While going through my morning ritual of reading New England area newspapers on the internet, I saw a story about a semi-pro football team. The story caught my attention because I had never heard of semi-pro football before that, so I decided to look into what it was. It took me awhile to figure out exactly what it was all about; the semi-pro name led me to believe that they might be paid and have some connection to the pros that I had somehow never heard about. I also didn’t know what kind of league structures there were, where the teams were or whether they had different levels of play.
The first interview that I did for the story, with long time Marlboro Shamrocks coach Bob Brennan, answered most of my questions about semi-pro. Not only did he give me a pretty good idea of how the league structure worked in New England, but also how things were across the rest of the country. Another interview, with NEFL league president Tom Torrisi, also was invaluable for finding out about some of the problems and growing pains that semi-pro is having and what is being done about them. There are also countless league and team internet sites that I visited to get a better feel for the sport.
The first photos that I shot for the story were of the Marlboro Shamrocks opening practice for the 2001 season in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Most of the practice didn’t really offer much 
in the way of photos and I was starting to feel like I was going to walk away with little to show for my efforts. Then it started to rain. The rain eventually became a heavy downpour and my equipment was starting to get soaked, which didn’t do much to improve my mood. The coaches called off the practice early so I decided to shoot some photos of the team walking off from the field under the lights. Suddenly two kickers that had stuck around to practice kicking in the rain walked side by side right through the area lit by the field lights. The combination of lighting, rain, night sky and angle of the players with their back almost to the camera gave the photo a mood that I liked.
As the season progressed I went to games several games in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire and one in Vermont. The Shamrocks and the Beachside Tomcats of Old Orchard Beach, Maine were the main focus of my coverage, although a few other teams received a good amount as well. I ended up covering Beachside because I felt that in many ways the Tomcats were the anti-Shamrocks. They started their first game without a coach and never seemed to get in the winning groove after that. What I liked about them was that despite a bad season there was a core of players that always showed up ready to go. It’s easy to be motivated when your winning. These guys were interesting; they smoked, they argued on the sidelines and lost often but they played football for the fun and the roughness of it. One of my favorite interviews was with Beachside’s Jean St. Amand, he was a real straight shooter when it came to answering questions. I could tell that he really loved playing football and that those weekend semi-pro games were important to him.
I’d have to say that the most interesting interview was with Todd Hallock, the Vermont Ice Storm player from the Burlington, Vermont area. Hallock went to a high school that didn’t have football and he never got the opportunity to play the sport he wanted to play most. When the Vermont Ice Storm formed, he tried out for team and was able to get on the squad. Approaching his mid-30s, he was finally able to realize that dream. I thought that was a pretty nice thing.
A photo from the story that I thought was pretty nice was the one showing Shawn Gannon holding up his daughter after Mass Havoc beat the Shamrocks at the Shamrocks home field. I was shooting something else when I saw the two out of the corner of my eye. I wasn’t well prepared for it. My camera was set for a very slow shutter speed and I would have liked the monopod on it for stablity, but it simply didn’t happen that way. I held the camera as steady as could and let the motordrive rip, hoping there would be a couple steady shots. Most of the shots were usable and the one used became one of my favorite photos from the story. The way his daughter was holding his face, the expressions on both of their faces and the contrast of her small body against his huge arms along with the battered helmet, dropped by his feet, are the elements that I think make this picture special.
Another favorite was the portrait, although I hesitate to call it that because it wasn’t at all set up or planned and he definitely wasn’t posing, of the Beachside player used for the semi-pro story cover. I loved the beat up facemask and the dried sweat and dirt on his face, the "No Fear" sticker on the helmet didn’t hurt either. I feel that this one image kind of sums up the personality of semi-pro ball. That particular type of facemask he was wearing made me think of those that some of the Roman gladiators were depicted as wearing, and thus the story title. I had seen this player before at a couple of games and thought that his really beat up helmet would lend itself to a good shot. The opportunity came very suddenly when Vermont was in Maine to play Beachside. I had just stepped away from the sidelines after shooting some action and he turned his face in my direction while talking to another player. I still had a long lens on the camera from shooting action so I was well set to get a very close-in shot of his face and helmet. I focused (I still use a manual focus long telephoto, I don't like autofocus for football) and got off two shots before he turned away to watch a play on the field. While going through the negatives I remember banging my fist down on the desk and yelling out "oh yeah" when I saw that the shot was exactly the way I wanted. The other frame was out focus. I’ve taken a lot of photos up close of football players faces, but this one was far better because of all the elements mentioned and the way that the light was shining on his face. It had that certain look.
This story was pretty enjoyable. I got to shoot action without the worry of a deadline and keep my eye on a lot of other stuff that I often don’t get the opportunity to shoot. On the writing end I got to interview some very interesting people who still play football for a wide range of reasons. This won’t be the last time I shoot semi-pro though, next time it’s the women’s leagues turn.
