Vasiliy Kolotilov found out about an American football league in Russia where most people discover bizarre, out-of-the-ordinary things: the internet. After a bit of investigation, he pitched a piece on the Spartans — a local football team in Moscow — to a newspaper. In March, he attended some training sessions and published the article. But that wasn’t enough.
“I wanted to spend more time with these guys,” he said.
Until October, Mr. Kolotilov embedded himself with the Spartans as they played biweekly games among roughly 20 teams across Russia. His work boasts few photographs of tackles or catches. Instead, he looked off the field: in locker rooms, social activities and the everyday lives of players.
“The whole idea was not to show the game itself,” Mr. Kolotilov said, “but to show what’s behind it.”
In his photographs, players barbecue and share drinks in one another’s homes, they place tape over their nipple rings before donning pads and jerseys, they make helmets out of cardboard for their mascot, they get bandaged and they wait tables — because while the football is American, the pay isn’t.
“They are spending money,” Mr. Kolotilov said, “a lot of money.”
It costs each team about $1,500 a month to rent a field and buy things like water for the sidelines. In addition, each player buys his own equipment — usually overseas in the United States, where the dollar is stronger than the ruble. In one of Mr. Kolotilov’s photographs, a stone-faced member of the Spartans balances a helmet between his knees as he rides the metro to a game — something most players do.
The man in the photograph is 45 years old and one of the older players on the team. Mr. Kolotilov said he joined because he saw the game played in the 1990s and finally decided this year to play. There are many like him on the team, working men with day jobs and children, looking for a hobby and some camaraderie. Then there are others, like a 19-year-old who discovered the Spartans on YouTube and moved to Moscow just to play for them. He dreams of playing professional football one day.
For now, he, like the other handful of players with pipe dreams of pro ball, settles for a team that on most nights is lucky to draw a handful of people to the stands. In Mr. Kolotilov’s one photograph of the spectators, the bleachers are desolate except for three people. It was the first game of the season. The championship game, which the Spartans lost in St. Petersburg, drew closer to 400.
The games, their scores and the Spartans’ record are not important to Mr. Kolotilov. He admits he’s not even sure of the rules of American football. What interests him is a team of 60 or so men who put a great deal of time and effort into a sport that few in their country understand; a sport that, unlike soccer or boxing, will never gain them any money or fame.
“I kind of envy them in a way,” Mr. Kolotilov said. “They found their passion.”
Follow @Andrew Boryga and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram.
