As the phenomenon of games being played behind closed doors continues I will document the situations in which I experience the matches. Listening to the resonance of the empty stadium seeping into domestic space and then, in turn, imagining the thousands of domestic environments in which the game is being watched, returning to the stadium, resonating, filling the stadium with domestic noise and action.
‘…the collective song and intoxicating sound of the crowd does not just provide an accompaniment to the beautiful action of the players, but is the sublime matrix out of which play emerges, the force field that energizes the action, taking the form of competitive song and counter-song, strophe and antistrophe. This is why games played in front of empty stadia, say as a punishment for the fans’ racist behaviour, are such an abomination. A game without fans is a kind of category mistake; a mere training ground exercise devoid of sense. The key to football is the complex, configured interaction between sublime music and the beautiful image, Dionysos and Apollo, the fans and the team.‘
Simon Critchley What We think About When We Think About Football (2017 : p.70-71)
Raheem Sterling distracted by the sound of my wheelie binManchester City v Arsenal in the Garage
Working from home has generally involved me sitting at a desk in the garage. I caught up with Manchester City v Arsenal as I was taking the wheelie bins out in advance of bin day. There was a light drizzle and David Luiz was having a nightmare.
The Get Rid! advent calendar returns to Sound Diaries this December with twenty four sounds of 24″ duration from our growing archive of audio documentation of grassroots football.
Expect last-gasp equalisers; feral goal celebrations; baffling explanations of the offside law; erratic grass mowing; overwrought full-backs; the diesel-powered tremolo of the floodlight generator; goalkeepers making it up as they go along; nothing happening at all and a lot of sending it long!
Get up! Get on the spillage!
Visit the Get Rid! archive on RADAR here, take a look at the blog, or get a copy of the book and cassette.
(snow covers the pitch at Bodkins Playing Field, Long Wittenham)
The Get Rid! advent calendar returns to Sound Diaries this December with twenty four sounds of 24″ duration from our growing archive of audio documentation of grassroots football.
Expect last-gasp equalisers; feral goal celebrations; baffling explanations of the offside law; erratic grass mowing; overwrought full-backs; the diesel-powered tremolo of the floodlight generator; goalkeepers making it up as they go along; nothing happening at all and a lot of sending it long!
Sound Diaries asked Patrick Tubin McGinley to write about his recording 36,000 for Madrid for the Get Some Chalk On Your Boots! publication edited by Paul Whitty to accompany the exhibition of the same name investigating the sounding cultures of football. You can purchase the publication here and read more about Get Some Chalk On Your Boots!here.
36,000 for Madrid: Recorded on the 14th of March, 2004 at White Hart Lane, before a match between Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United.
In the first six Travel! posts I explored the close-season soundscape of football pitches on the route between Brightwell-cum-Sotwell and Winslow. You can find out more here. During 2017-2018 I have returned to some of the pitches to experience the sounding presence of football happening.
One of the most distinctive sites that I came across in my close-season travels was Ashendon Playing Fields that sits on a ridge to the South-West of Waddesdon. The football pitch is on a considerable slope that runs between a covered reservoir at the top end and St.Mary’s Church at the bottom. The church is sited on the far side of the appropriately named Lower End – a lane that runs North from Main Street. I visited the playing fields – home of Ludgershall United – twice in the close season. On my second visit to the playing fields the soundscape was dominated by the sound of the wind:
There was a strong wind, so strong that many of the distinctive sounding characteristics of the area – the vibrations of distant jets, helicopters, and light aircraft; the phasing white noise of the passing traffic; the calls of red kites and wood pigeons – were obscured by the many and various sounds of the wind as it shook branches; whistled through bushes and shrubs; and turned the long grasses around the pitch into a multitude of whispering aeolian devices.
So the resonating gong-like tarmac of the A34 and M40; the tremolo of light aircraft and the beating of rotor-blades; the complex polyphony of hedgerow birds; and the calls of Wood Pigeons, Collared Doves and Red Kites were obscured by the dense texture of aeolian sound – the complex movement of the wind coercing the grass, leaves, branches and hedgerows into sound. You can read more about the sound of football not happening on Ashendon Ridge here. The presence of football provides a different form of distraction from the everyday sounds of the Playing Field. The ear is drawn towards the on field communication of players the sound of the ball being kicked and the reflection of that sound as it returns from the pavilion. The ear follows the play listening for meaning to support what can be seen. However, the auditory experience of watching grassroots football is always just a little disconcerting as depending on how far away from the pitch the spectator is standing the eye sees the players strike the ball before the ear hears the sound – similarly when the ball thuds into the earth following a particularly powerful goal-kick the visible action precedes the audible one. The football pitch is a good place to discuss the relative speeds of light and sound.
I returned to Ashendon to watch the Aylesbury & District Division One game between Ludgershall United and Oving FC. The game finished 5-5. The slope of the pitch has a clear effect on the sound of the game as unusual levels of fear and anxiety are unleashed each time a long ball is floated downhill towards the opposition penalty area. The most innocuous looking through balls can become deadly weapons as they rise above the slope challenging the laws of gravity.
