Lower Block

The Cultural Importance of Football Grounds >>> Words and photographs by Guirec Munier explore the cultural divide between modern stadiums and historic football grounds - where place, time, and community shape an experience that cannot be replicated by design. Full feature and gallery live on Lower Block 📸 @jeanprouffisonfire Photo roll ⬇️ Burnley FC – Turf Moor, opened 1883. Capacity 21,944 The City Ground, opened 1898. Capacity 31,042. Nottingham Forest Sheffield Wednesday – Hillsborough Stadium, opened 1899. Capacity 34,835 Blundell Park, Grimsby Town. Opened 1899, capacity 9,546 Fratton Park, Portsmouth FC. Est 1899, capacity 21,100 Tynecastle, opened 1886. Capacity 19,852. Hearts Bohemian F.C’s Dalymount Park. Opened 1901, capacity 4,227 Goodison Park, Everton est 1892. Capacity 39,572 Solitude, Cliftonville FC. Built 1890, capacity 8,000 Bramall Lane, built 1855. Capacity – 32,050. Home to Sheffield United

WHAT THE PYRAMID STANDS ON | As the modern game continues to grow bigger, louder and more expensive, more supporters are heading in the opposite direction. Across England’s lower leagues, crowds are rising again – drawn not by spectacle, but by football that still feels local, physical and part of everyday life. In grounds built long before football became content, photographer Guirec Munier traces the spaces where the game still feels rooted to place. From Bath City to Torquay United, Bristol Rovers to Grimsby Town – clubs founded in the late nineteenth century and carried forward largely by habit, loyalty and survival. Full feature live on Lower Block. Photo roll ⬇️ Grimsby Town F.C. Blundell Park Bath City F.C. Twerton Park Torquay United F.C. Plainmoor Bristol Rovers F.C, The Memorial Ground

PRE-MATCH RITUALS - Matchday culture doesn’t start at kick-off - it begins hours before, in the rituals, routines, and shared moments that define football culture. Images © Lower Block Editions 1 - Oustide the Vic before kick-off | Delilah - Stoke Lads 1990-92 © Tony Davis / @davisfootballarchive 2- Young Evertonians pre-match grub | Going to the Match © Richard Davis / @richarddavismcrphotography 3- Highbury pub | The Third Element © Steve Pyke / @pyke.eye 4- Upton Park matchday | Long Live the Boleyn © Taff Manton / @taffmanton 5- Tannadice Park turnstiles | Arab Spring © Kenny Farquharson / @kennyfarq 6- Turf Moor crowds | Protests to Promotion © Clive Lawrence @clive9439 Explore the full Lower Block archive - digital features and printed Editions.

35 years ago > MUFC Rotterdam 91 Manchester United fans live it up in Rotterdam before their team beat Barcelona to win Cup Winners Cup. Next day. The Madchester scene moved on to Amsterdam to continue the party. 📸 @richarddavismcrphotography

35 Years Ago tonight & the Mark Hughes goal which meant Man Utd beat Barcelona 2-1 in the Cup Winners Cup Final at the Stadion Feyenoord in Rotterdam. Memorable few days spent in both Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Crazy how time flies. #richarddavismcrphotography #manchesterunitedfc #rotterdam1991 #markhughes #lowerblock

MWGA [MAKE WEDNESDAY GREAT AGAIN] 📸 @proper.skint A season of turmoil, relegation and uncertainty could not break Sheffield Wednesday’s support, in her renowned style, Proper Skint documents the grit, humour and loyalty of Owls fans throughout the club’s darkest year. “The season was over before it started with embargo’s, players not being paid, wasting money then eventually the points deduction and a chairman who had NO clue or care for what he was doing, the main problem was the battle off the pitch after the chairman finally left but then it was a case of the long-drawn process of administration. Thanks to the loyal support of such a big fan base throughout all of this and the new owner working hard to negotiate the points down to zero for next season. The future is finally looking a lot brighter than it was, despite having to start fresh in league one and to quote one fan “like Arne said, we’ll be back!” I grew fond of Wednesday when I met my partner which is near on 20 years ago, seeing and going through all the ups and downs with him has made me have so much more respect for their resilience to still show up when it comes through to good and the bad times and their tongue in cheek approach of 'typical Wednesday'. When it comes to capturing football and the fans I look for the ability to not take yourself to seriously as well as the community aspect, camaraderie and football fashion. The history and the passion of a club goes hand in hand, I feel that these are all aspects I look for when I capture moments. Growing up working class I see the anticipation of looking forward to a game you’ve been waiting for after a long hard week and how much that means.”

