Film Maker Steven Riley used his Oxford boxing connections to gain access to upper class fighters. He talks to Steve Pratt about the result, Blue Blood.

STEVEN Riley could have been a contender. While studying at Oxford, he began training to fight in the annual Varsity boxing match. "At the time I was thrilled to bits and very keen to fight as a middleweight," he recalls.

"But I took on this one guy at the club and managed to get hit square on the chin. I had concussion and had to take a week off my studies to recover, and it made me think about fighting again."

Instead he's made a documentary about it, Blue Blood, which goes on cinema release tomorrow. It marks the first time that the Oxbridge amateur boxing clubs have allowed in cameras.

Riley's film follows five Oxford students and would-be boxers, all from vastly different backgrounds, and their coach, Des, in the months of training and competition leading up to the annual Oxford v Cambridge Varsity fight night.

The documentary's also notable for a soundtrack that includes songs from such artists as The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, The Beastie Boys, Faithless, Moby and Metallica. Not bad for a low budget movie which only got financed after Riley appealed to people who'd represented the university at sport for funding.

The five people featured in the film include philosophy student Kavanagh, who says boxing "looks fun from what I've seen on TV", and Fred, a biochemist, who reckons he's "always been quite good at hitting things". Raised by his single parent mother, he harbours a grudge against his absent father.

Charlie's love of fine art (and women) make him an unlikely contender but he appreciates the idea that many will enjoy watching toffs beating the hell out of each other. Part of his motivation is "the fear that I would pass through this place just another anonymous face".

Justin, an American studying astrophysics, has two speeds in the ring - hard and harder. Boxing is another notch on his sporting bedpost, alongside skydiving and scuba diving with great white sharks. And there's James, or Boiler as he's known, whose attitude is neatly summed up by his words, "I don't quit".

Des is the Oxford coach and man charged with training a group of would-be fighters, half of whom have never seen a pair of boxing gloves before. That was one of the aspects that attracted Riley to making a film about the Varsity match - the fact that fighters could come in with boxing experience or as complete novices.

He was working at a London advertising agency when he dreamed up the idea for Blue Blood. "I wasn't even planning to go into documentaries at that point, but I was thinking about next projects and the idea dawned on me, especially as no-one has really covered it before and I had an insider's view of it," he says.

At first, people were reluctant to give him the permission he needed but he persisted. With hindsight, he feels that being an Oxford graduate was a help in getting the go-ahead for cameras to be allowed into the gym and the fights themselves.

"The fact that I knew the Oxford Varsity Boxing Club was a big help," he says. "With a lot of documentaries, you know the elements that are there, but the thing is still pretty organic. But I knew the basic climax - the Oxford v Cambridge fight night - and some of the rungs along the way, so it was a case of assembling the characters," he explains. "It helps if you have a connection with whoever you're following. It helps the filming process and luckily all the guys had seen me lurking around the club in the background. I became a bit like an item of furniture. A lot of the time I would put the camera down and chat casually with them, building up a relationship."

In the event, he found it quite tough fitting all their stories into a 90 minute movie. Their reaction to the finished film has been good. "Everyone really like it, there were no negative reactions," he reports. "Not to be too schmaltzy, I did try to focus on the positive aspects of these guys."

He pays tribute to executive producer Rafael Marmor for getting the rights to the music he wanted to use in addition to Itamar Ziegler's original score.

When Warner Music Entertainment bought the movie for release, they were impressed by the musical line-up for such a small budget film. "It really helped when Radiohead came on board. They live down the road in Oxford and it was fantastic to get their response. They liked it and respected the budget.

"Thinking about it now, it was very optimistic. I knew what songs I wanted and it was how do we get in front of the right people because half the time it's about access. Once someone in their organisation watched and like it, word got arond. The Rolling Stones said yes, and so did Bob Dylan."

* Blue Blood (15) opens at Cineworld (Empire) Sunderland tomorrow.