There’s nothing like a match day derby to set the pulses racing, and photographer Derek Taylor found plenty to savour as he took in a series of local clashes during the 2019-2020 season.

Concentrating on games around Hull and his native north of England, his original intention was to call his work Football Rivals. But when Taylor scratched more deeply below the surface he saw it was more important than that, with pictures of fans at the Salford City v Oldham Athletic match providing the inspiration behind a new more precise title, Football Is Life.

What began as a personal project visiting grounds he had never been to before, Taylor fine tuned his idea to focus solely on derby matches.

Always endeavouring to be at the home end, Taylor began ticking off the local showdowns, between Grimsby Town and Scunthorpe United, then Rochdale and Bolton Wanderers, before that Salford v  Oldham game that produced his front cover shot.

That’s where he also came across two real stalwarts of the game in general. Blackburn Rovers fans from Ireland, they had flown in from Dublin that morning only for that match to be cancelled, so they went to Salford instead, even staying for after match drinks before catching the last flight home.

Focusing on derbies from the Championship through to non league, Leeds United v Huddersfield Town gave Derek Taylor, the Huddersfield fan, some potentially uncomfortable moments as he was in among the Leeds supporters trying to concentrate on taking his pictures while playing the part of an interested neutral.

Barnsley v Sheffield Wednesday was also high on his list, but even though unable to get a ticket, he went anyway, mingling with both sets of fans away from the ground.

Northern Counties League, East Division One, presented Taylor with another derby day,  between North Ferriby and Briggs Town, just as important to its fans as anything contested between more prestigious neighbours.

There were plenty of moments for Derek Taylor to enjoy as he mingled with the fans. A sizeable group of Bolton based Rochdale supporters who had travelled to Rochdale from Bolton for the game presented one such good natured pre match gathering, while Grimsby Town’s hand clapping “Fish” chant warmed the terraces despite the bitterly cold wind blowing in off the North Sea.

And there was humour at the turnstiles as well. Rochdale stewards were quizzical about Taylor’s compact camera, the only time anyone questioned him about it. When he told them he’d travelled from his home in Hull for the game, they waved him through. 

“You must be mad,” he was told. “You’d better come in”.

Based in Hull and relying on bus and train travel, as well as dealing with Covid restrictions and another imminent lockdown, the scope of Derek Taylor’s work was always going to be governed by the geography of the matches he could physically cover.

But having identified his field, Derek Taylor ends up with an authentic tribute to the fans behind the clubs. By concentrating on derby matches at different ends of the scale, he has a photo documentary worthy of its title.

Football Is Life says Derek Taylor. And his pictures illustrate it perfectly.

The photo zine Football Is Life can be purchased online here, and you can keep up to date with Derek and his work on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.