When I was a kid growing up in the seventy’s, sport was what I lived for. Match of the Day on a Saturday night and the Big Match on a Sunday, three first division matches, thats all the football you got on TV then. The biggest star? George Best. Of course, before you were able to get to Match of the Day, you had to endure the ‘Parkinson’ chat show, although occasionally he had guests that were interesting even for an eleven year old.
Emu was one I seem to remember but the stand out for me at the time was Muhammad Ali. Did I like boxing? No. Did I watch every Ali fight I could after seeing him on Parky. You bet. Even my Mum watched!
During last summer in the run up to the Olympics, I photographed Ali with one of footballs modern day greats, David Beckham. I’v worked with David before during the FA’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup Finals in England and have also been lucky enough to photographed Royals and Prime Ministers but I can honestly say that when I was told that I would be shooting Ali, I haven’t been as nervous about a shoot since starting in photography. It was a fantastic to meet him and his ‘people’ were great, only having Ali’s interest at heart. It really was an honour, one I’ll always remember.