'The umpires were strict, aware that an on-field fracas could see some of the more trigger-happy guards using their machine guns to break it up in case this encounter between "Victoria" and "the Rest of Australia" got out of hand.'
In the harshness and brutality of Changi prison a group of Australian POWs dug deep and fought to maintain their spirit in the best way they knew how - Australian Rules football.
From Snowy River country came Peter Chitty, a man of unfathomable physical endurance, courage and mental fortitude; from Fitzroy came 'Chicken' Smallhorn, an outstanding Australian Rules player and winner of the 1933 Brownlow Medal. Together, they helped form six teams that played a season, culminating in 'Victoria' versus 'the Rest of Australia' - with the Changi Brownlow winner declared before the final game.
The bonds that these men forged on the makeshift playing field of Changi were to sustain them when so many were later sent to labour on the Thai-Burma Railway. Ravaged by cholera, starved and worked to death, fewer than half survived.
The bravery, courage and mateship of these men kept their spirit alive. This is their moving and powerful story.
