Football in the 1990s
Photographs by Tony Davis
Published in When Saturday Comes 291, May 2011

A Derby fan since the 1960s – he is the one of the boys holding the ‘Clough In, Directors Out’ banner at the Baseball Ground in 1972 that appears in every Brian Clough documentary – Tony Davis came to photography by a roundabout route. He spent hours in local libraries poring over classic photobooks by Leonard Freed, Marc Riboud and Cartier Bresson. Just as he was leaving school he was told he should go to art college but like many working-class school leavers of his age he drifted into the engineering trade.

Tony’s creative instincts eventually emerged in his own photography. He pursued the compositional style of those he’d admired, with contrasting foreground and background elements, and subjects naturally framed or distinctively cropped.

In the early 1990s WSC was evolving visually and Tony’s approach – taking an interest in off-beat and uncommercial subjects – fitted perfectly. He was prepared to turn up on spec at press calls and at tournaments home and abroad, looking for unusual pictures. “Carrying my portable camera I used to get laughed at by the sports regulars. To me they all looked like they were going fishing with the amount of gear they were lugging around,” he recalls.

These are some of Tony’s favourites from the period. At the Baseball Ground in 1992 Marco Gabbiadini is the new signing talking to the press; behind him in the fog is manager Arthur Cox, flush with transfer funds from Lionel Pickering’s recent takeover. At World Cup 1994, a sponsor’s mascot leaves his outfit in the humid heat of New York. During the 1993 European Under-19 youth championship, two teams line up at Sincil Bank, Lincoln – a starkly-cropped official looms over the proceedings. Nelson Mandela is framed through the shoulders of his vast security guard presence in Johannesburg at the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations. At Elm Park, Reading, in 1998, young fans perch on a floodlight base while their dads watch the match from the terraces behind. Diverse though the subjects are, the pictures share an astutely crafted approach; football is treated with affection and as a subject worthy of serious visual scrutiny.

By the end of 1990s the filing cabinets at the WSC office were no longer filling up with piles of black-and-white contact sheets but these prints remain with the tangible feel of the pre-digital age. Tony is as erudite and engaging today as when he first turned up at WSC bursting with ideas. He now teaches, and builds racing motorbikes.

Doug Cheeseman
Football Photography Writing

See more of Tony’s photography on Instagram