This Sporting Life was directed by a male feature film director.
Lindsay Gordon Anderson ( 17 April 1923 -- 30 August 1994 ) was a British feature film , theatre and documentary director , film critic , and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave . He is most widely remembered for his 1968 film if ... , which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival and was Malcolm McDowell 's cinematic debut . This Sporting Life . It was directed by Lindsay Anderson .