Themis
27-05-08, 05:26 AM
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23761185-5001030,00.html
By Ray Chesterton
May 27, 2008 12:00am
SILENCE on the set . . . lights, camera, action. Cue Mr Crowe and . . . cut. Sorry Mr Crowe, we expected you to speak. We don't make silent movies any more.
Words are what we all want to hear from the now famously silent Russell - but not from his seemingly former partner in naivety Peter Holmes a Court, whose credibility would be an interesting test for a Newspoll.
Poll: Did Crowe and Holmes a Court destroy Souths?
It is Crowe who owes supporters a full explanation of the pain he inflicted on Souths because of his lack of proven business skills in sport and the illusionary world he created in supporters mind that has now collapsed.
Souths, now desperate for ideas, cash and inspiration after 10 losses in 11 games, have gone back to the future, restoring football club chairman Nick Pappas and CEO Shane Richardson.
They were in charge until Crowe and Holmes a Court moved them aside after they took over. There was not enough room for four on the white horse.
They forgot that Souths is a club of the people. For many supporters it is a way of life, providing the only chance for social contact in a low socio-economic area.
Crowe and Holmes a Court have not just desecrated a sporting icon.
They have stolen a way of life from thousands of people whose feverish support goes back to 1908.
They deserve full disclosure of how two cowboys rode into town and dismantled all that was emotionally satisfying and wonderfully enduring about Souths and substituted hysteria and fear of the future in the guise of modernisation and success.
Crowe had no problem finding the words to explain his passion for Souths when he plotted his takeover from club legend George Piggins.
And he managed to push his message to selected journalists over the best meals a five star Sydney restaurant could manage.
He would talk about side-stepping telegraph posts around Redfern Oval, across the road from Souths Leagues Club and how Souths were his club.
The telegraph posts are still there but Redfern Oval and the leagues club are not. They were closed by Crowe and Holmes a Court under a futuristic scheme that involved using sterile and uninviting Homebush Stadium as a home ground.
Also to be considered is the silence of the lambs who were voting members of Souths and were led to the slaughter listening to the impossible dreams of Russell and Holmes a Court.
Rugby league wants to hear Crowe's version of how Souths, under his watch, looks like the victim of a savagely callous hit and run accident who will be pronounced DOA as soon as the ambulance gets to hospital.
We want to know how Crowe feels after draining the most famous sporting club in Australia of its passion, its culture, its neighbourhood, its playing ground and its leagues club until it was a hollow carcass shadowed by financial buzzards. Crowe trampled on Souths 100-year-old heart and soul the way he trampled on his mates as a psychotic skinhead in Romper Stomper.
They got up again because it was only a movie. Souths may not. It has never been a script to them.
Crowe has a public history of good ideas being unfulfilled and relationships ending badly.
Crowe's relationship with former Test forward Mark Carroll was so strong the Oscar-winner hired him as a minder and adviser.
On the set of Crowe's movie Cinderella Man, they argued and blows were exchanged.
"We both wore badges of dishonour for a day," Crowe said.
Carroll is no longer his minder.
A couple of years back Crowe was publicly enthusing about a film he would make in Australia with Nicole Kidman called Eucalyptus and a place in the history of local film successes. There was a dispute over the script and Crowe departed.
It was shot with Kidman and Hugh Jackman as leads and opens soon as Australia.
There were other severances as well - with his publicity agent in Australia and a freelance journalist he hired to reshape his image.
Now he's fallen out with Holmes a Court, who does not want to spend any more of his money on Souths. Once close, their talks are now brief.
No doubt there have been lengthier, more stable relationships in Crowe's working life but the volatile break-ups have been there as well.
You wonder if the savagery of what has happened gnaws at Crowe's soul.
Does he really understand the damage and humiliation he and Holmes a Court have piled upon such a monument to sporting history?
Or have they already dismissed Souths from their list of concerns the way Crowe would move on after a bad movie review or Holmes a Court a failed business deal?
For both there is always something new up ahead.
Souths are not so lucky.
Souths are not a celluloid creation on a film set. They were, and hopefully still are, unique.
Crowe is now in a hell of a mess.
His perceived failure to make Souths viable taints his image as a man of the people. His films will still do well. The quality of his acting is unchanged. He is still powerful and engaging.
It will just be hard to reconcile such a proclaimed lover of the game with what happened at Souths.
