DB7

Footie fans select their top 10 scenes from the screen
By Lachlan Mackinnon
A SCENE from gritty British movie Kes is the best footballing moment ever to hit the screen, a poll has found.

The hilarious sequence shows an egotistical PE teacher live out his fantasy by pretending to be Bobby Charlton as he plays in a match with his bewildered pupils.

The 1969 film about a boy's relationship with a kestrel had little to do with football.

But the scene starring Brian Glover as the deluded PE master struck a chord with real fans everywhere.

It even beat off the 1981 cult classic Escape to Victory which starred players Pele, Bobby Moore and John Wark alongside actors Michael Caine and Silvester Stallone as World War II prisoners of war playing the Germans.

The survey of 1000 footie fans by pools firm Littlewoods comes ahead of the predicted smash Goal! which is to be released shortly.


It included films with Roy of the Rovers-style plots like Sean Bean in When Saturday Comes and There's Only One Jimmy Grimble, starring Robert Carlyle.


But it also included Trainspotting because, although the film is primarily about drug addicts in Edinburgh, there is a scene about a mix-up over a video of Archie Gemmill's famous World Cup goal for Scotland against Holland.


Films about fans rather than players include the adaptation of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch about middle-class Arsenal supporters and An Evening With Gary Lineker, based around Italia 90.


Mike Bassett England Manager, starring The Royle Family's Ricky Tomlinson, was third in the poll.


A 1969 documentary about Everton fans called The Golden Vision sneaked into the final 10.


From more recent times, Bend It Like Beckham proved to be popular with fans but not as much as more gritty depictions of the country's favourite game


1Kes (1969) Cult classic about a boy and his kestrel


2Escape to Victory (1981) Allied PoWs, including Bobbty Moore and Pele play the Germans


5Trainspotting (1996) Dark comedy about heroin addicts from Edinburgh


8The Golden Vision (1969) Televisionplay about the almost-religious devotion of Everton fans


3Mike Bassett England Manager (2001) Lower-league football boss ends up as manager of England


6Bend It Like Beckham (2002Young football-obsessed Asian girl


9When Saturday Comes (1995) Young lad from a gritty northern town makes it as a professional


4Fever Pitch (1997) Arsenal fan's supposed dedication to his team, based on Nick Hornby's book


7An Evening With Gary Lineker (1994) Captures the spirit of Italia 90


10There's Only One Jimmy Grimble (2000) The trials and tribulations of a teenage footballer

Steve Crook

No mention of The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1940) ?

Steve

Fellwanderer

But that was boring A*****l [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

Nice to see that my team had a direct connection with the two favourite films - now you'll have to work out which team it is, although I've dropped a hint [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

FELL
[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]

All the best
FELL

A signature is no substitute for a life

red squirrel

Not being Scottish - or much of a footie fan - I still enjoyed the penetrating goal by Archie Gemmill in Trainspotting.

You could add Mr Welsh's the Acid House to this thread for two of the stories in it.