0/5

Airdate: Outback Fight Club

SBS explores the secretive, rough and tumble world of tent boxing.

SBS airs Outback Fight Club next week which is part of its documentary showcase, Secrets and Lives.

The two part series explores the secretive, rough and tumble world of tent boxing. Do not attempt this at home…

Fred Brophy runs a unique outback fight club. He leads a troupe of men and women that tours rural Australia to invite ordinary people from the crowd to fight Fred’s prized boxers for a cash reward.

Tent boxing is an unusual form of entertainment that is loved by many outback Australians. It gives small towns something to look forward to, brings rural communities together and offers employment and often a second chance to the boxers.

After 32 years on the road, Fred is about to retire the last remaining tent boxing troupe in the world. Before television existed, tent boxing was a popular form of entertainment in Australia, North America and the UK.

However the sport is now banned in North America and the UK.

In Australia where tent boxing is still legal, restrictive legislation has forced the closure of all boxing troupes except one. Queensland is now the only state where tent boxing still occurs, and Fred is the last showman.

When Fred retires, tent boxing will be a thing of the past. It remains to be seen how his boxers and the outback towns cope without tent boxing.

It airs Tuesday, 11 January at 8.30pm on SBS ONE and concludes a week later.

6 Responses

Leave a Reply