What a photo. Johna Cryuff pictured removing his boots following the final match of his playing career - Feyenoord versus PEC Zwolle, May 13, 1984. 42 years ago. Iconic stuff. 📸 © Gerard van Bree

Future’s bright? White Hart Lane, December 2016. Nearly 10 years ago, with Spurs preparing to temporarily leave home and promises of a brighter future everywhere you looked. Football culture and architecture photographer Antonio Cunazza captured a ground, a culture and community being pulled apart. The old East Stand facade, empty caffs, disappearing corners of the stadium - all overshadowed by the steel and glass of what was coming next. "I couldn't fully understand it at the time, but luckily enough I was able to put that feeling in my photos in a natural way. There was a sense of emptiness, like when you're in the middle of a house move. To see the state of the club 10 years later, it's just sad. This wasn’t the first time I went to White Hart Lane, but it was the last, about 4-5 months before the club temporarily moved to Wembley for construction to be completed. And in some ways it was bitter feeling, With the new stadium slowly rising up around the old ground, I wanted to capture the essence of that changing time. I had always found that area of Tottenham peculiar in many ways; multiethnic and rough in places. You could feel that, I liked it and White Hart Lane perfectly blended into it as a building that resonated with the borough’s heritage. But at the time of shooting these, it proved to be different. The historical brick facade of the East Stand and the empty Jacks Cafe on a cloudy midweek morning seemed melancholy, while the north-east corner was already missing and hunted down by an enormous tree-look-a-like steel column of the future ground. While it was fascinating to witness that transition time, I felt a sense of bleakness around, some emptiness I wasn’t expecting to feel. Future was approaching, something was being lost forever." 📸 @iamcunaaaaa_

Football = Life Explore our Lower Block Editions collection online now; Lived football culture. Photography. In print. Independently published. Lower Block | Away From Here

Rovers Reborn Lifelong Gashead Luca Rosewell on how gaffer Steve Evans reignited Bristol Rovers - restoring belief, rebuilding the bond between terrace and team, and turning the Memorial Ground into a fortress once again. Proper stuff. "Steve Evans has done more than steady the ship at Bristol Rovers - he’s reignited something deep in the club’s identity. His arrival sparked a run that will live long in Gashead memory: nine unbeaten to finish the season, eight wins on the bounce, the only team in the entire EFL to put together a streak like that. Seven straight victories at The Memorial Stadium turned BS7 into a fortress again, with afternoons and evenings that felt like the club rediscovering its soul. From beating promotion-chasing Grimsby, to the late comeback against Crewe through Tommy Leigh, to Ellis Harrison’s hat-trick and Shaq Forde’s last‑minute winner against Cheltenham - these weren’t just results. They were moments that stitched players and supporters back together. Evans even stood in the Thatchers End that day, shoulder‑to‑shoulder with the people whose belief he’s helped restore. In those final weeks, the scale of the reconnection was undeniable: 10,000, 11,000 at home, fans travelling the length of the country, and supporters unable to get tickets for the last home games. The club felt alive again. As Evans put it himself: “I can see the potential of this football club… this is a Championship club all day long. My job is to take us where we need to be.” As a photographer and lifelong BRFC supporter, my work has always been about capturing that heartbeat - the terraces, the community, the loyalty that holds through every high and every relegation battle. These images are a tribute to the people who make this club what it is, and to a season where belief returned in full voice." @shotbylucaaa x @official_brfc

Historic Football Homes Reimagined Through Light and Shadow Love these. Leeds-based graphic artist (and goalkeeper) @marcusmarritt distils Britain’s most iconic football grounds into a refined minimalist print series defined by clean composition, architecture, light and shadow. From Villa Park and St James’ Park to Goodison, Old Trafford and Molineux – alongside Scottish icons like Easter Road, Ibrox and Celtic Park – Marcus Marritt has built a striking series of stadium prints that capture the feeling of football’s true homes. Working with a minimal aesthetic shaped by light and shadow, Marritt’s HOME series began as a playful experiment and has grown into a refined collection celebrating the architecture colour and design supporters instantly recognise as their own. His growing list of client list includes Google, The Guardian, British GQ, The FA and The Athletic, alongside commissions for football clubs. The proud great nephew of an Olympiakos goalkeeping legend, Marritt’s love of the game and the aesthetics around it run generations deep. Give Marcus a follow and explore the full collection in his online shop.

10 years on. Long Live The Boleyn. Lower Block Edition by lifelong Hammer @taffmanton documents West Ham's controversial move from Boleyn Ground to London Stadium. Shot across several years, the project follows Hammers supporters as they left behind 112 years of history in Upton Park for Stratford’s former Olympic Stadium. Protest, resistance, loyalty and loss run through every frame. The limited A5 zine features 30 black-and-white photographs across 24 pages, capturing matchday culture in East London as it changed forever. “It used to be pocket money and travelling up with your 14-year-old mates. Now it’s booking three weeks in advance and taking out a bank loan, with the smell of onions swapped for popcorn.” “Stadiums are too big for atmosphere - built for special occasions but used every week.” Raw, intimate and rooted in football culture, Long Live The Boleyn is a document of supporters fighting to hold onto identity, community and atmosphere as modern football moved around them.