'Being paid to see the world's biggest sporting events feels ridiculous'

4 hours ago

Lee BottomleyWest Midlands

News image — Simon Stacpoole has been capturing moments in sport for 20 years

@welloffside/@simonstacpoole A man in a green bib over a blue polo shirt is sat at the side of a football pitch in a stadium. He is holding a large camera in one hand — Simon Stacpoole has been capturing moments in sport for 20 years

In his 20-year career as a sports photographer, Simon Stacpoole has had moments when he has had to remind himself it is a job.

"It's ridiculous at times when you're sitting there with the best seats in the house at some of the biggest sports events in the world, and you're being paid to be there."

Stacpoole, from Nantwich, Cheshire, covers four football matches a week on average and has taken pictures at four World Cup finals.

His favourite World Cup was Qatar 2022 and seeing Argentina legend Lionel Messi, a matter of feet away from him, sitting on people's shoulders holding the trophy. It was a "sight to behold", he said.

@welloffside/@simonstacpoole A footballer is on the shoulders of another person, grasping a golden trophy. He is surrounded by many other people, some with cameras and phones. — The photographer says seeing Argentina's Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup at Qatar 2022 was a sight to behold

@welloffside/@simonstacpoole A large group of people, many in football shirts, are crammed behind the goal of a football pitch. A man is straddling the bar of the goalposts. — Stacpoole was squashed behind the goal during the scrum for shots of Messi

Stacpoole started studying photography at school as a teenager and realised he had "a bit of an eye" for a picture.

A degree in the subject followed, and coming from a sporting family, he said combining photography and sport for a job "made total sense."

After two decades in freelancing for an agency, he still gets a buzz to see his images published.

"As a photographer, you want to see your pictures used big and in print."

A man in a suit jacket over a dark coloured top. He is sitting in front of a microphone, with BBC Sport branding behind him, with an image of a crowd in a stadium. — The photographer says he has always wanted to concentrate on sport

The most nervous he has ever been in the job was the first Olympics he had been to, London 2012, and the night of the 100m final.

Stacpoole had recently lost his father, was full of pent-up emotion and knew he had to nail the shot of Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt.

"I've got 9.5 seconds to get my act together. I was positioned just around the bend from the finishing line, you just have to wait for him to appear, just out of your blind spot."

"Before you know it; it's over, and fortunately it all worked out."

@welloffside/@simonstacpoole A stand at a football stadium, with the word Stoke picked out in white, among rows of red seats. There are players on the pitch, and smoke coming from a chimney outside the ground — Stackpoole covers four games a week on average and was at Stoke City in January 2021 when matches were played without fans during Covid

He said there were moments when you needed to "sharpen your elbows a bit" to get the best image at major sporting finals, but photographers respected each other, as they were all in the same boat.

The downsides of the job are spending so much time away from family and missing social events, as well as many hours on the road, he said.

"You could have one of those really bad games where you've had five goals up the wrong end of the pitch, I'm soaking wet, and the motorway's closed on the way home."

"The classic combo that leaves you questioning your life choices sometimes."

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