New York – Out with naval-gazing 20something hipsters, in with groovy Amortals. Victory Journal celebrates the time-honoured, and now declining, US sport of handball in its latest issue.
The cover feature tells the story of members of the Miami Beach Handball Club who are in their 70s and who still regularly gather to play. Online, an accompanying film Fast Eddie and the Boys by Jerome Liebling shows the athletes telling stories of injuries and heart attacks suffered on the court in Flamingo Park and sharing in-jokes.
‘The finesse, comradeship and joy of the game are still very much there for them,’ says Bud Schmeling in his feature Tennis for Savages. ‘They have become gladiators of a sort, embodying all the valour that a life of physical movement, sweat and great savvy bring to age.’
Victory Journal’s grainy, artful and affectionate look at this group resonates with many developments LS:N Global has been charting, including a yearning by men for the valour and purity of team sport before it became dominated by sponsorship and celebrity athletes.
The way in which older people are portrayed is shifting as the media and fashion brands are reflecting an Amortal mindset.