Following similar work in Glasgow, Toby Binder discovers a sense of belonging and escapism that football offers, irrespective of background and social standing.
Toby Binder‘s pictures are a harrowing reflection of real life in a troubled inner city. Belfast is this time the backdrop for the German born photographer whose project, The Youth Of Belfast, takes in six different Protestant and Catholic neighbourhoods.
There beneath the surface he found a world rife with unemployment, drug crime and violence. But he also found football, and its pivotal role in society, had a critical part to play.
According to Binder, his photo essay “shows that kids in Northern Ireland often suffer the same problems no matter if they live in Protestant or Catholic neighbourhoods.
“Especially young people who want to overcome the old patterns and live a life as they know it from other parts of Europe today. But they still live in place where violence, distrust and lack of perspectives is omnipresent.”
“Kids in Northern Ireland often suffer the same problems no matter if they live in Protestant or Catholic neighbourhoods.”
Toby Binder
Binder is full of admiration for the way the majority of British clubs are based within their city confines. It is the architecture and the location of the stadiums he finds so appealing.
“In the Bundesliga, many new stadiums have been built outside the cities, ugly functional buildings between the motorway and the rubbish tip,” he says.
“A stadium must be as wedged into the community as Goodison Park or the old Maine Road. The architecture nestles symbolically into the neighbourhoods.
“When the stands take odd angles or are cut by a railway track, it sometimes looks weird, but makes it unique.
“I was fascinated by this in Scotland in 2004, so I photographed all the stadiums only from the outside to show how they are integrated into the urban environment. You walk down the street and you have church, pub, stadium.
“In Munich you walk an hour to the pub! I love that people walk from the pub where they all gather together to the stadium.”
Wee Muckers is available to purchase directly from Toby’s website and a selection of his prints are available from the British Culture Archive.
If you enjoyed that, you may also like Kick it like Mc, where Toby Binder’s revealing photo documentary in Scotland finds a county addicted to football.
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