The northern boxing club established in the wake of devastating race riots

Photographer Nik Hartley grew up in Nelson, Lancashire – one of many regions in the north of England economically depleted by de-industrialisation. “It was traditionally a cotton mill town, so there was a huge industry for a time with rows and rows of terraced houses built for the workers,” he tells Dazed in a conversation over Zoom. “But all the industry left a long time ago.” 

Hartley himself also left, living in London for 17 years before eventually returning north. “I’ve been back about five years,” he says. “And since I’ve been back, I’ve been drawn to tell stories [with my work] about Nelson and Lancashire and the local issues. One of the  problems, I suppose, is that we have very bad community cohesion issues in this area.” Having experienced the relative multiculturalism of the capital, Hartley was saddened by the racial segregation he encountered back home in Lancashire. “There’s a really large South Asian population here, because of the [former] industry. People from Pakistan were asked to come and work in our mills,” he explains. “So there’s a huge Pakistani population and a white population and very few other ethnicities, it’s not a very diverse area at all. In the 80s and 90s when I was growing up, it was really divided and unofficially segregated, and it still is in my understanding. The schools are either predominantly white or predominantly South Asian.” 

Back in 2001, these tensions reached a boiling point. In the febrile heat of a summer evening, stoked by antagonism from the far-right, violence erupted and race riots broke out in the nearby town of Burnley. In the wake of the devastating conflict, a local man named Hamid Khan founded Whitefield Youth Association – an organisation which aims to use sports as a development tool for young people. “In response to [the riots], Hamid was trying to find something positive for young boys and men to do during the week that wasn’t hanging out on street corners and getting into trouble,” Hartley explains. “It doesn’t really matter where you’re from or what your economic, social or racial background is, if you’re a teenager it’s a bad time to be doing nothing.”

In the two decades since it was formed, the WYA has thrived in the local area, adding purpose and structure to the lives of many kids and young people in the town. “It’s quite serious, they’ll get really good coaches in. The wrestling coach is one of the Olympic scouts and one of the lads has been scouted and is being trained as a potential member of the next Olympics.”  

‘It doesn’t really matter where you’re from or what your economic, social or racial background is, if you’re a teenager it’s a bad time to be doing nothing’ – Nik Hartley

Curious about this local initiative, Hartley approached Khan about the idea of a project about the Whitefield Youth Association and its members. Over the following few weeks, the photographer spent a great deal of time at the  WYA, chronicling the day-to-day activity in the dojo and on the outdoor sports pitches as kids and teens came together to learn myriad life skills while being schooled in combat sports. The photographer was impressed with the young people he encountered: “I was pretty taken with how cool some of them were… with spiked-up hair and old football shirts that looked amazing, you know, you couldn’t have styled them that good if you tried. They just turned up looking like a picture of youth.” 

While the club is not exclusionary, it is predominantly attended by boys and young men from the South Asian community. Hartley explains: “Anybody is welcome but, because of the location, it tends to service the South Asian community because there are very few white people living where it is – it’s a famous street in Bolton which runs right through the South Asian part of town.” 

“I just recognised the WYA as being a good thing and I wanted to photograph it in an honest way” – Nik Hartley

Aside from teaching discipline and self-belief, during his time there, Hartley also witnessed other significant but unexpected ideas about masculinity being transmitted to the students. “The issue of growing up in the north of England as a boy is that you’re not encouraged to express yourself or express your emotions or be anything other than a strong young man,”  he reflects. His impression of the boxing class he attended was, at first glance, “like machismo on steroids. You might think it’s the aggression centre of Nelson, everyone’s in here to fight.” But he was surprised by the tenderness he witnessed. “During training, someone got punched in the face and started crying. The coach came over and he comforted him but he let him have a cry. So I saw that another benefit is that it's a safe place to let loose, let off steam, but also have a cry in if they needed. Barriers were coming down.” 

Ultimately, Hartley was drawn to take pictures of the Whitefield Youth Association because it is an expression of something positive and an attempt to create something worthwhile for young people. “I’m not overly political – in terms of photography anyway,” Hartley concludes. “If I’m photographing something, I’m trying to either celebrate it or show how beautiful it is. Or both. And that’s all I’m doing here. I just recognised the WYA as being a good thing and I wanted to photograph it in an honest way.”

Good Sports by Nik Hartley is published by Pendle Press and is available here now.

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