European Fields: The Landscape of Lower League Football

by Simon Kuper, Hans van der Meer (Photographer), Michael Mack (Editor)

At the beginning of the 1995 soccer season, Hans van der Meer set out to take photographs of the game that dodged the cliched traditions of modern sports photography. In an attempt to record the sport in its original form--a field, two goals and 22 players--he sought matches at the bottom end of the amateur leagues. He avoided tight telescopic details and the hyperbole of action photography, pulled back from the central subject of the pitch, and set the playing field and its unfolding action in the context of local elements. Over the last 10 years, Van der Meer has continued this project across the playing fields of Europe, traveling to every country with a significant history of the game. The Netherlands yielded 1998's Dutch Fields, and the odyssey that brings forth European Fields has since taken him from Bihariain, Romania to Bjàrkà, Sweden, from Torp, Norway to Als*àrs, Hungary, from Bartkowo, Poland to Beire, Portugal, and to urban and suburban Greece, Finland, England, France, Germany, Scotland, Switzerland, Holland, Slovakia, Denmark, Ireland, Wales, Belgium, Spain and Italy. Van der Meer's understated observations of the poetry and absurdity of human behavior on the field use soccer to consider--and provoke a laugh at--the human condition. Also available in a large-format hardcover edition.

Genres: Football, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

Simon Kuper is a journalist for the Financial Times in England. He was born in Uganda of South African parents and moved to the Netherlands as a child. He studied History and German at Oxford University, and attended Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar. He has written for The Times, Observer, Guardian and Le Monde, and also writes regularly for the Spectator and Dutch newspapers.

Reviews

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whilst reading about the way the Dutch think about space in the fantastic history of football in Holland, Brilliant Orange, I came across the photographic work of Hans van der Meer, a man who is described as a landscape photographer who just so happens to take photographs of landscapes with football matches in the foreground.

Van der Meer's modus operandi is to attend amateur football matches in remote regions, frame his preferred composition and wait for the action to happen, the result is a fascinating travelogue of beautiful landscapes of Europe (and I do consider industrial chimneys et al beautiful) with an often humourous juxtaposition with amateur footballers - "the beauty of the landscape is more natural and less suspect (in this way), whereas it is a cliche if it is photographed as an object." Knowing the way the photographer approaches his composition makes almost every image something of a Where's Wally-esque search for the odd, bizarre, out of place or subtle beauty that caught his eye in amongst the looming mountains, Mediterranean sea, French vineyards and Northern European car parks.

Simon Kuper's afterword (for want of a better term) is joyous survey of what it is like to be an amateur footballer who still dreams of being a star or replays those great but more often than not horrific moments from last weeks match repeatedly, how this sport is the centre of that person's world despite the fact that there is a stunning example of the mingling of the natural and manmade world everywhere they look - a cliff to one side of the pitch or a centuries old church watching over them, or in one instance the pitch seeming to be in a suburban back yard. His words are the perfect accompaniment to the previous 87 images and you'll be coming back to both sections time and time again.

[Björn H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Det var inte den här boken jag hade tänkt mig att läsa. Jag hörde om den, tänkte att det vore kul med en reportagebok om de lägre divisionerna i Europa. Det här är inte en reportagebok. Det är en fotobok. Så, nu har vi fått ur oss det.

Men vilken fotobok det är! Fotona är på fotbollsplaner i, tja, vilken division? Det är egentligen ganska oviktigt, men boken berättar det tacksamt nog för oss: en förteckning med vilken liga matchen spelades i - och resultatet! - finns längst bak i boken. De här matcherna är så långt från de stora europamatcherna man kommer. Oklippta fotbollsplaner, planer i bostadsområden eller - som det verkar - mitt ute på ett fält. Man noterar en viss fäbless för att spela på någon sorts sand/grus i Portugal och Spanien. Överallt spelas fotboll, och Hans van der Meer har fotograferat dessa matcher som hela tiden spelas på stort allvar inför få andra utom närmast sörjande på läktarna.

Bilderna är vackra landskapsmotiv som råkar ha en fotbollsmatch i sig, lite som när Simon Stålenhags futuristiska skapelser dyker upp i vår vanliga miljö. Vissa foton visar spelarna i någon form av rörelse, efter en händelse eller mitt i den, som i en bild där en straffspark precis avlossats och målvakten har rört sig. Vinkeln är inte glasklar, går målvakten åt rätt håll? Räddar han till och med? I det frusna ögonblicket vet vi inte, och vi får aldrig veta heller. Hjälten förblir okänd, själva händelsen oavslutad.

Simon Kuper har skrivit ett bra efterord om fotbollens kärna, om den fotboll som få tänker på att fotografera, men som pågår hela tiden. Det är ett riktigt vackert verk det här, skönt att vila i och drömma sig bort. Kanske till Caragh på Irland, till en plan där matchlinjerna ser uthuggna ut snarare än ditmålade, kanske för att det var lättare än att behöva måla i dem hela tiden?

[Nuno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, gorgeous document of lower league fields with a really nice foreword and review at the end.

[Benjamin Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having studied Fine Art in Sheffield I have more than a passing interest in Football presented in the art context. Hans Van Der Meer captures the sincerity and pomp of amateur footballers here very effectively. This series of photo's could be a landscape collection were it not for the pitches, stands, spectators, dogs and footballs therein. If you like this book you should have a look at 'Posts' by Neville Gabie.