In 2021, the Australian men’s national basketball team – aka the Boomers – made history, when they won their first medal at a major international tournament.
After decades of close calls, near misses, and fourth-place finishes, the Boomers finally broke through, claiming the Bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
This was a watershed moment for Australian basketball and one which was documented in the new documentary ‘Rose Gold’, directed by Matthew Adekponya, a filmmaker and former professional basketball player.
Speaking to The Sporting News, Adekponya explained the process of creating the documentary.
Documenting Australian Basketball History
One of the biggest challenges Adekponya faced was having to film over such a substantial period, across multiple Boomers medal campaigns, while knowing there was no guaranteed outcome.
“When I first got involved in 2019, I guess the promise I made to myself was, ‘I’m going to make a documentary when this team wins a medal,’” Adekponya said.
“That was four years or so that it took to get done by the time it went from me saying that to actually finishing the film.
“But, yeah, it was always the goal and maybe a lofty one in some people’s eyes, but it was more of a reality of like, ‘Oh, shit, they want a medal. I better start trying to make this thing now.’”
For Adekponya, the focus of Rose Gold was twofold – yes, he was hoping to document a Boomers’ medal campaign, but he also wanted to highlight the efforts of a group of athletes that he believes have been underrepresented in the media in the past, something he wanted to change.
“I knew the opportunity it was for me, through the players, to be able to make a film on this team when there’s not much out on them, especially in the long-form space,” he said.
“It was more them coming to me and being like, ‘Hey, would you want to come and do this for the national team?’ Because, I was working for a team in London at the time, but I obviously had close relationships with a few of the guys on the team and it just evolved from that, really.
“It was, ‘Hey, this could be good for you. You can work on your craft and you can help us build a platform as well, not only for ourselves but for the team.’
“It’s been a long plan and obviously it doesn’t happen without the support of the players bringing me in; in the first place. But, yeah, it’s been a long time coming and it was always the goal to make a film when these guys win a medal. Ideally, it would have been gold, but I think bronze is also a unique one in a sense, because [it was] celebrated like a gold.
For the Boomers, the term ‘rose gold’ became a mantra that showed their passion for winning a medal, irrespective of the colour.
This may seem confusing at first, the idea of celebrating a third-place medal with such passion, but what Adekponya’s film documents is the grueling, decades-long battle that the Boomers waged before finally ending up with something solid to show for it.
Mixing the past and present
Rose Gold was released in theatres in mid-August, in order to line up with the then-looming Boomers’ 2023 World Cup campaign.
That left Adekponya – the film’s director and Boomers content producer – in an awkward position, trying to enjoy the rollout of his hard work, while also staying present in their current run.
Despite this, he says that he was proud of the rollout and pleased with the reception that the film got, and he was able to step back and appreciate this moment in his life.
“It’s been frantic for sure, like a lot on the plate and a lot of stakes on both sides, obviously the film and what it can do for basketball in this country, but these guys are also preparing for a World Cup and so am I in my own right,” Adekponya said.
“It’s been a full plate the last, let’s say last few months trying to finish the film and then also prepare for [the World Cup].
“[The premiere] was strange because I’ve seen this thing over a hundred times. So, like the jokes, all the highs, all the lows, when you see them come together on paper, audio only, picture only, a million different songs, it’s not that you lose the emotion, you just know what’s coming.
“You don’t get to have the same experience as a viewer who’s watching it for the first time, fully polished, so I think it was more about just trying to sit back and watch it and feel it through the eyes of everyone else.
“I was able to do that pretty early in the film, so it was super enjoyable once I was able to do that and just enjoy it how everyone else was enjoying it.
“You hear people laugh and then cheer and then wince at some of the moments. It’s hard not to feel emotion in those parts because there’s energy in the room and people, however they slice it, if people feel something when they watch your work, I think that’s a sign of something special and something to be proud of.
“I think that part is really cool, to be able to give people something that’s interesting enough and then deep enough for them to feel. That part, for me, really, really cool to see.”
The mateship behind the medal
By the time the Boomers won their fateful first major medal at the Tokyo Olympics, this iteration of the team had had numerous campaigns behind them.
The relationship shared between the key Boomers – Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Aron Baynes, Matthew Dellavedova, and Andrew Bogut – was pivotal to claiming that elusive medal (despite Bogut unfortunately missing the campaign), and Rose Gold paints a picture of how these key bonds were the foundation that the medal was built on.