By Ray Chesterton
May 27, 2008 12:00am
SILENCE on the set . . . lights, camera, action. Cue Mr Crowe and . . . cut. Sorry Mr Crowe, we expected you to speak. We don't make silent movies any more.
Words are what we all want to hear from the now famously silent Russell - but not from his seemingly former partner in naivety Peter Holmes a Court, whose credibility would be an interesting test for a Newspoll.
Poll: Did Crowe and Holmes a Court destroy Souths?
It is Crowe who owes supporters a full explanation of the pain he inflicted on Souths because of his lack of proven business skills in sport and the illusionary world he created in supporters mind that has now collapsed.
Souths, now desperate for ideas, cash and inspiration after 10 losses in 11 games, have gone back to the future, restoring football club chairman Nick Pappas and CEO Shane Richardson.
They were in charge until Crowe and Holmes a Court moved them aside after they took over. There was not enough room for four on the white horse.
They forgot that Souths is a club of the people. For many supporters it is a way of life, providing the only chance for social contact in a low socio-economic area.
Crowe and Holmes a Court have not just desecrated a sporting icon.
They have stolen a way of life from thousands of people whose feverish support goes back to 1908.
They deserve full disclosure of how two cowboys rode into town and dismantled all that was emotionally satisfying and wonderfully enduring about Souths and substituted hysteria and fear of the future in the guise of modernisation and success.
Crowe had no problem finding the words to explain his passion for Souths when he plotted his takeover from club legend George Piggins.
And he managed to push his message to selected journalists over the best meals a five star Sydney restaurant could manage.
He would talk about side-stepping telegraph posts around Redfern Oval, across the road from Souths Leagues Club and how Souths were his club.
The telegraph posts are still there but Redfern Oval and the leagues club are not. They were closed by Crowe and Holmes a Court under a futuristic scheme that involved using sterile and uninviting Homebush Stadium as a home ground.
Also to be considered is the silence of the lambs who were voting members of Souths and were led to the slaughter listening to the impossible dreams of Russell and Holmes a Court.
Rugby league wants to hear Crowe's version of how Souths, under his watch, looks like the victim of a savagely callous hit and run accident who will be pronounced DOA as soon as the ambulance gets to hospital.
We want to know how Crowe feels after draining the most famous sporting club in Australia of its passion, its culture, its neighbourhood, its playing ground and its leagues club until it was a hollow carcass shadowed by financial buzzards. Crowe trampled on Souths 100-year-old heart and soul the way he trampled on his mates as a psychotic skinhead in Romper Stomper.
They got up again because it was only a movie. Souths may not. It has never been a script to them.
Crowe has a public history of good ideas being unfulfilled and relationships ending badly.
Crowe's relationship with former Test forward Mark Carroll was so strong the Oscar-winner hired him as a minder and adviser.
On the set of Crowe's movie Cinderella Man, they argued and blows were exchanged.
"We both wore badges of dishonour for a day," Crowe said.
Carroll is no longer his minder.
A couple of years back Crowe was publicly enthusing about a film he would make in Australia with Nicole Kidman called Eucalyptus and a place in the history of local film successes. There was a dispute over the script and Crowe departed.
It was shot with Kidman and Hugh Jackman as leads and opens soon as Australia.
There were other severances as well - with his publicity agent in Australia and a freelance journalist he hired to reshape his image.
Now he's fallen out with Holmes a Court, who does not want to spend any more of his money on Souths. Once close, their talks are now brief.
No doubt there have been lengthier, more stable relationships in Crowe's working life but the volatile break-ups have been there as well.
You wonder if the savagery of what has happened gnaws at Crowe's soul.
Does he really understand the damage and humiliation he and Holmes a Court have piled upon such a monument to sporting history?
Or have they already dismissed Souths from their list of concerns the way Crowe would move on after a bad movie review or Holmes a Court a failed business deal?
For both there is always something new up ahead.
Souths are not so lucky.
Souths are not a celluloid creation on a film set. They were, and hopefully still are, unique.
Crowe is now in a hell of a mess.
His perceived failure to make Souths viable taints his image as a man of the people. His films will still do well. The quality of his acting is unchanged. He is still powerful and engaging.
It will just be hard to reconcile such a proclaimed lover of the game with what happened at Souths.