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News, Reviews & Opinion - Sean Fagan - RL1908.com

The Fibros and the Silvertails is Paul Oliver's account of the feud between two rugby league football teams that turned into a war about class and corruption. The teams are Sydney's Western Suburbs Magpies and Manly Sea Eagles. The year is 1978.

Utilising fresh interviews with the players, coaches, officials and media of the time, along with his own personal insights as a young fan, Oliver takes us on a journey to rugby league's most brutal, colourful and drama-charged era.

The Fibros and the Silvertails captures the game - warts and all - as it was in the late 1970s.

While modern administrators would rather such stories of the code's dark days be left alone and forgotten, the honest reality is that fans love to re-live this time.

The Fibros and the Silvertails begins with the first ignition of the cross-Sydney culture war, begun bizarrely on a suburban field in Melbourne in a pre-season game.

Wests coach Roy Masters and the players from that day talk about what upset the Magpies so much that Manly, and every the Sea Eagles stood for, became their mortal enemy.

The documentary takes a close look at match day at Wests' Lidcombe Oval - what "their team" meant to the home fans and the local community, and how they responded, cheering on Wests and bagging their opponents.

Wests and Manly players speakly plainly about what it meant to play in a "Fibros v Silvertails" match.

Some of the associated video footage is simply startling - all in brawls, cheap shots, head-high tackles. Toss in claims of corruption, and amongst it all there is some great tries and footy action too.

The Fibros and the Silvertails follows Wests and Manly through the 1978 season, culminating in the semi-finals - a series that is also infamous for the "7 tackels try" by Manly against Parramatta and the controversy surrounding the refereeing of Greg Hartley.

When Wests and Manly face off in the 1978 preliminary final at the SCG, the tension between the two teams again boils over. The "hit" by Manly's Terry Randall on Wests prop John Donnelly is simply breath-taking.

The Fibros and the Silvertails opens a doorway into arguably one of the most dramatic and interesting periods in Australian sport and society, not just Sydney rugby league.

The dvd will be of interest to die-hard fans, but also anyone interested in human emotion and a study of the way life was in the 1970s. It is a jouney back to a time when footballers were just "blokes" and footy was boots-and-all dust-up on a sunny mid-winter's afternoon at a suburban oval.

The Fibros and the Silvertails dvd is must-see for anyone who claims to be a rugby league fan - you won't be disappointed. For older fans it will bring back plenty of memories - for younger fans, you simply won't believe what your eyes are telling you!

The Fibros and the Silvertails dvd
- includes over three hours of additional footage of 1978 Wests, Manly and Cronulla, as well as ABC news reports.
Further details, watch a trailer, and to purchase The Fibros and the Silvertails dvd