Day 3 - Referee's insight and warm-up

On the 3rd day of visiting Hackney Marshes, i wanted to photograph some of the preparations that happens before a match takes place.

I arrived an hour before kick off and the place was already busy with many members of the clubs arriving

Using the heat of the sun to warm up before a match

Locker room where the referee official’s use

Refreshments for all to use before a match

In a good mood before Referring a game

Another happy referee enjoying a nice Beverage

I photographed a match between Stoke Newington who has recently joined the Premier division, who played against Tottenham Phoenix who i photographed on Day 1

The match started about 20mins late due to some confusion on which referee will participate in this match so i had lots of time to take some pre warm up images below.

It was a entertaining game with lots of battles and ended with Tottenham Phoenix winning 2:0 with the last goal being a sensational goal scored from the corner flag

Here are a few more images from the game

Sequence of shots of two players battling for the ball

Time to pack up the nets for the day

Day 2 - Jack Walpole cup final

On day 2 of my project i got the opportunity to document and photograph the cup final game between FC Niva(who i previously photographed last week) and current premier league champions Mile End.

This cup is dedicated to Jack Walpole who was a General secretary for the whole league from the 1970’s and passed away in 2001.

I arrived at Hackney Marshes over an hour before Kick off as i wanted to absorb and capture the atmosphere before kick off.

Below are images of behind the scenes before matches takes place.

FC Niva dressing room

Mile End dressing room

Today’s other fixtures playing around Hackney marshes

Teams Preparing on the pitch

Before Kick off, there was a one minute silence in memory of Jack Walpole

The game itself was very entertaining with lots of goals scored. Mile End who went down to 10 men after there GK got sent off in the second half, eventually won 3:2 scoring the winner at extra time.

Below are some of the images from the game

Below are post match images showing the joys of winning a game and the sadness of losing one too. Whoever wins or loses, People here show admiration and respect for one another and it is one of life’s lesson’s to learn how to win or lose gracefully.

FC Niva Collecting their runner’s up medal

Mile End Collecting their winning medals

Day 1 - Introduction

Introduction

Today was my first day shooting for this personal project that involves Grass roots level football that takes place in London - Hackney Marshes.

The Main purpose of this project is to document what happens on and off the pitch and how Human interactions and emotions take place within the Grass roots community.

My aim is to highlight and show how being involved in the world of football can represent some concepts and disciplines in the real world and how it can help with a person’s day to day roles they may have outside of football.

Tottenham Phoenix vs Niva FC

After introducing myself to some of the League organisers at Hackney Marshes, they recommended i shoot this game that involved two teams from the Premier league of the Hackney and Leyton football league.

Here Are some of the images taken of the game

Referee’s meeting

After all the games where played, all of the referees involved in the Hackney and Leyton football league had a meeting to discuss a few items related to past concerns, improvements and new news/rules that will be applied for the up and coming season.

One item they discussed was on how the league can become more interactive with the social digital world and part of my objective for this project is to help promote and make Grass roots football more social aware in the digital space we now live in.