football – Jo Ind https://joind.co.uk Writer, digital media producer, learning designer Mon, 22 Jun 2020 15:14:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://joind.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/cropped-Flavicon-Jo-32x32.png football – Jo Ind https://joind.co.uk 32 32 The secret fields of Birmingham https://joind.co.uk/secret-fields-birmingham/ https://joind.co.uk/secret-fields-birmingham/#respond Sat, 09 Aug 2014 14:07:39 +0000 http://joind.co.uk/?p=1477 I never imagined  my son’s passion for football would transform my understanding of Birmingham – but that is exactly what has happened.

My boy is part of a football team and plays matches against other teams throughout the south of the city.

That means that each week, I drive through the streets in search of the place where the match is being held and find myself down unknown cul de sacs or on familiar A roads in front of a previously unnoticed gateway. And there I invariably find a big beautiful open space of which I had previously been unaware.

I think of Birmingham in a different way

This has happened so many times that I now think of south Birmingham in a different way.  On the surface there are roads, roundabouts, offices, houses and towerblocks.  It’s a city of concrete and tarmac and glass facades.

But get out of your car and walk down a tow path or through a narrow gate and you’ll find another layer to Birmingham.  There are wide green fields, canals, wildlife, woodlands and rivers. It’s all there, nestling around the ring roads like a majestic, dignified secret.

Three boys going up a hill to play football Green lawn of Cotteridge Park Boys and a football manager on a green field on a summer's day ]]>
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