Maybe it was the massive gap between Reading’s points total
and third place, established relatively early in the season, or maybe it was
the just way in which the team was playing that made them look like potential
Champions. For me at least, it wasn’t just the fact that the Royals
were winning games, it was the way in which they were being won. This team,
these players, all seemed to gel all at once, all striking form at the same
time, which perhaps is what happens in most championship winning sides. Every
player seemed to play their part, making the team an almost unstoppable beast,
very difficult to beat. Of course, there were some players that stood out,
possibly the goal scorers, but then they always do don’t they, but you only
have to look at the goals conceded total for the season to realise that the
defenders played their part to.
Looking back now at the games individually, recounting how
and when goals were scored and conceded, it struck me just how many times
Reading would score a goal, and then another, sometimes with minutes, or very
soon thereafter. A double punch if you like, knocking the stuffing and
resistance out of the other side. A similar thing was also happening, on those
occasions when Reading conceded a goal, they would go straight up the other end
and score one themselves. In this way, the opposition had no chance to settle
or take advantage of being a goal up, or getting back into a game in which they
already trailed.
It was no surprise, therefore, that at some point in the
season, a particular game, a result, would secure Reading’s promotion to the
Premiership, the first time in 135 years.
As the 2005/6 Season was really my first experience of a prolonged stint behind a camera, everything was new to me. Prior to this season, I had covered a couple of league matches for the club, but I was basically a novice, with no experience of football or any sport photography, for that matter.
As such, each game was a bit of a learning experience, but
great fun to. I was a football fan first, then a would-be sports photographer.
Being a fan and a photographer at a game of football is quite a surreal
experience, especially the first few times that you do it. You are not part of
the crowd, in the stands, but neither are you part of what’s going on, on the
pitch. I know that the second part of
that statement is a bit obvious, how could you be, but in many ways I felt that
I was. In the first place, I had a position in “front” of the crowd, secondly
in my minds eye I was transported onto the pitch through the lenses of the
cameras that you need to cover a game, one long lens for distance, and a
shorter lens for closer action. Add to this the smell of the grass, a really
strong, pungent smell that you don’t get sitting in the stands, and I felt
that I was part of the game.
Players that appear as outlines and distant shapes to people in the stands, I could see close-up, hear them when they shouted. Sometimes players would come very close to take a throw in, a corner or to celebrate a goal. I could feel their excitement and joy at scoring, how they soaked up the cheers and adulation of the crowd, just like a sponge soaks up water. This picture of Dave Kitson celebrating his second goal against West Ham in the 2-0 home win 2003/4, is a great example of what I mean.
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| Dave Kitson celebrates his second goal of the game |
You can see from the look
on his face, his posture, chest out, arms wide, he is the “man”, he has just
scored and sent 20,000 Reading fans wild with delight, he is surrounded by his
peers all trying to get close to him, to share in his glory. However, just for
that moment, it is his goal, his glory, and no one is going to take that away
from him, until he has soaked it up first.
Of course, there is another side to football, a much darker
and sinister side, one that players presumably try and shut out, to ignore, but
more of that maybe at another time.
to be continued...........
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