On Friday evening I was doing a late job in a sports field down in Bromley, south east London. We'd been invited by a successful football academy and the kids we're doing their bit on the field. I was shooting the kids and waiting for the main attraction, West Ham United defender Anton Ferdinand, brother of Man Utd's Rio Ferdinand, who both are patrons for the academy, hailing as they do from south London.
Only one problem. Anton hadn't arrived. I waited an hour. Photographed the kids match. Then my 80-200 lens stopped focusing. Not good. It was getting very cold. Still no Anton. Premiership footballers are infamous for not showing up, especially on a Friday night with the season over.
After nearly two hours he finally showed up and I went about my business to set up a shot with him and some of the coaches as they were watching the game. Then I fell for the oldest trick in the book...
He asked me which paper I was from and as soon as he had eye contact with me he screamed - WATCH OUT, BALL COMING!!! and I scrambled for my life, covering my head and my camera, bracing myself for the thumping impact of a high velocity football to my head...alas, there was no ball near me, it was miles away. I'd been had. I don't think I've seen a bunch of grown men laugh so much in a long time, they were literally falling about. Safe to say that I looked like a twat, and they really enjoyed it!
Anyway, Anton is a good sport and gave me a photo session a little later, after Sky Sports had finished interviewing him. The result can be seen at the top of this post.
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