This Sporting Life

“He only believed in strength - love was a word he hadn't the power to say.”

Frank Machin (Richard Harris) walks into a rugby league trial in a Yorkshire mining town and plays like a man with a point to prove, and he is signed to the team run by his local employer, Gerald Weaver (Alan Badel). Lindsay Anderson follows him from the pitch to the lodging house where Margaret Hammond (Rachel Roberts), his landlady, a widow, keeps her distance. Frank sits across from her at the table, his knuckles scarred, the money from the club in his pocket.