‘They are sheriffs in a lawless country’: Greg Cruttwell on his latest film about grassroot referees
Referee abuse is one of football’s perpetual problems. From the Premier League to Sunday league, it’s an issue that affects all levels of the game.
Director Greg Cruttwell’s latest film ‘In the Middle’ focuses on the people experiencing this abuse, telling the story of the lives of a diverse group of match officials, both on and off the field.
Seth Nobes and Nyah Barnett met with Cruttwell in his south London flat to discuss the award-winning film, his career-to-date and his involvement with Balham FC.
On all the posters in his flat…
I’m a confirmed sports fanatic, so I tend to have a lot of stuff up that relates to that. I founded and ran a grassroots football club for 21 years. I started it back in 2001 with one under-10 team which one of my kids played for and then gradually grew it meticulously in a very obsessive, control- freak kind of way over the years. The club is now playing semi-professional football in the FA Cup and the FA Vase, getting closer and closer to the Football League. The club was originally called Balham Blazers and now Balham FC. There’s loads of posters up to do with the club and some players who’ve played for the club, the most famous of whom is probably a kid called Fabio Carvalho, who’s now at Liverpool.
On his journey into filmmaking…
My life has really been in two worlds, my two passions, the arts and sport. I’m a sports fanatic, but I was originally an actor. Then I’ve moved on to the other side of things, I started writing, became a writer, a director, and a producer. I then started a production company back in 2002, and then what’s called a sales company, which sells films internationally. At the same time I was running Balham, which was taking up most of my life. But then in 2019, I decided I wanted to combine both worlds, my two passions. So, I formed Park the Bus, which is entirely run and funded by me. The remit I gave myself was to make sports related drama and documentaries, and the kind of projects that are passion projects for me.
On the influence of passion in his work…
Yeah. I think you’ve got to do what you believe in, and what you want to do. I mean, obviously, you have to weigh in the fact ‘Is anyone going to see this, is anyone going to be interested in it?’ And obviously, so much like in the film industry, you know, people want to know that the movie will sell. And, you know, otherwise, why is anyone going to put any money into it. But that’s why with Park the Bus. I got to a position where I could make these microwave projects. So, the budgets are very small at the moment. I mean, I would love investors to come in and put money into the company, and in the films, but I’m very happy making low budget films with the highest possible production values. I’m only interested in making things that interest me. And then you hope they’ll interest other people.
On making a film focusing on referees…
Yeah, I think it was just really having seen so many of them over so many years. I coached, and managed all kinds of different age groups from under sevens all the way up to seniors. You would see referees of all kinds of ages and genders refereeing, whether they were starting out or been doing it for 50 years, 60 years, like in the case of Ron in the film, and I just thought they were fascinating. I’ve just met so many interesting people. And you know, the bottom line is, they turn up on a Saturday or Sunday, basically, and they’ll say it themselves, ‘we turn up to get shouted out and abused.’ And you think, why are they doing this? I wanted to go inside that obviously, I’d seen a lot of them refereeing, but I wanted to find out more about their lives and basically go behind the scenes in depth, follow an eclectic group of referees, and really find out what they do, why they do it, and what they get out of it. So I thought, I’ve always seen various things and reports on referees at the top level of the game and the odd little thing on a grassroots referee now and then when there’s a story about it. I thought with this, I wanted ‘In the Middle’ to just focus on referees that are at the bottom end of the football food chain, who when they go out they are sheriffs in a lawless country. They have got no protection, and they do get abused. Some of them get physically abused, mentally abused. And you just think, why would anyone do this, and I found that interesting. And of course, the great thing you realize in doing it, and why I’m full of admiration for them, is at the end of the day, if you don’t have referees, you don’t have a game of organized competitive football.
On getting referees from all walks of life…
It was really important for me to try and get an eclectic bunch that represents all of the referees that are out there. Lucy who features, she’s actually the first transgender referee in the world. I wanted a real mix. There’s only one younger referee Kian, who features only briefly. I mean, in a way, I would have liked to have had one or two more younger ones. But obviously, in the end, you follow the stories that are interesting. To be honest, you could do an ‘In the Middle’ 2, 3, 4, and 5, because there’s all kinds of people out there doing it, and they are from all walks of life, and all classes in society.
