Fights, failed dreams and a sea of pitches: Hackney Marshes, the questionless home of Sunday League football
550 players and no spectators. That’s why Hackney Marshes is without a doubt the English (and probably global) capital of grassroots football.
Let’s be honest, amateur football is not about the quality of the game. It’s about trying to forget the failed dream of becoming a footballer. Hackney Marshes is the biggest amateur football venue in the world, located in north west London, with the London Stadium in the skyline, just to remind everyone where they’d like to be (and where they’re not).
One sunny Sunday morning I made my way to Hackney Marshes to documentate what a day there is like. It’s 9 a.m., all I can see is goals with no nets, a lot of green and some ravens. Someone in football boots makes his way into the scene, grabs a net from his bag and starts setting the pitch. His name is Benito Apollonio, and he’s been playing in Hackney Marshes for 6 years. “It’s the home of football in London, it’s iconic, where else are you gonna see like a 100 pitches?,” he says. Today, his team The Gun FC play against their eternal rivals, Clapton Community FC. If they win, they…
