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The wonder years

As an avid football fan myself, I have watched from the sidelines as the allure of money and fame has slowly wrapped itself around the game that I know and transformed it into yet another celebrity-driven corporate machine.




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This project gave me a great opportunity to seek out the passion that still exists in football and try and peel back the growing doubts. I decided to take a comprehensive look at what the 'Beautiful Game' means to potential future footballing prodigies before its more insidious trappings begin to re-define this dream. I followed the trials and tribulations of the Crystal Palace and Arsenal youth teams, from the U8's to the U17's, hoping to look at football at its purest level, when all those playing still just want to score the winning goal at Highbury or at Selhurst Park.

George Philipas
London 2002


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