There were a number of key moments that illustrate this within the film, from the very opening to their trips to indigenous communities, and their ultimate push to glory.
According to Adekponya, no part of the process showed the bond between the players more so than the COVID-era hallway meetings.
“The COVID [hallway meetings] were really cool because you couldn’t do anything else besides hang out,” he said.
“Due to the restrictions that we were living under, you could really just get your meal and then you hang out with everyone until it’s time to go to bed because there’s nothing happening in your rooms. You can’t go on a walk or nothing. I think guys got to really get to know each other.
“When you get out on the court, you get dividends from that immediately. So you see guys who might only see each other once or twice a year in the NBA or either once or a few years at Boomers Camp, you have to catch up, hang out, ask questions, get to know people.
“I think that’s what it came down to for them. They just got to spend that quality time together every day for however long that camp was, 40 days, I think that can’t be understated. Without that in 2019, you still get a lot of time together naturally due to being in camp. But it wasn’t as, I guess, immersive because you could go out and do your own things.
“In this campaign, everyone in that hotel on that level was your family, and that was all you had. It was really amplified in terms of connection and getting to know each other for sure.”
Gaze reflects on Boomers’ legacy
The different eras of the Boomers are on full display in Rose Gold, with Adekponya particularly interested in Australian basketball icon Andrew Gaze, and how he and his contemporaries’ choice to extend their Boomers’ tenures may have affected the program in the long run.
Gaze reflected at length during the documentary about his role with the Australian program, and questioned whether he and his older teammates’ decision to stay on for one more run may have taken spots away from up-and-coming talent, leaving the program with a dearth of experience once they stepped away, with the Boomers failing to qualify for the next major tournament, the 2002 World Cup.
“I think it was something that I was personally curious about, because everyone talks about it in the interviews,” Adekponya said.
“Like [Andrew] Bogut talked about it, [Brian] Goorjian talked about it, so this went from a scene that had no real stakes to now a really pivotal part of the film.
“To hear him talk about that – and the film is only 90 minutes – so there’s another side of the fence there when he’s like, ‘Well, how does it work? Do you feel guilty or do you want to… Should it just be the best guys making the team?’
“I think what he did is the right thing. You never want to step aside. You should be always picking the best 12, no matter what. But to hear him be so vulnerable was really touching for me.
“Obviously, he’s one of the greatest that we’ve ever produced out of Australia. But hearing that emotion that matched the lowest part of the film with not qualifying for the World Cup, it was deep, but it was also unique. I don’t think it’s a question that maybe has been answered publicly like that before from him.”
What comes next for Adekponya, Boomers?
For both Adekponya and the Boomers, it’s been a long four years since they started working together.
That journey has included many highs and lows, obviously capped with the historic Tokyo Olympic medal, but with Rose Gold in the rearview mirror, what comes next for the film’s director?
Speaking after the 2023 FIBA World Cup, which saw the Australian team fall short of their goal of repeat medals, Adekponya has said that he has the Paris Olympics in his sights, and is also set on teaching and mentoring the next generation of Australian filmmakers and creators.
“For this film, I’m keen to see what November brings when it comes out on the ABC, because that’s where I get a lot of inspiration,” Adekponya said.
“I haven’t had enough time to really think about [what’s next]. But I do need to, not re-evaluate what I’m doing, but I need to understand how I can give people more value,” he said.
“There’s a lot of questions that come in now through Instagram or social media about people wanting to start making content. How do you start? How do you do it? How would you shoot a game? I’d love to start something just with some of my spare time to help put out content that people find is more educational than ‘Here’s some Boomers game.’
“I’d rather see if I can spend some time just giving some thoughts and opinions on things that have worked for me and see if that gives the creative community a little bit of value.
“I’ve been throwing that idea around with a few friends who have mentored me and have worked with me – Marco, one of the editors on ‘Rose Gold’. I’m just trying to find a well-rounded group of people who can give value across a number of spaces because content’s here to stay.”
For Boomers fans eager to re-live their Tokyo Olympic campaign, and the decades of work that went into it, ‘Rose Gold’ will be released on ABC TV and ABC iView on November 14th, at 8:30 pm AEDT.
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