Rochdale FC’s manager Keith Hill takes questions from representatives of the local media, who, for some unfathomable reason, included me amongst their ranks this afternoon. His team had just beaten Bury FC 2-0, but that didn’t necessarily make him the jolliest of interviewees.
Hillsborough, home of Sheffield Wednesday FC, is undoubtedly a grand football stadium, but I don’t like it and never will. It’s miles away from the city, primitive in terms of the amenities offered and I’ve had some bad experiences there. This on top of the events of April 1989 when 96 people were killed there due to police incompetence (not to mention the subsequent — but now thankfully ended — 27-year establishment cover-up). But at least we, that is, Brighton & Hove Albion FC, won there today, 2-1. Go Seagulls. I like the symmetry of this shot of the entry gangway to the away end, but yes, it would be better if it wasn’t for that dark intrusion, the top of a seat I think.
St. James’ Park, Newcastle, is the greatest, and certainly the largest, true city-centre football stadium in England. Capacity over 50,000, and all ten minutes’ walk from the train station — well, 10 minutes to the bottom of the main stand anyway. If you are an away fan you then have about another 10 minutes’ climbing of stairs to negotiate: I don’t think I’ve ever been so high up in the air watching a football match before. Good views therefore; better than anything we endured on the pitch today, a poor performance (Newcastle United 2, Brighton and Hove Albion 0).
This weekend, Hebden Bridge marks six months since the floods of 26th December. There are various festivals and events taking place over today and tomorrow (Sunday). In Calder Holmes Park today was a ‘Fair for Youth’ which seemed to involve a lot of people sitting on the grass watching a stage on which not much was happening; but this climbing tower seemed popular.
Hard to know what to say about this one. On the one hand, it was an incredible experience to be present today at Middlesbrough v. Brighton and Hove Albion, touted as one of the richest single games of football ever played, and certainly the richest ever played by my lot — £170m was the quoted purse, the prize for the victor being promotion to the Premier League and next season’s big fat TV money payout. If it finished a draw, Middlesbrough would be the ones going up. The atmosphere today was intense, until the very last seconds there was all to play for, and it was amazing that I and Joe were both there.
On the other hand, we lost. Actually we didn’t lose (the result was 1-1) — but of course, in the way that matters, we did.
One reason for going down south was to attend a game at Brighton & Hove’s other football team, Whitehawk FC. Why? Why not? They have an active set of Ultras, anti-racist, anti-sexist, a no bad language policy (exemplified by the chant, “the referee’s a… referee”) and the atmosphere put many much bigger clubs to shame. Right result too — Whitehawk 3, Wealdstone 0. Perhaps I have just found my second team.
The photographers gather just after half time at the end being attacked by Brighton & Hove Albion FC in tonight’s game versus Birmingham City: and they made the right choice, as barely a couple of minutes after I took this picture the Albion scored to go 2-1 up, and that’s how it stayed. St. Andrew’s becomes a new ground for me, pretty decent one too I thought, right result…
Thought I’d better do a photo of Glasgow today even though I saw nothing of it except the hotel, the room where we did the viva examination, and a restaurant for lunch. Still, the view from the second of these, being up on the 11th floor of a building at the University of Strathclyde, was a damn fine one and included this monumental structure (in both senses of the word). Celtic Park (aka Parkhead), home of Celtic FC, one of the best-supported football clubs in the world, towers above its surroundings and seems colossal even from two miles away. The ‘mist’ is, rather, steam from chimneys between it and where I stood.
Of all the genres of photography that I get the chance to try on this blog I think sports photography is the hardest. In part this is because I a) just don’t have the right equipment and b) when I am watching an event, at least one like this football match, I’m usually stuck in the same seat. This shot is OK, thanks mainly to the light, but it’s still not that great really because it has been cropped hugely, so has come out grainy. Brighton & Hove Albion hit this free kick towards the goal of their hosts, Preston North End, but nothing came of it — which was the story of the match as a whole, it finished 0-0.
He got up again…. Pictured during today’s Brighton half-marathon. I don’t do these kinds of things any more, though the wife does, which is why this event also made it onto the blog last year.
Being 42 