Limited Edition Photo Zine and Exclusive T-Shirt Celebrating Kirsten Allen’s ‘Training Ground’ Photo Series

November 6, 2024

At Lower Block, we love merging football culture with photography and design. For our latest project, we’ve teamed up with Spurs supporter and photographer Kirsten Allen to launch a limited edition zine and exclusive T-shirt, celebrating her evocative ‘Training Ground’ photo series. The A5 zine, Training Ground N17, offers 39 stunning colour and black-and-white images shot on film over 44 pages, capturing the rites of passage among Spurs’ male supporters on matchdays in north London. Accompanying the zine is a special N17 Lilywhite Cotton T-shirt featuring a sunset above the iconic South Stand cockerel at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Training Ground N17 | Kirsten Allen | Lower Block photo zine and T-Shirt — © Lower Block

Training Ground N17 is a photo series by Tottenham Hotspur supporter and photographer Kirsten Allen that documents the rites of passage amongst Spurs’ male supporters on matchdays in north London.

The zine launch also includes an exclusive Lower Block x Kirsten Allen N17 Lilywhite Cotton T-Shirt, which features the sun setting over the iconic cockerel above the South Stand at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium printed onto the back of the tee. The simple, considered design is in-keeping with Lower Block’s ethos that aesthetics and photography are a vital part of football culture and lifestyle.

Any supporter will tell you that the love of a club is in their blood. Rites and rituals passed down, the way ahead paved for future generations.

A young football fan’s journey is likely to have begun alongside a father, or a significant older, influential figure and follows a familiar pattern. Songs and chants. Shirts and scarves. Memories both good, and bad, all passed down.

“There’s an accepted theory that more people change their religion than their club, so the crest on their chests will be one of the most constant factors in their lives.”
Kirsten Allen

Allen’s perfectly entitled photo series documents the everyday life of Spurs’ supporters for which all these sentiments ring true and run deep.

You can read Lower Block’s extended interview with Kirsten here.