Crowe fights one-armed bandits one club at a time

It's not quite life imitating art, but Russell Crowe's latest screen battle with a hoodlum in American Gangster bears more than a passing resemblance to his fight against one-armed bandits.

Just as Richie Roberts witnesses first-hand the scourge of heroin on New York's streets, the actor who plays the outcast cop has recoiled at the dire consequences of ubiquitous slot machines in his home city of Sydney.

And fans are discovering that the movie star with the famously short temper has a social conscience to match. The focal point of this Tinseltown-led experiment to recreate community spirit is the South Sydney Rabbitohs, an iconic working-class rugby league team and Crowe's first sporting love.

Along with multimillionaire businessman and mate Peter Holmes a Court, the 43-year-old last year bought a majority A$3 million (HK$20.6 million) stake in the once all-conquering club that in recent years has struggled to stay afloat. The pair immediately injected some Hollywood glamour, dressing players in Armani suits and green-lighting a fly-on-the-wall TV documentary series that followed the Rabbitohs' progress to the National Rugby League finals series.

When Crowe's wife, Danielle Spencer, complained about the club's scantily clad cheerleaders, the star replaced them with a drumming band.

It was just one part of his bid to make the game more family friendly, and challenged the testosterone-fuelled, beer-drinking and often sexist status quo. But if that move was viewed as provocative, Crowe then fired a warning shot that threatens to shatter the financial foundations on which the sport in Australia is built.