Just a short one, impressive and delicious reader.
I was leafing idly through the sporting pages the other day when I came across the “profile” of an emerging young Australian Rules footballer. You know the sort of thing. They list his favourite colour, most influential role model, favourite Romantic Poet and 3 tips for averting climate change.
Immediately after “Favourite meal: spaghetti Bolognese” came “Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption.” There was something in this that gave me cause for pause.
Not the spag bol. That is quite understandable. These young fellows are wrenched from mum’s cooking at a fairly early age and thrust into share households with other young men who spend hours every day working up an appetite. Spag bol is the only thing that they can cook that will fill that hole.
No, what struck me was the good old Shawshank Redemption.
I have read a few of these player profiles over the years and it occurs to me that ever since “The Shawshank Redemption” came out, any professional AFL footballer who has been asked has given it as his favourite film.
At first I doubted that this could be correct, but I checked it out by going through back issues of the newspaper on microfiche at the local library and I think I can say it is official. Not a single player has given any other film as his favourite. Not one.
In the interests of science I should have gone back further to see if there was another film that was favoured before the release of “Shawshank”, but the microfiche zooming all over the place had given me one of those headaches that older readers may remember, so I stopped.
What I would like to know is, what is it about this film that makes it appeal to professional AFL footballers? Some of them are nearly as old as the film itself, but that doesn’t seem to make any difference.
As always, I turned to reason and logical thinking for an answer, and was rewarded with 2 possible explanations.
The first is that there is something about being a skilled AFL player that makes you like the film.
The second possible explanation is that there is something about watching this film that makes you into a better AFL player.
I don’t know which of these is true, but the science is rock solid. I have a control.
In the best scientific tradition, I applied my theory to myself. This is what my researches revealed.
I don’t really like “The Shawshank Redemption” much.
I WAS A TERRIBLE FOOTBALLER.
Yes, the proof of this particular pudding is in the eating and I ate up nearly one hundred games of amateur football in which I amply demonstrated that I should have stayed home and learned how to knit or something.
This leaves the burning question, could I have helped myself by forcing myself to sit through “The Shawshank Redemption”?
Perhaps I could have. I should say that it is not likely as I stopped playing long before the film was released. But might this work for other inept and ill co-ordinated youngsters who long to carve out a career in sport? Imagine row upon row of them forced to watch it on a continuous loop until they could do a lace out stab pass on the run or whatever they are called.
Alternatively, they could be shown “The Shawshank Redemption” and if they don’t like it, could pursue a different career. Possibly in film criticism. Or advanced cookery.
Another thing that occurs to me is that AFL is a game with an unusual set of skills. Possibly professionals in other codes show a preference for other films. Perhaps Union footballers like “The Great Escape”, League footballers enjoy “The Magnificent Seven” and Association footballers relax in front of, for example, “Deliverance”.
There is also the question of other professional athletes and indeed other trades, callings and professions.
Do plumbers all like “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Do teachers relax in front of “Citizen Kane”? Is there something about watching “La Cage Au Folles” that enables you to make better shoes?
I don’t know. The research that I have conducted to this point have all but exhausted me and I pass the baton to my readerboat.
It seems to me that there is a rich vein to be tapped here. Again, without any thought of a Nobel Prize, allow me to offer myself as a control.
I like “Being John Malkovich” and “Cool Hand Luke”. If anyone knows what that says about me, I would be pleased to know.
