ROBIN FRIDAY: THE MOVIE -WEBSITE

AmeriCymru: You've said that you saw Robin Friday play, where and when was this and what do you remember about it?

Mike: It was the Cardiff v Fulham game. It was not known but Robin had been arrested by S. W. Police having travelled down from Reading for his debut ( he had travelled on a platform ticket). The game was to star Bobby Moore and Georgie Best both playing for Fulham and a huge crowd came along largely to see them play. Best cried off with an injury ( probably more a night on the tiles) and Robin took over the game scored two great goals and ran the World Cup Captain ragged.

AmeriCymru: Were you aware of him and his reputation before you watched him play?

Mike: Yes he had almost single handedly dragged Reading IP from Div 4 the previous season but his reputation preceded him.

AmeriCymru: You've been described as a "lifelong fan of Cardiff City league" and you ran a youth football/soccer club in Los Angeles, it seems inevitable you'd be involved in a football film. Had you always wanted to tell a story of Robin Friday?

Mike: It was one of those memories that was re-triggered by the publication of the book The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw which I optioned.

AmeriCymru: How did this film come about, who read the book and decided "this is going to happen?"

Mike: My co-producer Mark Ambrose and then he found me a besotted fan not particularly known for live action movies.

AmeriCymru: What do you hope to communicate to audiences with this film, what do you want them to take away from seeing it?

Mike: It's not a "soccer" film more a film about a guy who lived his life the way he wanted to and dammed the consequences. As it says in our blurb "the rest of us didn't have the balls"!

AmeriCymru: Will we be able to see it in the US?

Mike: Yes certainly. The casting which I cannot reveal here will help it. The movie is an edgier cross between "Billy Liar" and "Crush".

Mike Young

ROBIN FRIDAY LINKS

Robin Friday on Wikipedia

Robin Friday on the Bleacher Report

".....When the team meeting was called just before the team left for the match a disheveled Friday showed up still naked but carrying a swan that he had procured from a nearby lake!"

The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story

Musical Tribute: Super Furry Animals