadn't already had a dip at reworking the plot to accommodate a Collingwood footballer.

At least Brodie Holland got some lines when he made his Neighbours cameo. Source: News Corp Australia

There is an episode where Max Hoyland (Stephen Lovatt) goes into a dream sequence, in which he is heating up his pie in preparation for the Grand Final, when suddenly he turns around to find: "Brdoie Holland! What are you doing in my kitchen, mate?'' The Magpie midfielder then declares: "We need a full-forward Max, and you're the man for the job.''

Sydney Swans footballer Warwick Capper with actors Annie Jones and Kylie Minogue on the set of Neighbours" in 1986. Source: News Corp Australia

6. The Wiz on Neighbours

YOU would have thought the scriptwriters could have at least contrived a way to build the episode around the Collingwood stars, like they did during the height of his Swans spearhead Warwick Capper's popularity in 1986.

The premise was that "The Wiz'' wandered into the local Erinsborough coffee shop, where Charlene Mitchell (Kylie Minogue) and Jane Harris (Annie Jones) ask for autographs. They then ask whether there's any prospect of them having a go at being cheerleaders for the Swans. It's that easy, apparently.

Dermott Brereton and Penny Cook. Source: Supplied

7. Dermie on E Street

THE Buddy Franklin of the late 1980s, Dermott Brereton had a few cracks at acting in TV shows.

There was an appearance on the kids sitcom Pugwall and much later a role in the crime drama Stingers. In 1990 he was cast as the local video store owner on the edgy soap E Street.

Derm helped bring the long-running but unresolved romantic tension between Dr Elly Fielding (Penny Cook) and Reverend Bob Brown (Tony Martin) to a head. On the show he fell for Dr Fielding, who had to enlist the good Reverend's help to tell Brereton's character that he was involved with her instead.

8. Jacko in The Highwayman

ON THE BACK of his successful battery advertisements, former VFL full-forward Mark Jackson landed a role in a futuristic show called The Highwayman, that was part Mad Max part Knight Rider.

His character was the imaginatively named Jetto, who was the offsider to the main character played by Sam Jones (of Flash Gordon fame). The pilot aired in September 1987, and was followed by a short-lived series of nine episodes in 1988.

The opening narration went: "There is a world, just beyond now, where reality runs a razor thin seam between fact and possibility; where the laws of the present collide with the crimes of tomorrow. Patrolling these vast outlands is a new breed of lawman, guarding the fringes of society's frontiers, they are known simply as 'Highwaymen' ... and this is their story ...''

Depite the failure of the show, Jacko went on to co-star with Christopher Atkins in the 1994 film Signal One, filmed in Sydney. The plot involved a police investigation into a female serial killer. It was so bad that Jacko hasn't really been seen on film since.

Clint Bizzell on the case with Aaron Pedersen and Daniel MacPherson. Source: News Limited

9. Clint Bizzell on City Homicide

THE FORMER Geelong and Melbourne defender turned his attention to acting after retiring in 2007. It began with a guest role on Channel 7's City Homicide, in which he played Ashley Brunton, the night manager of a city motel where a prominent judge stayed each week so he could indulge in heroin and hookers.

In 2009 Bizzell then had a five-week stint on Neighbours, playing Adam Clarke, a star footballer with the Portside Falcons.

If Jay Kennedy-Harris doesn't make it as a footballer, he can always go back to acting. Picture: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia

10. Jay Kennedy-Harris in Dead Gorgeous

UNLIKE the other players on this list, the young Demon actually got his acting career going before he was drafted.

He played the role of Charlie in the ABC series Dead Gorgeous (2010), in which three teenage sisters — Rebecca, Sophie and Hazel — are given a second-chance at life, 150 years after they died. He also had roles in a 2009 film called Blessed and in Neighbours. He even has an IMDB page.

You might see him acting on your screens at the moment, given he appears in a television advertisement for protective services officers.

He will be doing well if he follows in the footsteps of another young indigenous actor who went on to play AFL football. David Wirrpanda had a small role as "young Ted'' in the 1991 biopic Rose Against The Odds, the story of world boxing champ Lionel Rose. Wirrpanda went on to play 227 games for West Coast, including in the victorious 2006 Grand Final.

RETROGRAM RECALL

Last week we nominated the 10 most iconic footy photos and got plenty of feedback.

Cameron Schwab, on Twitter: This (image of Royce Hart) is the perfect footy photo.

RETROGRAM SAYS: Agree Cameron, it is an absolute work of Hart.

Royce Hart twists away from a Geelong opponent during the 1969 first semi-final. Source: News Limited

Robert Shaw, on Twitter: Masters at work. Was on my Mobil footy card when I was about 8.

RETROGRAM SAYS: How often do you see two AFL Team of the Century footballers captured going head to head in a magnificent photograph?

Graham Farmer contests against John Nicholls Source: News Limited

FOOTNOTE: Apart from all of the suggested photographs of marks, which were ineligible because the criteria for the list was to include only one image of a speckie, other suggestions included: Heath Shaw's smother in the 2010 Grand Final, Ron Barassi kicking against Essendon, and Dermott Brereton in the wake of the early bump in the 1989 Grand Final.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Retrogram: Footy stars in soaps and sitcoms

Dengan url

http://sportifoclube.blogspot.com/2014/05/retrogram-footy-stars-in-soaps-and.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Retrogram: Footy stars in soaps and sitcoms

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Retrogram: Footy stars in soaps and sitcoms

sebagai sumbernya