On winning the Best Screenplay Award at the 42nd Paladino d’Oro Sports Film Festival…
It was honestly amazing. I was absolutely thrilled because that is a very particular festival as it’s the oldest sports film festival in the world. I went a few days before the big gala do and saw a few of the films in the festival, which were amazing. I met filmmakers from China, Canada, Denmark, France, and Kazakhstan, and there were very few British films nominated. They had 5000 submissions, so I was so honoured that ‘In the Middle’ was even a contender. I went to the night thinking, oh, this is amazing I am even a contender. I’d seen one or two in the same category, which I thought were really, really good. I was just sitting there thinking, well, this is great to be here. And then they announce the winner. I was like, Whoa, oh, my God, my little film is winning a major award at this very special film festival. So it was great. I’ve never been one a big one for kind of awards and all that. But on the other hand, when you get something like that, it’s basically a stamp of approval.
On the impact of COVID…
I mean, the only frustration was that COVID got in the way, curtailing the football season. It delayed getting the whole thing completed. On the other hand, I think COVID provides an interesting aspect. And I would hope that in 20 years, or 50 years, if people see the film, you’ll see it as a piece of history and time that this is a feature talking about referees, and in a specific time when COVID happened, so you hope it might have a kind of relevance.
On Rocket Ron, one of the officials featured in In the Middle…
I suppose the sweetest and saddest thing was Rocket Ron. Ron was really the reason I made ‘In the Middle’ because initially. I just thought he was so wonderful, running the line, with his legs which are like twiglets. When I first heard about him, someone said ‘Ron Clark’s doing the line today.’ ‘What, Rocket Ron?’ And I said ‘Rocket Ron?’ ‘Yeah, Rocket Ron.’ He’s called Rocket Ron. He’s known everywhere, because obviously he’s far from a rocket but just getting to know him was the sweetest thing. Everyone finds him funny, not laughing at him, but just finds him really touching. His two loves of his life were football and the church. He was the instigator going into it. We visited him at his place in Mitcham, but he never wanted us to go into his place. You see it briefly in the film because he was a hoarder like nothing else, and it was kind of sweet. He lived with his budgerigar. He’s got a sister and brother who visited him but he was such an inspiring, interesting character. He was kind of famous within Surrey grassroots football. Everyone knew who Rocket Ron was and seeing him get his 60 years’ service award was great. He was still running the line relatively right up until he got ill and died relatively quickly.
On appealing to a wider audience…
‘In the Middle’ is obviously about referees, but I would hope that it would appeal to people who don’t like football as well, because it’s actually just about human beings, and people, and their lives, and why they do what they do. And these people just happen to all be match officials in football, which is a very particular thing. With ‘In the Middle’, I wanted to get like a fly on the wall, and see what happens in their lives, as I say, as much away from the game as doing it.
On humanising the referees…
Yeah, absolutely. I think with all the films I’ve done, someone said to me the other day, which I took us a real compliment, ‘you tell the stories of the ordinary man and woman, the honest working man and woman, ordinary people.’ And I suddenly thought I see what you mean, all four are about that. I suppose that must fascinate me. Ordinary people and the way they live their lives. Those are the kinds of films and things that I like to watch, whether it’s documentaries, following people in their lives, or whether it’s feature films, I tend to like simple character driven things about dipping into people’s lives and then dipping out of them. What’s great about them is they don’t let anything destroy their love of the game. They genuinely want to give something back, they want to make the game better, and they want to help. They’re quirky people, as you can see from ‘In the Middle’, some of them are quite eccentric. They’re proper decent human beings. They want to get involved and make it better. I wanted ‘In the Middle’ to, in a way, champion refereeing and referees and say these are the people and their stories are quite hopefully humorous, but hopefully touching at the same time. We should celebrate these people.
In the Middle is in cinemas 31st March and VOD 1st May
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mVzc-GYMg8
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