My first 100 strangers had several football related strangers. This is only my first football stranger of this football season, in fact it is only my third football stranger of the this season and last season. I think I’ve took my camera to all the matches, but watching Bolton Wanderers over the last 3 seasons has been so frustrating, poor and upsetting abd therefore photographing football strangers seemed low priority.
I normally take my old Canon 450D to the football, but when I set off on my 120+ mile journey to the match mymy back pack still had my Canon 60D in it, so I decided to take that.
I met my lifelong friend outside the ground before the match and we did a couple of circuits of the perimeter path before we went into the stadium. Outside the “away fans” entrance I noticed a couple of stewards dressed in different high visibility jackets than the Bolton stewards.
“Excuse me. Are you MK Dons stewards?” (Bolton were playing host to Milton Keynes Dons).
“Yes, we are”
“That should be quite an relaxed day for you , there won’t be many MK Dons fans visiting”
“It’s a great job, that pays well, if a cup game goes into extra time and pens , we get paid for that too”
“Do you get paid to travel too” asked my mate Alan
“Yes we do”
“MK Dons don’t have a reputation for trouble, you should be OK today” I added “Last home game the Fleetwood fans charged at the Bolton fans in the stadium. The stewards had to try and stop them. They were fighting with the stewards, it all got a bit ugly”
“We will be OK today, it will be harder keeping them awake”
I detected a Geordie accent
“Is that a Geordie accent? What’s a Geordie doing stewarding in Milton Keynes”
“I got lost on the roundabouts and never found my way out” was Peter’s reply. Quite funny I thought, so I didn’t explore the reason further. Milton Keynes is famous for it’s grid road plan and many roundabouts
“I’ve been involved in stewarding for over 30 years. Football, Concerts, Festivals, Sporting Events”
“In the Midlands, Showsec seem to have all the football business” I said
“Ah, Showsec, they are not very popular in Newcastle”
“Why’s that?”, but Peter did not expand on the reason.
I then introduced the concept of 100 strangers and asked Peter if he would stand by the wall of the stadium hotel.
I pointed Peter towards some bright sky, hoping I would get catchlights.
I shot about 8 pics and this was my fave.
I gave Peter my card and Alan and myself made our way to the turnstile entrance.
As for the match, Bolton won with a goal in the last minute of injury time, to make the two hour plus journey home a little easier. We are now on 1 point, having started the season with a minus twelve point deduction and no players other than a team of teenagers.
Editied in darktable and GIMP
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
https://www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers
My own strangers can be seen here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/57144254@N08/albums/72157657822400168
@lynnz ha ha Lynn, good shout
@sangwann Dione , thank you, Bolton started the season on minis 12 points , we now have new owners who seem to be doing everything correct :)
@moviegal1 many thanks for your visit :)
@sdutoit thank you Sylvia,