The Fabric Of Manchester

Sam Kershaw, England

My name is Sam Kershaw and I am a content producer and filmmaker based in Manchester. My work celebrates the power of grassroots football and the impact it can have on society in reducing inequality, helping people recognise their true potential and shining a light on the importance of community.

I have recently created films on the return of grassroots football post pandemic, Manchester Laces (the first women’s and non-binary team in the city) and Beyond The Final Whistle. This is a docuseries that charts the candid stories of players who have used football to overcome challenging periods in their lives and covers such subjects as battling cancer, ADHD, anxiety, depression, bereavement, abuse, isolation, tribalism and gang culture.

I currently play 8-a-side on a Monday night, 6-a-side on a Wednesday night and 5-a-side in a pick-up game on a Friday morning before work.

What has your football journey been up until now?

I have been playing grassroots football religiously for the past 32 years. I started playing at age five at a local club in Salford called Cadishead Juniors. With the exception of six months travelling in South East Asia, football’s enforced absence due to the pandemic, and inevitable injuries along the way, I have played pretty much every week since I started. 

My relationship with football has changed over the years. When I was a kid, I had the ability, but I lacked the self-confidence to express myself and would go missing in games. I grew in confidence playing at secondary school and university and then the pitch became the place I feel most comfortable and the thing I look forward to the most. 

I really struggled when we went into lockdown because without knowing it, playing football is a coping mechanism for me. It is where I express myself, process my worries and where I have met some of my closest friends. That period of absence from the game has underpinned some of my filmmaking and editorial work post lockdown, which has felt quite cathartic in some ways. 

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

The photos were taken across one full season (August ’22 – May ’23) and are broken down into three areas. The unsung heroes of the grassroots game, the ritual and nuisance of playing football, and match-day itself. Each week, I am either playing football, getting ready for it, reflecting on it or watching my team. I am an avid Manchester United fan. 

The photos were taken at the games I play in on a weekly basis, amateur games I went to watch in south Manchester, and on match days at Old Trafford. 

Michael Farnell is the person dishing out the yellow bibs. He has been running my Wednesday night game for over 20 years. Scrimping and scraping players together so the game goes ahead when we are struggling for numbers, always with a smile on his face. He used to be a tour manager for a band in the 90s. He once left dinner with Blondie singer Debbie Harry to go to 5-a-side at a leisure centre (I am not even joking).  

Tony Henderson (with his French bulldog in tow) is vice president at Manchester’s amateur football league. On average, he coordinates sixty-four amateur 11-a-side matches across each weekend of the season. 

I really like the Sunday league team running drills with the orange ball before kick-off, juxtaposed by two brothers watching on. I feel like I got lucky with that photo timing wise and it feels in-situ.  

What role does football play in your community?

Football is part of the fabric of Manchester. It unites people, divides people and is synonymous with art, music, fashion and drinking culture within the city. When my now wife moved to Manchester in 2010, she found it astonishing that taxi drivers would ask if you are ‘red’ or ‘blue’ before anything else. I am biased as I was born here, but as a city to watch and play football, it is up there with the very best. 

What does football mean to you? 

Football is the thing that makes me tick on a weekly basis. It keeps me physically and mentally fit, forges relationships with people I have common ground with and brings me a lot of joy. I hope my son’s relationship with football is as healthy as mine as he grows up. 

What ambitions do you have for the future?

I am currently producing and directing a series of short films for Footy Addicts, a brilliant platform that is uniting players that have never met each other via shared love of the game across England. They aim to make football easy and inclusive regardless of race, gender or ability. My Friday morning pick-up game is run by their partnerships manager, Jack Bies, who is another unsung hero of the grassroots game. 

Looking further ahead, I want to continue playing football as frequently as possible and keep telling stories about the importance of the game and the positive impact it has on my community. I would also like to use my left foot more often, but I have been threatening that for years and it has still not come to fruition.

What is the future for football in your community and in England? What would you like to change?

There has been a sea change in the last five years spearheaded by the Lionesses’ winning the Euros in 2022. The game feels more inclusive especially in Manchester, where we have girls, boys, women’s, men’s and non-binary leagues across the city.  

However, football needs to become as accessible to young girls as it is to young boys at primary school onwards. I am lucky that I live in a cosmopolitan city, but if you are a young girl who lives in a remote area of England and do not have the privilege of clubs and teams on your doorstep, school and the curriculum is your avenue and introduction to the game. The Football Association’s aim to give girls equal access to football in schools and clubs by 2024 is ambitious. Yet given the current cost of living crisis and the impact that is having on resourcing and facilities, I am unsure how realistic it feels.