Some 6 weeks before they started, I read in an article about the upcoming World Cup Finals that Germany was encouraging fans from all footballing nations to join them and create ‘The World’s Biggest Party’. This was diametrically opposite to all previous tournaments, where fans without tickets were actively discouraged from travelling to the host country.
The prospect of fans from the 32 nations parading their colours across Germany sparked an idea to complete a photographic essay of the whole event. I also wondered if Germany’s idea of a party matched the expectations of England fans – sure to be the highest in number of fans travelling to Germany.
In the short time before it started I managed to get sponsorship from a public company to finance me; approval from St James’s Palace that Prince Harry could write a foreword for the book I intended publishing as a result (in return for a share of any profit made going to his new charity); and found a small publisher who wanted something on the back burner in case England did as well as many expected.
I called the project ‘The Fans' World Cup’, intending that to be the book title. Little did I know until I returned after the tournament that UK media had adopted the same tag line when talking about Germany’s remarkable organisation and delivery of its promised party. The concept of Fan Zones they created has changed the face of all elite sporting tournaments since.
Although the publisher liked my work enough to try and secure a book distribution deal after the event, England’s dismal performance on the field scuppered that prospect. Nobody wanted any more books associated with the disastrous campaign on the shelves of their stores.
I was proud to have undertaken the project, and am resurrecting its core idea for the British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand in 2017. Under the banner of ‘FOCUS ON THE FANS’ I aim to capture the essence of what it is like for supporters to embark on a journey to the other side of the world to watch their sporting heroes. I hope it will be the first of a series of such books, which I plan to create with the aid of fans themselves - submitting images they take for consideration to be included in the book, as well as narrating stories of their experiences. My purpose behind The Fans' World Cup was, and continues to be with FOCUS ON THE FANS, to celebrate and pay tribute to the key role fans play in attracting huge sums from broadcasters and commercial sponsorship, which is critical to making elite sport what it is today.
