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| Carl Haffenden (left) alongside groundhopper Adam Thurston and Will Cheshire |
Down in the lower echelons of English football, some eight tiers below the dazzling lights of the Premier League, the majority of clubs aren’t used to having their games filmed and plastered over people’s TV screens and shared on social media.
But when the newly-formed Hereford FC stepped out onto their hallowed home turf at Edgar Street for the first time, where Ronnie Radford scored that famous FA Cup goal in 1972, the cameras were pitch side to capture the action.
Now, get rid of those images in your head of the traditional big TV camera, it was actually an iPhone that was there to capture the action to post immediately to Twitter by Carl Haffenden, affectionately known to many as ‘Squinny’.
Before a recent home game against the lesser-known Frome Town, I caught up with this lifelong Hereford supporter who’s decided it’s time to hang up his boots. But first I wanted to find out how the ‘Hereford Goals’ Twitter service came about.
Squinny said: “It just happened that I was lucky enough to capture video of Hereford FC’s first goal at Edgar Street, Nathan Hughes’s Against FC United of Manchester.
“I posted the video on my own Twitter and YouTube and it got shared around a lot. I was then contacted by Hereford FC about actually going Pitch side during games and recording footage officially for the club.
“This was because the club had noticed how much the outreach was globally for Hereford fans paying attention to the story of Hereford FC.”
ONE MILLION TWITTER IMPRESSIONS
Carl told me about the reach of his work. Last month, the @HerefordGoals Twitter account notched up over one million impressions, which for a club that currently lies in Step Three of non-league, is a feat in itself.
“I am surprised at how many people do seem to use the service on a match day, but when you think about how big a club HFC/HUFC are, there are fans all over the world.
“Using social media well, interacting with other accounts and with the HFC story being such a drama, people enjoyed the ride.”
Another supporter, Will Cheshire, who also has a catchy nickname, was quick to join up with Carl.
Chesh also added his two-penneth worth and explained his reasons behind getting involved.
“Carl has always done videos but not really needed to edit or put them into highlights, so I provided some support editing as I had previously done some photo highlight clips and edited photos.
“I saw it as a role and providing fans with a service and didn’t really go in to the role with an expectation or that. However, saying that the more games went on the more you got into it and the more enjoyment you got as you were documenting history that others who couldn’t be there in person could also enjoy.”
Without a shadow of the doubt, the highlight of the whole experience for the volunteering duo must have been covering Hereford’s game at Wembley in 2016. Although the result is rarely mentioned along the curved Meadow End terrace at Edgar Street, it was a great day.
On a personal note, it was where I experience my first ‘real’ press situation. Although I’d been covering Hereford’s games home and away since their reformation, never had I been able to sit with wifi, power sockets and a live feed of the game alongside well-known media people.
QUEST BACK TO THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE
But back to the present day and it looks highly likely the the club, known as ‘the Bulls’ after the local breed of cattle, will achieve a third successive promotion on their quest back to the Football League, where their predecessor Hereford United had been no more than six years ago.
Making the step up to the National League North/South level brings a new challenge for the club, with TV rights deals wreaking havoc with the almost-live Hereford Goals service. But this won’t be a headache for the pair as they’ve both decided to leave their roles.
Chesh was first to go, saying it would enable him to focus on his photography, which is actually award-winning.
“From photographing in Wales, I was getting asked more to cover matches and it was difficult to balance commitments.
“At the end of last season, as part of the Champions League Festival, one of my photos won the ‘This is Welsh Football’ photo competition. With that, on top of the photographing during most of the season, I was really enjoying it and I was starting to think I’d like to focus more time on it and take up these opportunities.
“Departing has opened up many doors as well as some challenges and looking back at present it’s only been positive decision.”
And more recently, founder Carl has also announced he’s going to be leaving. Interestingly, he disagreed with Chesh, saying that the more games he covered, it actually took the enjoyment out of football.
“If I’m brutally honest, I’m tired of having to go to games rather than wanting to go to games. It’s become more of a chore than a blessing.
“I’ve had people ask why I’m stopping, and I point out that the stewards for example, get a little bit of money for their work, so it’s their job role. But for me it can be hours of sorting and editing through footage from the games to put on the HFC YouTube channel, and that’s eating into my personal time.
“I want to spend more time with my family and trying to sort out some health issues I have.”
But for me, it’s slightly different. I can sympathise with Carl that it does take some of the enjoyment out of the game. Despite doing bits and pieces for the independent fans website Bulls News for the past five years or so, I was made admin of their Twitter account, and since then I’ve started up a Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channel.
The long and short of it is that you have thousands of fans relying on you for updates so it’s hard to be able to enjoy the game as a fan – which is what myself, Carl and Will all have in common.
IF I DO MISS GOALS, THEN I FEEL A LET DOWN
But despite the melancholy mood, Carl was keen to emphasise that it’s been an incredible journey.
“The work I have done for Hereford Goals and Hereford FC has honestly been a blessing. Even with wanting to step away, nothing will stop me feeling so privileged to have been able to get so close to the action, players and memories of the past three seasons.
“It’s correct that the closer you get, the more distant you feel. I have built up a service where in the end I have put so much pressure on myself that it’s not fun anymore. I feel I have to capture everything, get it out as soon as possible, but if I do miss goals, then I feel a let-down.
“I’ve no idea how many videos we’ve created for Hereford FC and the YouTube channel, but I know we’ve captured some golden memories which are hopefully immortalised.”
It can sometimes be a thankless task, standing on a muddy touchline with rain dripping down your neck, something that reporters in press boxes can rarely relate to, and it’s not even a case of ‘someone’s got to do it’.
There’s no requirement to have a volunteer on hand to capture the goals with his iPhone, the club actually have a video analyst that films the full ninety minutes for the coaching staff. This begs the question, why can’t fans wait until that footage is edited and uploaded?
Is it to do with the fact that an affordance of mobile phones is that it can be done in a matter of seconds?
LARGE FOLLOWING AROUND THE WORLD
Will says that a club like Hereford has the fanbase to be able to support such an idea, whereas some of their opponents over the past couple of seasons don’t.
“Not being disrespectful but a majority of clubs we have faced don’t have the following that is needing options such as radio or live text updates as the vast majority of that fan base will be at the matches. The flip side is due to size of these clubs, some lack volunteers to help or provide media elements.
“We have a large following around the world and from that we have an percentage who can’t attend games for whatever reason but they still want to follow the club and be part of it.”
So what’s next for Hereford Goals? Well we’ll just have to wait and see. Squinny is counting down the days until his last game pitch side, and even though he’ll be sad to say goodbye, it’s what’s best for his family and his health.