Adelaide accountant and Reds fan Carlo Petraccaro wrapped up shooting on his first feature film Total Football back in 2009.

Since then it’s been a arduous journey for the after-hours writer/director whose labour of love was finally released online in December at www.totalfootballfilm.com, where you can watch the whole thing for $4.

There might not be quite an Oscar moment for this buddy flick which follows a struggling fictional amateur football club against the backdrop of the Socceroos 2006 World Cup campaign.

But Petraccaro is still proud of what he's achieved - especially on a distinctly non-Oscar-rivalling shoestring budget of $80,000.

“I think we’d be nominated somewhere in there in the lowest budget film ever made awards,” Petraccaro joked.

Shot in 28 days using unknown actors and donated kits from South Australian clubs, this is an unapologetic homage to the local game.

And just like Australian football, it’s endured turbulent times that continued long after the cameras ceased rolling.

“When we first made the film we had a publisher do the music for us and that caused a lot of legal problems with copyright and payments up front that he wanted,” Petraccaro said, whose duties included set sweeping and coffee making.

“I basically stripped all the music out and put new music in there – which is all Adelaide bands that I know of.

“We also had FIFA footage of Australia playing their games in the 2006 World Cup and dealing with FIFA is just a legal minefield.

“They were happy for us to use it but there were just too many hoops to jump through. I had to get rid of the FIFA footage as well, so I re-edited the movie.

“In the beginning it was called Offside but there’s something like 10,000 movies called Offside believe it or not.

"But there’s only one Total Football film in the whole world and that’s the one we made.”

A Canadian company has handled the online distribution. 

Petraccaro grew up in a football-mad Italian family and played the game in South Australia, so he’s treading familiar territory here.

“I won’t tell you which bits but there are bits of my life in there,” he said.

“But most guys who have played soccer or been involved with soccer say that’s exactly what it’s like in a club.

“It was a funny thing because so many people in Adelaide who are involved in football gave up their time or gave stuff for free.

“We were wearing the actual (North Eastern) MetroStars tops for the film.”

And at the heart of the film is a debate which most Aussies will relate to – joga bonito versus kick and win pragmatism – when a bunch of amateur hopefuls go in search of league cup glory.

First though they’ll have to survive the moral arm wrestle between the purist coach Frank Caruso and his win-at-all costs brother, Charlie.

Petraccaro said the theme resonated with him.

He added: “Australia’s going through this whole thing constantly.

"Craig Foster (SBS football analyst) is the guru of we should always play beautiful football and the other side is about going out there and getting the win.

“We sort of played with that concept of what you do with a team - do you try and play beautiful football or do just go out there and try and win it as best you can or as ugly as you can?

“And when you win there’s all this pressure. Once you get on a roll no one cares – a win is a win.”