(Above) Stuart Clarke's favourite shot, from the 2002 World Cup in Japan
In his own Words: Stuart Clarke, founder of Cumbria’s The Homes of Football, has been taking photographs at every major tournament since he first drove across the mountains of Italy for the World Cup in 1990. This year he’s missed South Africa to produce a book on supporting England back home…
On staying at home for the first time in 20 years…
"I'm off to Milton Keynes, to the ground there in a bit, which is definitely a unique place. I'm just looking again for evidence of the St George's Cross in a new town. I'm bringing a book out in November called The Cradle of the Game which will feature some of this stuff as well as the more historic stuff domestically that I've been doing.
"I'm excited about the summer, but it's very different to the last 20 years where I've gone off to all the World Cups and Euros and everything. This time I'm staying at home, but I'm here with the majority of the people, because relatively few people have gone to South Africa.
"I didn't trust myself going completely berserk for weeks on end and then almost trashing quite a bit of the rest of the year, because the comedown from the World Cup is quite a thing."
On his favourite tournaments…
"They've all been good, but Italia '90 was probably the best. The least good one was in America (1994) because it was so strung out. '98 [France] was as good, 2002 [Japan] was amazing, 2006 [Germany] was a real celebration.
"In between them there were a couple of great Euros – the one on our own turf in '96 and Portugal in 2004, which had the feel of a World Cup. Brazil weren't there, but it was an amazing competition.
"I think my favourite moment of many was possibly on a rainswept night in Japan when England were playing Denmark and we swept them aside 3-0. Even Emile Heskey scored, he drove it in as if he could do it any second of any match.
"There was a huge conga going on, but the great thing about that was the reaction of the Japanese police, because the Japanese love humour, but they've also got this incredible sense of propriety and order. So they were completely confused – they said we couldn't do it, but at the same time they thought it was kind of funny and humorous, the things they like about the English.
"They were really torn at that moment. It got bigger and bigger, there were probably 1,000 people doing a zigzag conga in the stand. I think that was hard to beat."
Clarke's iconic shot of Sunderland fans
On keeping a cool head…
"I'm very much someone who can weigh up the moment and say 'this is significant' and 'this is what I should photo'. I think that's the thing. I'm not a cold fish but I'm quite sober and I can see it happening or anticipate a good moment.
"I'm not someone who wires my pictures through that minute – sometimes they don't emerge for months, so there's 20 years' worth of all sorts of stuff. We'll try and put that out in the National Football Museum at Manchester."
On his favourite shot…
"It's probably the one in the gallery that I'm staring at right now. I keep meaning to take it down, but probably the reason why it's up still is because it’s from Japan again.
"It's from Shizouka, England are playing Brazil and they're all lined up, England on the left, Brazil on the right. It was an historic match because we could have done it, but then Ronaldinho lobbed the goalkeeper, Seaman, and we were out again.
"Everybody who walks in, even those who don't like football, is gobsmacked by this picture, partly because it's ten feet long.
"They look like they were lined up for me alone, as if I was the only photographer there. The truth was I had crawled between someone's legs…there were 190 photographers elbowing and shoving each other.
"But there's not a sign of anyone there except me. It's as if the World Cup experience was mine alone."
