Time for a new piece of work and a different way of working. I am currently in the process of researching a project on Pontypool rugby club, a Principality Premiership club in South Wales, based in a very nice park not far from my flat.
Why Pontypool, or Pooler as they are known?
Well it is because they, like most Welsh clubs, actually represent their towns and the people in them, they are part of the community and visa versa. They are not an arbitrary prescribed region, they are not a multi national sporting experience and nor are they a business that puts shareholders and investors above supporters. In short they still hold some of the soul that went in football the day Sky showed up with all that cash.
The other thing that draws me is that I know little about the club, the town or the people being an outsider (not that that is a problem down here) and it is this sense of the unknown that is behind the intended output for the project; a scrapbook!
The idea is to approach Pooler as a child would, to be a hoarder of information and experiences and to keep all these little details in a scrapbook. However it is not just my world that will be included, I am looking to record interviews with others about the club, asking people to photograph their own personal match days, and I shall also aim to make a typological survey of the club (tour plaques, shirts, international representation mementos, tickets). Add to this newspaper reports, found photos and all kinds of mini kleptomania and this could be a lot of fun.
And hard work for the designer I get to work with creating the whole book.
I am in the process of talking to the people in charge of Pooler and I only hope they are a fraction as excited by this project as I am!
If you want to see what my influences for this then just check out these guys, Donovan Wylie, Bill Burke and Julien Germain. All slightly different, all fantastic!
Oh and here is a random image from my trip today, how can you not love a place where even the benches are Pooler!
Sounds like a project that has legs! Lots in it that will keep you interested and you could end up with a book that not just rugby fans will love.
Nice one mate. I look forward to hearing about progress and seeing the finished product.
Good luck.
Jeez, all that’s gone on at Pooler in the last 20 years or so is worth a good book in itself!! Good luck.
Very interesting project Steve.I have in my possession my Fathers first Welsh international cap which he gave to me when my grandmother passed away some years ago.Perhaps you can use that in some small way?
Hi Carl, I have sent you an e-mail. Let me know if it doesnt arrive!