In conversation with Ben Phillips, the Cambridge United Photographer
Ben Phillips remembers when Cambridge United “needed people to come and stand outside the ground shaking buckets” to survive as a football club. That was in 2004. Fifteen years later, the U’s promotion to League One, after a “local lad scored the goal” that sent them up, shows a remarkable turnaround for the club. A fan from the age of eight, and hooked on the Abbey ever since, Ben has been there for the whole journey. He has worked with Cambridge Fans United, the fan trust associated with Cambridge United, on and off, and now sits on the club’s new Shadow Board.
In 2004, Cambridge United were facing bankruptcy. They were forced to sell their best players and their stadium, and were only “saved at the last hour” by then Minister of Sport, Richard Caborn. When I asked Ben if anything since had been as bad, he said not at all, telling me about protests during the crisis where fans “stormed the boardroom”. Cambridge Fans United were there as representatives for the fanbase during hard times, but now that the club is financially stable, the trust’s approach has changed. They can offer support and help for the fans they represent in different ways; their current project, soon to be launched, is a £60,000 fanzone at the stadium that will “enhance the matchday atmosphere” and hopefully encourage fans to come to the ground together for drinks before kick-off. Ben described it as “our biggest project for a while and an initiative that we are proud to work in partnership with the club on for the fans”.
Cambridge United beat Newcastle, photographed by Ben Phillips
Ben has countless stories to share. He works as a photographer for the club as well, and says “you get the best seat in the house”. He says it’s also “hard as a fan, and as the club photographer to hide your emotions” sometimes. When Cambridge beat Newcastle United in the FA Cup last year, he was “running across the pitch at full time to celebrate with the players and capture the content for the fans”. One of the photos he took shows that other relationship, between the players and fans, with the team looking up at the away end “on the floor in the middle of the pitch, soaking it all up, taking it all in”. He tells me that Eddie Keogh, photographer for the England team, put it well: photographers “capture all the special moments and history as they happen, so they can be saved as memories to be cherished years down the line”.
I ask Ben what it’s like supporting a local club, rather than a Premier League giant. “You can feel more of a personal connection with the club, with more opportunities to get involved with the club and make a difference,” he says. He’s made lifelong friends, and says that you “get to know faces, you get to talking to people, you all share the same love and common goal of wanting to enjoy a football match. It’s that kind of connection and that togetherness that is special”. He bemoans those who don’t support their local club, telling me that “the more people that have that philosophy in life, of supporting the club where you live, or because you’ve got a connection with the club”, the better it would be for smaller clubs.
When I talk to Ben about his involvement with CFU now, he tells me about their key concern: “how do we bring the community into the football club, and how do we show a football club at the heart of the community, as corny as it sounds”. He tells me about an initiative he helped to pilot before COVID which tried to reach out to students across Cambridge, including language schools and sixth-form colleges. The free tickets offered by the club brought a decent turnout; he tells me that some students studying here now “adopt Cambridge as their team”.
Ben Phillips
CFU is also proud of their recent work creating a relationship with Cambridge Central Mosque. Volunteers have helped out during Ramadan, giving “free footballs for the kids” and food packs on a visit to the mosque, and run coaching sessions for kids at the Abbey Stadium. Ben says that these efforts are to “show that Cambridge United cares about our community and to educate local people that there is a brilliant family-friendly football club living in the heart of the community of our city”. He says the driver is making sure that Cambridge United is a “safe and welcoming place for everyone”.
The Cambridge United Community Trust, another arm of the club, works directly in the community. Last year they helped to organise a Sleepout at the Abbey Stadium, raising £30,000 for the Trust and the homelessness charity, ‘Wintercomfort’. This year’s Sleepout is expected to take place on the 10th of February. Ben also tells me about the mobilisation of United’s volunteers during COVID to deliver meals to the elderly and vulnerable. He says that it’s “important that football clubs do things like this, because it shows that you care about your community, even if they’re not the fans”. Despite the fact that “Cambridge isn’t a massive footballing town”, Ben shares his hopes that the club can support the people who live in this city, while also encouraging them to come to the club as fans, giving them a space to enjoy themselves.
Ben is keen to communicate that “there’s always football on” in Cambridge. The women’s team has a derby on the 22nd of February against Cambridge City, which is “always a fiery affair”. In League One they have been selling out most home fixtures, and he tells me that the atmosphere has been fantastic. They want “the whole community to come to Cambridge United and have it as their club”.
When I ask Ben what sets Cambridge fans apart from those of other teams, he says that “they did basically save the football club in 2005, in a very important way”. If they hadn’t, the club and its volunteer fans wouldn’t have been able to work amongst the community. He leaves me with a guide: “I always think watching football is like a rollercoaster. You’ve got to take the ups and the downs, haven’t you”.
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