Recently, a promotional video produced by Shenhua fans hit the social media platform, titled "Not for Proof, Just for Love." The video expresses the pre-match declaration of a group of Shenhua fans who share weal and woe with the team. The affectionate narration of "The trough is not the end, it is just the silence before the wind blows…" has brought tears to the eyes of countless Shenhua fans.
This work was created by Danny, a photographer born in the 1980s from the Shanghai Jixiang Football Club. From a young boy in front of the TV in 1996 to a recorder who uses his camera to freeze the portraits of fans, he has used his persistence for more than 20 years to interpret the power of faith behind the word "Shenhua" across the years. Last season, the team missed the league championship again, which made the fans unhappy; and the difficult start of the new season with a 10-point penalty inspired the fans to express their common sentiments. This video is also the most powerful support given by the fans to Shenhua. At Shenhua Football Club’s new season departure ceremony, many players were moved after watching this video.
[Recording fan portraits in my spare time]
There are many videos of fans on Danny's social media accounts. "At first I felt like having to shoot overtime to watch games on weekends, but it wasn't until I really got into the lives of fans that I understood what faith is." As a professional photographer, Danny has his own studio and team, and using his lens to record Shenhua fans is purely an amateur move out of love.
Danny taking photos at the stadium
Three years ago, an invitation from the president of Jixiang Fans Association made him get involved in fan recording work. Different from traditional scripted shooting, Danny insists on "reality first", "What I want to show is not a deliberate cheering scene, but the most authentic day of the fans – from home preparations, concerns between work breaks, to the passion for rushing to the stadium. This is the most vivid picture of Shenhua's belief."
This idea has the full support of the fan club. The president is responsible for identifying fans with distinctive personalities, while Danny uses his time after get off work and weekends to communicate and shoot. Post-editing often takes up time for rest. Over the past two years, he has filmed and recorded the stories of 30 fans, from the Shanghai elder brother who "can only watch football if he coaxes his wife", to a Korean female fan who calls herself a "Korean Shanghainese", to a family of three-generation Shenhua fans who cook dumplings and sit around watching the live broadcast on game days. Every shot is filled with the simplest love.
The filming scene of "Not for Proof, Just for Love"
Before the new season, when he learned that Shenhua had been deducted 10 points due to historical issues, Danny came up with the idea of making an encouraging promotional video. "During that time, I rushed to shoot every day after get off work, shooting one or two households in one night, and completed all the filming in the first two weeks of the New Year. During the Spring Festival holiday, I spent all my time editing."
"Not for proof, just for love", this is the new season declaration from the fans. In the video, there are office workers watching the live broadcast closely in the office, fans cheering and shouting in the bar… people across ages, professions, and nationalities protect the same love in different ways. As Danny said: "Supporting Shenhua is not just in the stands, it is hidden in every corner of the city and in the hot hearts of every fan."
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[Seeds sown in a football match]
Danny's relationship with Shenhua began when he accidentally watched a Shanghai women's football match in 1996. "I was attracted by the charm of football after watching it, and slowly started to pay attention to men's football, and naturally fell in love with Shenhua." When he was young, what he looked forward to most every week was to stay in front of the TV and cheer for every attack and defense of Shenhua. After going to college, his first pocket money became his "starting capital" to go to watch football games.
The experience of watching football live for the first time in my life is still as clear as yesterday. It was the highlight match between Shenhua and Dalian Shide. In order to buy 20 yuan student tickets, Danny and his classmates rushed to the ticket gate in the rain at two o'clock in the morning, only to find that the queue had already formed. "My classmate wanted to jump in the queue, but was immediately booed by the fans behind him. It's very interesting to think about it now. It was the fans' adherence to the rules and their cherishment of the team." He queued until dawn to buy tickets. After sleeping for a few hours, he rode his bicycle straight to the stadium. Shenhua's final victory made him excited. "I bought a small Shenhua flag outside the stadium and put it on my bicycle, and rode home happily."
Danny (right) with young fans
After work, Danny joined the Jixiang Football Club on the recommendation of his colleagues. After getting to know the fan club in depth, he discovered that there are too many unknown efforts hidden here: organizing cheers, coordinating affairs, and maintaining order. Every link embodies the hard work of core members. "It's only in the past few years that I have truly understood the fan club and the weight of the lyrics 'Shenhua is our belief.'" This understanding became his original intention to later take up the camera to record the fans' stories.
[Guard this blue with the lens]
"At the end of the season last year, I thought about giving up." Danny said frankly that shooting and editing took up a lot of work and rest time, and the high-intensity effort once made him think about quitting. But when he cut together the clips of fans that he had filmed in the past with the footage of Shenhua missing the championship, and looking at the seven-foot-old man holding his arms and crying in the stands in the camera, he instantly understood, "This matter must persist. These true emotions deserve to be remembered forever."
Danny taking photos at the stadium
In Danny's eyes, Shenhua has already transcended the scope of a team and has become a city symbol of Shanghai. "Players come and go, but fans' affection for Shenhua lasts longer than any player." As a post-80s generation who has accompanied the team through its peaks and troughs, he feels that watching football and life have long been integrated. "Just like falling in love, getting married, experiencing good times and bad, Shenhua's ups and downs are also the growth mark of our generation."
Faced with the predicament of starting the new season with a minus 10 points, Danny and many fans were not pessimistic. The cry of "Let's carry it together" actually made everyone more united. Some fans left messages under his video, "This year I will just make the best quality leeks." This simple love made Danny even more determined to record.
"I don't strive for traffic or eloquence, I just want to honestly create the most authentic content." In the new season, Danny will continue to shoot fan vlogs. There are currently other fan clubs that have also extended invitations to him, and he is willing to attend as long as time permits.
Danny will continue to use his camera to record the stories of Shenhua fans
From the young man queuing up to buy tickets in the early morning to the recorder behind the camera, more than 20 years have passed, but what remains unchanged is his sincerity towards Shenhua. "Shenhua is no longer a simple hobby, but a belief engraved in the years." Danny said that he will always use his lens to protect this blue and record every ordinary and hot fan story.
