International success for 'Game Changer' film about a Leeds cricket club

Game Changer, a remarkable film about Gian Singh Virdi, who emigrated to England in 1962, played international hockey, experienced the shocking events of the 1972 Munich Olympics and became Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s first coach of colour in 1989, and now in his 80s, helped inspire a small, struggling, Leeds cricket club to sporting success, has been storming film awards around the world.

In this guest blog, Leeds filmmaker Paul Harker tells us more about the film and its story.

After a successful funding application to Leeds Cultural Investment Programme, Game Changer was green lit in spring last year and with a small crew, filmed throughout the summer.

Game Changer follows Gian, now in his 80s, as he embraces his biggest challenge to date, taking Leeds's Crossgates Cricket Club, from the brink of folding to challenging for league and cup success during the 2024 season.

The premiere screening was held at Roundhay Parochial Hall in March this year and was supported by Oakwood Film Academy. A multicultural audience of 130 people attended and vegetarian Indian food was sold on a ‘pay as you feel’ basis to raise funds for Crossgates CC. Further screenings were held at Chapel FM in Seacroft, the Crossgates CC clubhouse and the Mansion House in Roundhay Park, as part of Heritage Open Days.

Overall the film received positive reactions, from both cricket lovers and a non-cricketing audience who viewed the film as a human interest story. At the time of writing, Game Changer has won four documentary film awards, has been placed in five other competitions and has been screened in India and Canada. A Game Changer segment aired on BBC Look North’s evening news programme, featuring a studio interview with Gian and me. In the interview, Gian spoke about the importance of his Sikh upbringing and the role of embracing positivity in his life.

Game Changer also featured on ITV Calendar News and BBC Radio Leeds. Crossgates was the ‘Club of the Week’ on the station’s Cricket Show. In all, because of the TV and radio exposure, alongside the screenings and social media activity, Game Changer achieved over 1 million viewings. Paul Harker of Jugganort Films, who made Game Changer said "Although this reach was impressive, I think the film’s greatest success was telling this inspirational story about the positive effects of embracing community and diversity."

The closing image in the film is ‘The Colours of Crossgates’, where the players and supporters posed for a group photo featuring the flags of the nationalities and regions of the members.

To watch the trailer, the BBC Look North interview and the BBC Radio Leeds interview, plus see behind the scenes photos visit:

https://jugganort.com/game-changer/