“Football is in my blood”, enthuses Marco Magielse, “and grounds feel like home to me.”
The Dutch photographer has been documenting stadiums since assignments covering local club NAC Breda.
From that beginning he set out on picturing a slowly dying breed of grounds, stadiums that were intimate, at the hub of the community and on the doorstep of their supporters. Grounds that were suffocating for opponents.
Magielse has witnessed first hand a change in this trend, with the arrival of the new super stadiums that at the same time spell the end of the old classic football ground. The death knell has sounded. As Magielse describes it in his aptly titled sellout book, these grounds are waiting for the Final Whistle.

“I have always loved British football; For the grounds, the atmosphere and the fact that football is in people’s blood there. It’s football’s origin.”
Marco Magielse

Magielse‘s tour of stadiums took in grounds where time seemed to have been standing still. Wooden structures with bending roofs, rusty turnstiles, barren concrete terraces, Marco Magielse’s book Final Whistle is a nostalgic ode to a fading style of architecture.
Originally from Breda in the south of the Netherlands, this photographer film maker is an ardent fan of his hometown club. He talks fondly of the first big name player he saw live, England and Everton centre forward Bob Latchford, who briefly came to NAC Breda for half a season in 1984 and scored 13 goals in 15 matches.
“That was a true miracle,” said Magielse. “He and he alone made NAC go up that season. Unbelievable class.”
His love of football came from his father. He remembers his first game watching NAC get beaten at Amsterdam in 1978, in front of 2,000 fans in an Olympic Stadium that had a 65,000 capacity.

His interest grew from there, steadily building towards visiting as many grounds as possible, driven by an admiration of British football and its culture. He took pictures along the way, and found an outlet for his work in Dutch football culture magazine Staantribune.
“At first I visited grounds in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England,” he said, “to take photos for stories in Staantribune Magazine.
“When the number of visits kept growing we had the idea to make a book, the first photobook for Staantribune to publish.
“I have always loved British football; For the grounds, the atmosphere and the fact that football is in people’s blood there. It’s football’s origin.
“As a young man I bought Simon Inglis’ book ‘Football grounds of Great Britain’ and I was fascinated by the black & white pictures in it.

“In 2003 my club NAC, where I worked as a club photographer, played Newcastle United in the UEFA Cup and I got to visit my first ever British ground.
“Although St. James’ Park was not a typical British ground I was struck by the atmosphere and sense of tradition. The sound of the crowd cheering after a goal (NAC lost 5-0) was so much more intense than I was used to in the Netherlands.
“Bobby Robson was coach at Newcastle and I was surprised by the respect he was treated with by the fans and his players.
“When he worked in Holland the journalists didn’t take Robson very seriously. In Holland we think we invented football but that is a serious mistake. I think we can learn a lot from you (British) about dealing with real heroes.
“Final Whistle is the result of my love for British football, the most pure form of living football for me.”

“Football is in my blood and football grounds feel like home to me. I recognise the pain and joy of football fans because I experienced it myself.”
Marco Magielse






His brother, also a photographer, was his motivation in taking up the profession, while a huge influence was Hans van de Meer, “a giant”, according to Magielse.
Photography is a quick and realistic way to document things,” he said, “and you can do it in your own manner.
“My first real projects were about documenting football grounds that were bound to disappear. The old NAC ground and the Bosuil from Royal Antwerp FC. The last one I have seen in its original state and i will never forget the shivers I felt approaching this legendary ground.
“Football is in my blood and football grounds feel like home to me. I recognise the pain and joy of football fans because I experienced it myself (more pain than joy to be honest). So visiting grounds is what I love, especially old grounds that have illogical, neglected parts that are fascinating to see.
“I love the pureness of football fans. People who go through all the emotions with their club and never ever will consider leaving it, even if the results are dramatic.
“Love for the club, that’s what I like to see and photograph. The architecture of the grounds is also very important and combining those two I hope to make good pictures.”
Magielse himself is a Nikon user. “I have a D4s, a D5 and a Z6,” he said. “The lenses I use are a 80-200mm, 2.8 and a 24-70mm, 2.8.” He describes himself as being self taught.
“No one ever told me anything. I found it all out by myself,” he said.
“My tip would be: always keep an open eye and look for the special things.”

Final Whistle by Marco Magielse is now available as an eBook directly from Staantribune.
If you enjoyed that, you may also like British football’s greatest grounds by photographer Mike Bayly.
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