Real Football is a limited-edition photobook by Australian photographer Nick Bannehr, documenting the ancient and chaotic medieval football match played each Good Friday in the English village of Chiddingstone. With 200 players on each team, no formal rules, and goals over a mile apart, the four-hour game unfolds across fields, roads, and rivers in a spectacle of endurance, tradition, and community pride.
“The tone of the work emerged naturally. I didn't want to be a bystander - I ran with the players, chased the ball through muddy paddocks and over stone fences. At one point I even had to push the ball aside to avoid becoming part of the game. I wanted to sit in the energy source and point my camera at it as it simmered around me”.
The book launches from 6pm on the 1st May @ BTWNLNS - Newtown, Sydney, Australia.
