Welcome back to Player Affinity's Sports Movie Madness! Last week, we held the second round of voting to determine the best sports movies ever. You voted, and we've got your results, as well as the Screen 16 matchup that will determine the Soccer (Football) Region Championship.
But first, let's recap for those of you new to the tournament. In the Sports Movie Madness tournament, there are seven sports and one mega-category of miscellaneous sports, so eight regions total. This is the Soccer (Football) Region Championship. Your job is to pick which movie you deem worthy of being the best football film, the one that will compete against the other sports to determine the best sports film ever. Simply enter a comment by Sunday, April 3 at 5:00 pm with the movie you think should win the Championship and your vote counts! The football winner here will square off again the sure-to-be mighty champion of the Boxing Region.
THE RESULT
1 Bend It Like Beckham ties 5 The Football Factory (victory for Bend It Like Beckham)
2 The Damned United def. 6 Victory
There was sadly a poor voter turnout last time round, so I am expecting better this time round. Democracy only works when people participate! Anyway the result from the last round produced a draw between Bend It Like Beckham and The Football Factory, with Bend It Like Beckham going through to the final because of its emphatic win in the first round. The Damned United beat Victory 2-1. So it is a clash between two big British films and two legends of the English game, David Beckham and Nigel Clough. Once again, whoever wins will face the task of fending off the Boxing Region champion.
***Football Championship***
1 Bend It Like Beckham vs. 2 The Damned United
Bend It Like Beckham is easily one of the biggest and most well-known football films in recent years. Starring Parminder Nagra, Bend It Like Beckham was Keira Knightley and Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ big break. This comedy-drama was not just about the sport but also a film about cultural identity, with a young woman battling the Indian culture of her parents and the English culture she grew up with. It is also a film about women breaking gender stereotypes, while enjoying and playing the sport they love. This was a surprise hit in both sides of the Atlantic.
The Damned United is an adaptation of David Peace’s brilliant novel of the same name. Directed by Tom Hooper and starring Michael Sheen, quality was never going to be a problem for this fictional bio-pic about Brian Clough, the best manager England never had. This is a film that shows both the hard, dirty world of 1970s football filled with rough tackling and the world of football politics set during Cloughie’s doomed 44 day spell as Leeds United's manager with flashbacks to when he managed Derby County.