One of the most beautiful football tournaments in the world took place this week and I was lucky enough to be at the Australian leg.
Sony’s Twilight Football tournament featured matches in some of the most picturesque spots around the globe. International teams battled it out in a bullring in Spain, on top of the Alps in France, a game reserve in South Africa and by a waterfall in Argentina (probably caused by the local’s tears at the thought of missing out on the World Cup this year).
For Aussies, our eyes were cast in two directions.
Firstly, the Australian team – along with coach Robbie Slater – travelled to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, England to take on a team from Latin America. Played amidst the ancient Camelot castle ruins, the Aussies invoked the ‘Spirit of ‘05’ to take another South American scalp 10-6.
The Australian leg of the tournament was played in the stunning Pinnacles in Nambung National Park, 4 hours north of Perth. The lunar landscape had to be the most surreal place I’ve ever seen a game of football and it made for some spectacular photos as the sun set.
England’s Ellis United took on a crack team of Italian freestyle footballers in a surprisingly entertaining game. While the Italians’ trickery and ‘pump it up to the good one up front’ philosophy threatened to overwhelm the Poms, their physical dominance and neat passing kept the game tight by half-time.
Ellis’s staying power was tested even further when mighty-mouthed team leader Alex was hit by an almighty shot in the, erm… pinnacles but by the final whistle, the English side’s strength proved a little too much as they ran out 17-14 winners.
For a game in the middle of nowhere, the Pinnacles made for a beautiful backdrop. With hundreds of 30,000 year-old limestone sentinels standing watch, there was just enough space for a small pitch and a couple of tents on the red dust. As the sun began to set, the colours of the sand and the limestone pillars became deeper, the shadows growing longer.
As luck would have it, the Sony cameras and handycams we were given to document the event are designed to shoot in low light (hence the whole ‘Twilight Football’ concept) and I was able to get some pretty good shots (well, for me anyway…). You can check out my pictures from the event here or head to the official Twilight Football Flickr page here to see the best shots from around the world.
As the sun went down, I made my way to the top of a sweeping sand dune which overlooked the area. Surveying the scene from above, I came to a realisation: there aren’t many places you can visit and say you saw the first game of football ever played there.
FourFourTwo were guests of Sony for the Australian leg of their Twilight Football tournament. Sony produce a range of digital cameras and camcorders which produce fantastic results in low light, including the Cyber-shot WX1 and Handycam XR520 which Paul used on the day. For more information, go to www.sony.com.au
Sony’s Twilight Football tournament featured matches in some of the most picturesque spots around the globe. International teams battled it out in a bullring in Spain, on top of the Alps in France, a game reserve in South Africa and by a waterfall in Argentina (probably caused by the local’s tears at the thought of missing out on the World Cup this year).
For Aussies, our eyes were cast in two directions.
Firstly, the Australian team – along with coach Robbie Slater – travelled to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, England to take on a team from Latin America. Played amidst the ancient Camelot castle ruins, the Aussies invoked the ‘Spirit of ‘05’ to take another South American scalp 10-6.
The Australian leg of the tournament was played in the stunning Pinnacles in Nambung National Park, 4 hours north of Perth. The lunar landscape had to be the most surreal place I’ve ever seen a game of football and it made for some spectacular photos as the sun set.
England’s Ellis United took on a crack team of Italian freestyle footballers in a surprisingly entertaining game. While the Italians’ trickery and ‘pump it up to the good one up front’ philosophy threatened to overwhelm the Poms, their physical dominance and neat passing kept the game tight by half-time.
Ellis’s staying power was tested even further when mighty-mouthed team leader Alex was hit by an almighty shot in the, erm… pinnacles but by the final whistle, the English side’s strength proved a little too much as they ran out 17-14 winners.
For a game in the middle of nowhere, the Pinnacles made for a beautiful backdrop. With hundreds of 30,000 year-old limestone sentinels standing watch, there was just enough space for a small pitch and a couple of tents on the red dust. As the sun began to set, the colours of the sand and the limestone pillars became deeper, the shadows growing longer.
As luck would have it, the Sony cameras and handycams we were given to document the event are designed to shoot in low light (hence the whole ‘Twilight Football’ concept) and I was able to get some pretty good shots (well, for me anyway…). You can check out my pictures from the event here or head to the official Twilight Football Flickr page here to see the best shots from around the world.
As the sun went down, I made my way to the top of a sweeping sand dune which overlooked the area. Surveying the scene from above, I came to a realisation: there aren’t many places you can visit and say you saw the first game of football ever played there.
FourFourTwo were guests of Sony for the Australian leg of their Twilight Football tournament. Sony produce a range of digital cameras and camcorders which produce fantastic results in low light, including the Cyber-shot WX1 and Handycam XR520 which Paul used on the day. For more information, go to www.sony.com.au
