Game & Unofficial, about the Chinatown Soccer Club
These lines are being written on the night of the “ Le Classico,” a football match between rivals Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille. It’s one of the most ugly events in sports: fluorescent blue jerseys, bling-bling owners, noise, money, and nothing much of interest playing out on the field… Compare that to what’s been happening for the past ten years in downtown New York, where the creative community and residents of Chinatown have met to play soccer on the artificial turf covering the narrow parks on Forsyth Street.
Obviously, brands have tried to take advantage of this living publicity for the beauty and values of amateur football (magnificently illustrated, from a geographical perspective, in the Hans van der Meer book published by Steidl, Terrains d’Europe). But this hasn’t stopped these Chinatown fields from serving as the stage for the commedia all’italiana that is amateur football.
Peter Sutherland , a streetwear photographer whose work has appeared in Vice, has documented the life of these playing fields (where he is a regular) in a lively and colorful little book, Game. Peter Rentz , in the fanzines Unofficial and CSCX, approaches the game with somewhat more sophistication, mixing tactical formation diagrams with pieces of journalism and photos of games.
Milan Kundera said that we walk quickly to forget, and slowly to remember. In the photographs of Sutherland and Rentz, between the speed of the field and the outward calm of its surroundings, there is a touch of nostalgia and local heroism, chronicled with an infectious enthusiasm.
Antoine Soubrier
Game by Peter Sutherland:
www.nieves.ch/catalogue/peter.html
60 Pages, Softcover, 19.5 x 25.5 cm, Color Offset – 2007
Two fanzines by Peter Rentz:
www.peterrentz.com/work/unofficial-no-1
www.peterrentz.com/work/cscx
Terrains d’Europe by Hans van der Meer et Simon Kuper:
steidlville.com/books/393-Terrains-D-Europe-Paysages-du-football-amateur.html
Tumblr of Chinatown Soccer Club : chinatownsoccerclub.tumblr.com
