This sporting life
A look back at sports documentaries that helped fill the void in 2020
2020 was such a strange year!
One thing that occurred to me during our first lockdown was apart from the difficulty of distinguishing the days since beginning to work from home, was time appeared to come to an abrupt halt.
With days seeming to blend into each other, I never realised just how much my internal timeline was dictated to by the sports calendar. Whether it was the football, rugby, the Grand National, Wimbledon, NFL season etc I would always have some semblance of the time of week and year, especially when you can’t necessarily identify the season from the weather outside and you reside in a country with mostly a moderate climate. As the lock down continued and no live sport was available, I found myself wading through sports documentaries, to fill the void and some of those were far better viewing than others.
Even when live sport returned, I found the atmosphere for events just wasn’t the same and continued searching out sports documentaries. Here are a few I believe are worth an investment of time to watch and hopefully you will find something of interest as we face another prolonged period indoors.
Football
In 2020, we lost the greatest ever footballer when Diego Maradona sadly passed away, he brought joy to so many football supporters across the globe. His story told by Asif Kapadia, is a gripping tale and after previously watching it in on the big screen, viewing it again for a second time when it aired on T.V. recently was even more poignant. It looks back over the highs and lows of Diego’s career, charting the tragic tale of his career and “shows the world the man, the myth, the fighter he was”
After reading about ‘The Four Year Plan’ documentary on Championship side Q.P.R back in 2012, I only recently got to view it on Amazon Prime, and Junip’s ‘Rope & Summit’ track has been stuck in my head since.
It is a fly-on-the-wall take on a crazy period for the Championship side when Flavio Briatore was at the helm as chairman:
The Four Year Plan is possibly the most vivid insight into the running of a football club yet committed to film, not least for the way it reveals Briatore as a man with not even a passing acquaintance with self-doubt, despite his complete lack of football experience
Honourable mentions for Football series
Others include ‘Take the Ball Pass the Ball’ on Barça’s dream team, the Netflix series ‘Sunderland ’Til I Die’ on the plight of Sunderland F.C.
On Amazon Prime, other football series include ‘Take Us Home’ narrated by Russell Crowe on Leeds’ fight for promotion to the premiership with it’s excellent choice of ‘Damaged Goods’ by Yorkshire natives Gang of Four as the perfect hook from the opening titles and ‘Inside Borussia Dortmund’ which is an interesting look at how Germany’s Borussia Dortmund are doing things on and off the pitch.
Boxing
One sports documentary I can’t recommend highly enough is ‘Pariah: The Lives and Deaths of Sonny Liston’, a film which “chronicles the rise and precipitous fall of one of the most vilified and misunderstood sports champions of all time”. Watching this, it felt more like a Tarantino movie rather than actual real life, it is an amazing tale.
Another compelling watch is the I Am Duran Film, from the makers of the QPR: Four Year Plan documentary mentioned above, which covers the unique story of one of sport’s most conflicted and inspirational figures in Roberto Duran.
One other boxing documentary to note, reflects on the life of Tom Molineaux and his career as a pugilist, called ‘Crossing the Black Atlantic’ directed by Des Kilbane for TG4.
Molineaux was a former slave who happens to be buried in a local cemetery and his story was first told to me by my father years ago, who had a keen interest in boxing and on the boxing pioneer who made home in 19th-century Galway.
I had forgotten about the story until a few years ago, when I stumbled across a piece in the now defunct Grantland which rekindled my own interest. More recently, world champion Katie Taylor unveiled a commemorative plague to him
It has also since transpired that LL Cool J was related to Molineaux and he discusses it in this conversation with Mike Tyson:
Basketball
While ‘The last Dance’ series enthralled many sports fans over the early days of the first quarantine period, ‘Iverson’ may have been overlooked but it is nonetheless compelling viewing, such a natural talent and this is a very underrated film which follows the trials and tribulations of the iconic NBA star.
Another often misunderstood basketball star is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar whose career is reflected upon in the film ‘Minority of one’. The NBA’s all time leading scorer opens up about his career on and off the court, his political and religious beliefs and friendships. He goes into detail about his student/teacher relationship with the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee whom he met at UCLA. Lee and Abdul-Jabbar went on to appear on screen together in the movie Game of Death.
“All or Nothing”
Whether it was NFL, College Football, Rugby, soccer I consumed the All or Nothing series on all of the teams in all the featured sports!
The series on New Zealand’s All Blacks was the most enjoyable for me, it provided a different aspect to the managerial minds of coaches like Steve Hansen and their interactions with the modern player. After watching that series, I picked up a copy of the excellent book ‘The Jersey’ by Peter Bills which delves into the history of rugby in New Zealand and provides further insight into the success of the rugby dynasty.
Baseball
I’m not a baseball fan, I have no clue about the sport apart from what I have seen in movies like Cobb, Field of Dreams, Moneyball but ‘The Battered Bastards of Baseball’ is a very entertaining documentary on the story of actor Bing Russell(father of Kurt)and the Portland Mavericks baseball team.
Motor Racing
Obviously there is the highly acclaimed ‘Senna’, another excellent film from Asif Kapadia, but a much less heralded motor sports documentary looks at motor racing’s Tommy Byrne volatile career. ‘Crash and Burn’ is a warts and all film directed by Seán Ó Cualáin and a riveting look at his career which at one point looked so promising, when he was competing against the likes of Senna but which ultimately proved to be a trail of self destruction.
Tennis
The enthralling ‘Love Means Zero’ documentary explores the zany world of tennis coach Nick Bollettieri and his famous tennis academy which brought forward tennis greats such as Jim Courier and Andre Agassi. His obsession with tennis and tempestuous personal life suffered, resulting in 8 wives!
Climbing
Definitely not recommended for people who don’t have a head for heights, but ‘Free Solo’ and ‘The Dawn Wall’ are excellent portrayals of the challenges of ascending up a mountain and both are visually stunning.
While ‘Free Solo’ won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, I found the Dawn Wall to be a much more interesting story. It features the 2015 attempt to scale the 3,000 foot rock face in Yosemite National Park, California by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson. Caldwell had already overcome many challenges in his personal life including divorce, losing a finger and having been taken hostage by rebels in Kyrgyzstan.
Cycling
In the series, ‘Eat Race Win’, chef Hannah Grant shows what is involved in feeding a race team for 21 days of high endurance, where cyclists burn through 6,000 calories daily. The series documents her attempts to source all types of performance food to keep the team at their optimum best while maintaining attractive meals to whet the cyclists’ appetites.
Hopefully as 2021 unfolds, there will be more time to get back outdoors and attend live sports events, until then stay safe.
It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up — Vince Lombardi
