Muddy studded rugby boots held up by their heels against a grey wall after a grassroots match
Rugby player in a blue and green shirt stretching a quad against a mud-splashed breeze-block wall
Close crop of mud-caked forearms and claret and navy shirts binding together at a maul
Rugby player claiming the ball at a lineout against a white sky, arms outstretched
Front-row forward's face pressed into a scrum as mud sprays from the pitch
Players from both clubs lifting at a lineout with east London houses behind the pitch
Player walking through a clap-out tunnel of opposition players at the end of a grassroots derby
Two East London RFC players laughing as they carry tackle pads across the pitch after training
A rugby player's shoulder being strapped with tape beside a padded goalpost before kick-off
Empty east London rugby pitch seen from behind the posts, tower blocks rising beyond the fence

Capturing the Heart of Grass-Roots Rugby: East London RFC

Two clubs, one clubhouse, one Saturday in Plaistow

East London RFC is a grassroots club that takes inclusivity seriously enough to build the whole thing around it. There's a youth section that takes players from fourteen, a senior setup that makes room for whoever turns up, and a clubhouse in Plaistow that ELRFC shares with the Kings Cross Steelers — founded in 1995, and the first gay and inclusive rugby club anywhere in the world. Two clubs, one bar, one set of values.

The frames here come from that shared ground. A derby between ELRFC and the Steelers gave me the hard part of it, a scrum at ground level with the mud coming off the pitch, a line out against a white sky, forearms caked to the elbow, the clap-out at the final whistle. But the pictures I keep coming back to are the ones either side: two pairs of studs held up by the heels after a game, a shoulder being taped beside a padded post, two players carrying tackle pads across the grass and laughing about something.

This is an ongoing personal project rather than a commission, which is what gives me the access, on the pitch, in the changing room, at the bar afterwards. What I'm trying to photograph is belonging: the reason people give up a Saturday for a club that will never pay them, and the fact that a pitch fenced in by tower blocks in east London can be one of the more genuinely open places you'll find.

The club's women's side has its own series a documentary project with the East London Vixens made for AOP f22. There's more rugby in the Haringey Rhinos story for The Rugby Journal and across the sports photography portfolio. If you're a club, a brand or an editor looking for sports photography commissions that go deeper than the action, get in touch.