John Hollowbread, White Hart Lane, 1964
Photograph by Gerry Cranham ©Offside
Published in When Saturday Comes 211, September 2004

It’s not entirely certain when this picture of Spurs goalkeeper John Hollowbread was taken, but it was probably in December 1963 or January 1964* since the photographer, Gerry Cranham, remembers it as one of his first assignments after returning from John F Kennedy’s funeral in late November 1963. It could be against Blackburn, on January 11, 1964, as they wore an away kit like the one just visible in the distance.

Cranham had been rather disgruntled that none of his Kennedy funeral pictures had found a publisher. However, he didn’t return from the United States completely empty-handed. He had picked up a remote camera device that he had seen used at basketball games, whereby the camera could be attached to the basket. This was one of the first times he had used the remote at a football match, placing the camera in the back of the net. His equipment was otherwise quite crude by today’s standards, but it certainly did the trick on this occasion.

As well as framing the towering old East Stand, down to the detail of the cockerel on the roof, Cranham catches Hollowbread in mid-leap, seemingly sucked up into the night sky and silhouetted against the glare of the floodlights. An inspired piece of observation considering there appears to be no excitement of note – presumably Hollowbread was jumping to keep warm.

Hollowbread himself is a rather less famous than the picture. He was first choice for the 1959-60 season, but the side finished 18th and Bill Nicholson, who took over that year, replaced him with Bill Brown. Hollowbread appeared just once in Spurs’ 1960-61 double season and after a short run in the season pictured he was sold to Southampton as Pat Jennings emerged. His career was curtailed by injury soon after. He is, at least, preserved in this iconic image.

Unusually for a sports photograph, the picture has been recognised in art circles. It was shown in the Victoria & Albert museum’s photo gallery as part of an exhibit in the Seventies. Cranham initially thought the request was a practical joke as the previous exhibition was devoted to Henri Cartier Bresson – and apparently didn’t include any photos of Spurs goalkeepers.

*It was actually 4th January 1964, FA Cup third round, Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea. This picture also features in ‘This Sporting Life’.

Doug Cheeseman
Football Photography Writing

See more of Gerry Cranham’s work