Australian Penthouse

Directors: Paul Crowder & John Dower
Stars: Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, Giorgio Chinaglia, Rodney Marsh, Carlos Alberto,
Ahmet Ertegün

NARRATED by actor Matt Dillon, Once in a Lifetime is a fascinating documentary about the epic rise and fall of US soccer club the New York Cosmos.
Set up by Ahmet Ertegün (co-founder of Atlantic Records), his brother Nesuhi and powerful Warner Communications President Steve Ross, the Cosmos joined the struggling North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1971 and quickly rose to the top.

Looking to take the sport to new heights in America – despite opposition from traditionalists who thought of soccer as a “foreigners’ game” – the Cosmos persuaded Brazilian superstar Pelé to join the club in 1975. Lured by big money and the glamour of New York in the ’70s, other famous players, including German maestro Franz Beckenbauer, followed and crowds of more than 70,000 were soon piling in to Giants Stadium for home games. Not to be outdone, the stands were often packed with celebrities and politicians, and the legendary Studio 54 became the Cosmos’s unofficial clubhouse.

Unfortunately, mismanagement and infighting ultimately caused the club and the entire NASL to collapse in the mid-1980s. But in a postscript to the twisted tale that’s not included in the doco, the New York Cosmos is back! A new team with Pelé as its honorary president plans to join the successful Major League Soccer competition in the next couple of years.

Once in a Lifetime will screen on ABC2 on Wednesday, October 20 at 8:30pm