TINA: Commercial

Winfield Cup (1989 - 2020)

Tina Turner - Winfield Cup - TV

The Winfield Cup was an Australian rugby league trophy, awarded from 1982 until 1995. Tina Turner was the face, voice and big spiky hair from 1989 with What You Get Is What You See until 1995 with The Best, including several commercials, special releases and the appearance at the Grand Final in 1993, where she performed her anthem The Best in Sydney's football stadium on September 26. After the match, she presented the victor's trophy to Allan Langer and joined in Brisbane's post-game victory song. There was also a special release with the Grand Final Edition, including remixes of The Best, which became the theme tune for the Rugby League since 1990. In 1992, Tina re-recorded it together with Jimmy Barnes under the slightly different title Simply The Best, which was also used in a commercial. For the campaign in 1995, Tina climbed to the top of the Harbour Bridge at dawn, wearing high heels. After 30 years, The Best was once again the theme of the NRL in 2020 with a new commercial including footage of Tina's appearance at the Grand Final in 1993.

„Tina Turner's anthemic hits changed rugby league and Australian sport forever. It was a wonderful time for all of us.“ (John Quayle)

Tina Turner - Winfield Cup - TV

The first clip with What You Get Is What You See wasn’t filmed in Australia because of time scheduling conflicts. John Quayle remembers: „We only had one day in London to film the commercial and I flew with football jumpers, football, goalposts and pads. We used two wonderful footballers, Gavin Miller and Cliff Lyons. We filmed in the old Fulham dressing room, freezing cold, and I'll never forget that scene when I introduced Tina to Gavin and Cliffy.“

For the next clip with The Best, Roger Davis called Jim Walpole and told him: „Look, Tina's got a song that's not recorded yet but it's gonna be on her album at the end of the year and I think it's been written for sport and you should come listen to it.“ John and Jim got on a plane to Los Angeles and listened to The Best and they were fortunate that they were able to buy the song for the entire southern hemisphere for the next five years before it was even recorded.

John Quayle also remembers: „When she came to Australia and did the commercials … on the Gold Coast on the beach … it was just as if she was a part of our rugby league scene. But Tina knew nothing about the sport when she first became associated with it. She loved the players. She understood after a little while how fit they were, how good looking they were. She’d say about Alfie Langer, 'look at the size of him, he's so little', and I used to say, 'yes he's one of the toughest players we have‘. Turner loved every minute of being a part of rugby league. From roaring with laughter when asked to drop medicine balls harder onto the player's stomachs to performing on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in high heels, without a harness in 1995.

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