Grounds for optimism: a photo essay from the first day of the football season

03 August 2017 09:35
When the season kicked off last August, a photographer and a writer visited Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline, Alloa, Falkirk, Gorgie and Perth in search of actionBy Daniel Gray and Alan McCredie for Nutmeg, of the Guardian Sport NetworkAugust has come again. Football is back. Such words sprinkle a Christmas Eve feeling upon us all. Interminable, domesticated Saturdays have departed and familiar, fixtured life can recommence. Resumed are our sacred routines – scarves sifted out and returned to necks, lucky routes taken, matchday pubs invaded for the first time since May, fortnightly acquaintances greeted again with quick enquiries of holidays and health, and engrossed conversations about players sold and signed. Once more to the ground we go, inhaling sweet catering van scents as they hang in the air almost visible like the vapours in a Bisto advert. Back is the 50/50 draw and its faithful seller, and the neatly piled club shop with last season’s away shorts in a £5 bin. The new shirt, modelled by full-kit child and corpulent granddad in crumpled weekend jeans, looks wonderful or awful and never in-between. Short-sleeves are trusted by the kitted and the rest, for the first day is always sunny, is it not? Even an angry God couldn’t drop rain on our August day of hope. Related: Rose Reilly: the only Scottish footballer to win the World Cup ... as Italy captain Continue reading......read full article

Source: TheGuardian