My Biggest Match

This weekend I will be photographing the longest match of rugby ever played!

Leicester Tigers' Welford Road Stadium will be the venue for this 26hr feat of endurance as 44 brave souls take on this extreme challenge in the name of forces' charity “Scotty's Little Soldiers”.

Each player in the squad of 22 will have just 20 minutes rest every 4 hours as they seek to set an Official Guinness world record and raise as much as they can for the children of fallen soldiers.

There are two reasons why I call this “my biggest match”, the first is obviously the length of the game, but the second is of far more significance.

To date I’ve photographed rugby on 201 occasions and covered everything from local school matches to full Wales Rugby League Internationals but after 6 years I’m left asking “What's the purpose of it all?”

Sure it's fun to capture a cool Facebook profile picture for a local player and feel the rush of popularity as the players huddle around to digest the photos from that day's match. And equally it's a buzz to strut around the edge of a pitch at a Rugby League International wearing official “stash” and feel part of the occasion.

The reality however is that for many of the players you are just seen as the provider of photographs and nothing more, turning up at a game without your camera is seen as a cardinal sin as everywhere you go you are greeted with “where's your camera?” Then despite the surface vernier of being the photographer of a Wales Rugby League International, the truth is that you have bought the stash yourself on eBay, you pass the photos on for free, and never receive a single penny for your efforts.

For me photographing rugby started as a hobby and I think that is where it's destined to return. The only way to make it anything like financially viable is to work for a soulless agency whose photographers appear to go through the motions as if it's just any other job, once they have the photo their office require they send if off via their laptops and head out of the ground as soon as they can, caring little for the outcome of the match.

When the offer to photograph for Scotty's Little Soldiers came along I jumped at the chance to be part of something that mattered. Sure it will be hard work, I get back ache after just 40 minutes so 26hrs will be a journey into the unknown but still nothing compared to the challenge faced by the heroic players. My hope is that sales of prints after the game via my website www.PaulHartPhotography.co.uk will enable me to make my own contribution to the fund of £40,000 already raised by the players and other supporters.

If you are able to attend, the match kicks-off at 11am on Friday May 31^st at Leicester RFC. All profits from my prints will be donated to the cause via http://www.bmycharity.com/paulhart please visit my page and donate too if you are able­.