GO back to almost any place, at any time, and the story remains the same. That’s the beauty of it.
Whether it’s a pig’s bladder being booted around cobbled paths in the 1800s, a high stakes game in a Rio favela or a couple of kids playing two touch out the front of your house, the universality of street football remains undiminished over time.
It’s here, on the narrow slab of concrete between the kerbs, that sporting passions are so often awakened, imaginations running free as the stars of tomorrow dream of being the stars of today. Touch is honed, skills developed and memories that last into old age are made.
The law of the street has always held a particular fascination for Waterford-born, Belfast-based artist Brian O’Connor.
In his latest video project, director O’Connor - the man behind the Peil Star series - and award-winning cameraman Peter Adam capture former Linfield midfielder Bastien Hery doing what comes most natural.
In ‘Un Ballon’ Hery showcases his skills around East Belfast, but it could just as easily have been the streets of Brou-sur-Chantereine, the Paris suburb where he was raised.
A footballing odyssey that started at heavyweights Paris St-Germain brought Hery to England and eventually led him to Ireland, where he has played for Limerick, Waterford and Linfield before a summer return to the League of Ireland with Dublin outfit Bohemians.
And it was Hery’s style and sense of fun that appealed to O’Connor.
“I just liked Bastien’s story,” he says.
“He’s still bit of a cult hero in Waterford because they were in the doldroms for 20 years and then he arrived and became this real talismanic figure. A fantastic player.
“After a while he was sold to Linfield, then he played three games for Madagascar before Christmas… he’s just cool. The story’s good, he’s a charismatic guy, he has unreal ball skills, very technical.
“The thing about street football is it has always had that accessibility and that freedom. You can do it any time you want; it’s always there. Nostalgia is probably a fair part of it as well, but then I still play with my own lads on the street.
“We play in the driveway, I’m doing what I did 30-40 years ago and when you’re doing that, you feel like the same person you were then nearly. You’re tapping back into that.”
Indeed, O’Connor believes that basic level of engagement is a part of human culture, and has been for generations.
“Before Covid I was working on an exhibition that was going to be shown at the Conway Mill, hopefully it still can be when things get back to normal, but I came across photos from away back and we were still doing the same thing.
“Whether you’re in Finland or New York, or Belfast or wherever, if you see someone kicking a ball in the street, it’s a common connection. We all have it, and there’s an innocence to it that we’ve probably rediscovered with lockdown to an extent.
“They say poetry is the most accessible art form because all you need is a pen and a piece of paper, and street football is that.”
