A major exhibition at De Montfort University’s Leicester Gallery celebrates the life’s work of renowned sports photographer Peter Robinson. Featuring more than 200 images, Keep Off the Grass showcases the “quirky humanity of the beautiful game” through the eyes of a man hailed as “the world’s greatest living soccer photographer.”
The Leicester-born photographer Peter Robinson, described by The New York Times as “arguably the world’s greatest living soccer photographer,” is being honoured with a new exhibition at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU). Titled Keep Off the Grass, the show presents over 200 images—some never before displayed—spanning his extraordinary 60-year career.
Robinson’s work stands apart for its focus on the human stories surrounding football rather than the action on the pitch. “If it’s football, it’s usually a comment on football, rather than the football itself,” he explained. “I want every image to tell a story.”
Art critic Waldemar Januszczak has praised Robinson’s ability to capture “the quirky humanity of the beautiful game,” calling him “the greatest living football snapper.” Fellow photographer Stuart Douglas echoed this, noting Robinson’s instinct “to look the other way” when others focus on the obvious shot—an approach that consistently reveals personality and humour in sport.
Although Robinson has spent decades chronicling sport, he insists he is not a fan of any particular team. His perspective, he says, comes from an early fascination with people rather than play. That curiosity may stem from his mother, Vera Kingston, who represented Great Britain in swimming at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and inspired his appreciation of sport’s global reach.
Born in Leicester in 1944, Robinson grew up on the New Parks estate and attended City Boys Grammar School, the same school as Gary Lineker and Alastair Campbell, before studying photography at Leicester School of Art—now part of DMU. Financial necessity first led him toward sports photography. “The family was skint,” he recalled. “I needed to earn a regular income, and football offered structure—you always knew there’d be a match on Wednesday and Saturday.”
His disciplined approach built a career that took him around the world. He covered 13 FIFA World Cups, multiple Olympic Games, and spent over 20 years as FIFA’s official photographer. His images are held in the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, and the Museo Historico Nacional in Buenos Aires. He has twice won Illustrated Sports Book of the Year and, earlier in 2025, received a prestigious Lucie Foundation award in the United States recognising his lifetime contribution to sports photography.
Reflecting on his career, Robinson remains humble: “I have been blessed. It has been great fun. In almost 60 years there is very little that I could complain about.”
Millwall v Crewe. The Den Stadium – the view from South Bermondsey Station. © Peter Robinson
Keep Off the Grass runs at the Leicester Gallery, located in DMU’s Vijay Patel Building on Mill Lane, until 10 January 2026. Admission is free. The gallery is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm and Saturdays from midday to 5pm.
For details visit Leicester Gallery – World-class art in Leicester.
