How London's darkest hour helped shape the spiritual home of grassroots football
For millions of Londoners, the patchwork of pitches on Hackney Marshes is synonymous with freedom, fitness and football.
Bobby Moore, Jimmy Greaves, David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Sol Campbell and John Terry are just some of the famous names to have honed their skills there on Sunday mornings.
Argentine star Lionel Messi was once mobbed by fans there when he dropped in to promote his latest Adidas boots.
But the sprawling 336 acres, the beating heart of grassroots football in England, also played a crucial role in London's recovery from the Blitz during World War Two.
An excellent article by Jonathan Gardner of the University of Edinburgh on The Conversation website highlights how Hackney Marshes was quite literally shaped by some of the capital's darkest days.
Gardner tells of the problems that faced the London authorities as the German Luftwaffe rained thousands of bombs on the city in an effort to crush the British spirit.
As well as the estimated 40,000 dead in the nationwide raids of 1940-41, some 73,000 buildings in London alone were totally destroyed. The rubble left behind somehow had to be disposed of.
The article says that between December 1940 and 1946, a massive 2.2million cubic metres of concrete, brick and stone rubble was dumped on Hackney Marsh in east London.
Despite the huge quantities of material dumped there, Gardner says his archaeological surveys in recent years show little enduring evidence with the rubble well hidden by plants and soil.
Hackney Marshes could easily have become a grim relic to the wartime bombing campaigns but instead, 250,000 cubic metres of soil from construction sites was added to the rubble.
On this elevated ground, grass was seeded to create what was originally 135 football
Read on m.allfootballapp.com