(Ludgershall United v Oving FC at Ashendon Playing Fields)
too long don’t take that – don’t let him take that don’t fucking hey – hey come in win it yeah line stand – stand – stand yeah line come in now – now – now free how was he off – how was he off how was he off when he came from behind him behind him ref no way ref he ran past him when he shot – when he shot know the fucking rules when he shot the linesman flags up for anything hey boys – hey boys concentrate – concentrate ludgershall wake up you can feel it as well hey line shout to him fuckin’ hell wants win it behind you go on finish where’d that come from just watching fucking concentrate talk to each other yeah but why hasn’t he jumped for it he knows boys we’re putting pressure on ourselves did you do that flick Oi! we want this game yeah come on boys – boys come on boys i’m doing what i’ve been told yeah but then you talk pick it up fuck sake mate tell me one fucking thing carry on watch your man chase him do you want a free kick for that – matey boys pushing fucking what are you on about handball head bang it away mate well done boys very good – very good settle down man on – man on well done pick him out hey ref oh fuck off get in there everyone has their man drop – drop – drop – drop get in there – get in there up seconds – seconds stand him up go on then go on – go on – go on – go on – go on – go on now – now boys more talking are you playing left then left wing close him down he doesn’t want it either yeah come in left back 3-3 ref – ref how long your throw come on let’s get set boys keep going yellows keep going Ludgershall line one of you seconds line come back – come back well done turn out of there yeah well done options ref he was going nowhere what’s the point well done you ref – ref how can you see that come on Oi! boys concentrate now bounce back none of us we dig in we do not concede again and again yellows no silly fouls boys yeah i’m here now
This is the sixth in a series of posts investigating the close-season soundscape of football pitches on the route between Brightwell-cum-Sotwell and Winslow. There are more details of the project here.
I came across Oving when tracing the route from Brightwell to Winslow. The village lies to the east of Quainton and just south of North Marston. The Recreation Ground is on a lane called Bowling Alley and since 1892 has hosted the Oving Villages’ Cup Final.
17th July 2017
09.52 : Oving Recreation Ground
(At Oving Recreation Ground looking towards Bowling Alley)
The clop of horses’ hooves on Bowling Alley; a pheasant; breeze in the leaves of the tree-line behind me – their size apparent from the resonance they create – slight dryness in their scrape; collared doves call; a pheasant – again – calls once, twice – then a flurry of calls; distant roar of a motorbike; two thumps from the bird-scarer; the murmur of chat in the lane; the faint cackle of the breeze through dry leaves; the bird-scarer more regular now; occasional birdsong from Wrens in the hedgerow; the call of Red Kites – how far away?; a rook calls – then the barely audible response of friends; a car in the lane – all of the sounding details of its approach and departure can be heard as it amplifies the imperfections of the road surface; only nearby wind sound now – leaves brushing against each other – the screen of trees to the North and East of the Recreation Ground are silent; the pitch-shifting passage of a train is overlaid with the sound of swifts, car doors slamming and a chorus of wood pigeons; single jackdaw call; slight fluctuation in sound from pigeon wings; children’s voices; a deeper rumble as a truck passes – rattling; a dog barks; the pitch-phasing of a passenger jet; wood pigeons wings; breeze; chains on steel sheet.
On my second visit I took a closer look at the cluster of pavilions at the south-east corner of the ground. One looked as though it may have been constructed in the nineteenth century – it is certainly more rustic in style – and could conceivably have been in place for the Oving Villages’ Cup Final of 1892 won by North Marston with a 6-0 victory over Waddesdon. There is also a small painted green corrugated iron hut – almost obscured by hedges – that looks like an old-style scout hut.
27th July 2017
11.25 : Oving Recreation Ground
(The cluster of pavilions at the south-east corner of the recreation ground)
Light movement of wind activating the screen of beach trees to the north occasionally answered by the horse chestnuts laden with conkers; cars sounding the wet road surface – extra resonance; a lawn mower or chain saw sounds; occasional calls of children; wood pigeons to the south and perhaps a distant bird-scarer; someone kicks a football; a car passes with the tremolo of a vintage engine; the flap of wood pigeon wings; leaves in the hedgerow brush against each other; perhaps the mechanical drone that can be heard is a lawnmower; fast cars in the distance provide waves of pitch-shifting sound; the first sound of air-traffic – a light aircraft or helicopter; a swallow; sparrows in a back garden; a jackdaw calls; the detailed sound of a car’s passage along Bowling Alley the sound rising and falling as it passes windows in the tree-line and hedgerow – it sounds a puddle by the gate; a distant train perhaps or an articulated truck on the trunk road; farm machinery – a circular saw with a high-pitched growl as its teeth cut into the wood; a dog panting as it passes; ‘morning’; wood pigeons; very little sound of hedgerow birds; another fast car on the A road; the drone stops and the air is clearer; wood pigeons call across distance; there is more detail in the sounds of the trees; a passenger jet to the south-east with a slow rolling pitch phase as simultaneously a car sounds the wet surface on Bowling Alley triggering a babble of rooks; the jet engine continues to resonate above the cloud cover – I imagine each drop of moisture vibrating with the sound; a military helicopter passes flying below the clouds the sound reflecting and imitated by the sounding road surface.
You can hear more sounds from the Westmorland Association Football League here.
The Sound Diaries advent calendar returns this December with twenty four sounds of 24″ duration from our growing archive of audio documentation of grassroots football.
Expect white-line marking; lawn mowing; apoplectic coaches; gale force winds; reversing trucks; despairing goalkeepers; disinterested spectators; rattling dugouts; lacklustre rounds of applause; and football not happenning!
(snow covers the pitch at Bodkins Playing Field, Long Wittenham)
(Ludgershall United v Oving FC at Ashendon Playing Fields)
