When Hy Money’s mother insisted she take photographs of the Palace once she arrived in London, she couldn’t have imagined how literally, or not, her instructions would be followed.
Leaving India as a 19-year-old, Hy knew nothing about football. Today, by her own admission, she doesn’t know a great deal more. In between, though, she has become something of a legend among the supporters at Crystal Palace – sitting on the touchline behind the goal for many years and capturing some of Selhurst Park’s greatest moments.
As Crystal Palace prepare for a historic day at Wembley, next month Hy will be the guest speaker at a networking lunch at the Holiday Inn Corby/Kettering to tell the amazing story of how she overcame the odds, and the misogyny, to leave a lasting impression on a club and a sport.
“I grew up in India and when Ileft to come to England my mother gave me a Box Brownie camera,” said Hy. “She was a fan of the Roal Family and growing up she’d have dresses made for me from the styles she saw the young princesses wearing. She told me to go and take a picture of Buckingham Palace for her with my new camera.”
There was confusion some years later when Hy’s young son announced he wanted to go to Palace for his birthday treat. After patiently explaining to his mother that it wasn’t the Queen he wanted to see, but Crystal Palace FC, a trip was arranged and it was to prove a turning point.
“I had four children, a daughter and three sons, and in the end I gave up trying to look after my garden and dug all the flower beds up and just put grass down for them to play football on. I had no interest in football, but I was already mad about taking photographs,” said Hy.
“I would photograph them from the window, kicking the ball about and flying through the air. I’ve always been fascinated by capturing a moment, the magic of showing movement through a still image. Trying to capture that magic in a thousandth of a second.
Standing watching the match, I was mentally clicking away with my camera and realised I wanted to be down there on the pitch with the other photographers.”
After trying in vain to contact the club, Hy went to Selhurst Park to find out how to go about getting a pass. She was sent to see the then manager, Bert Head, who relented, and said he’d give her a pass ‘just to get rid of her.’
If Hy thought that had been the hard part, she was very much mistaken.
“That was just the start – then I had to go in the press box. It was full of men who really didn’t want to make me very welcome. They’d make horrible comments, one of them barged past me so hard he knocked me over, but I was in there and I got myself a place on the side of the pitch.
“Being there was all I wanted, even though I never felt like I was accepted. I kept applying to join the NUJ because I wanted a press card and to be in the union, I ticked every single box necessary but when they held a vote, 40 men actually signed a petition against me joining. I ended up having to get a solicitor to fight my case and that was how I eventually became the first female photographer in NUJ.”
Despite the resistance, by the end of her first season Hy’s photographs were being used in the Palace match programme and she became the manager’s official photographer. She was doing things others weren’t doing – taking photos of the players at home with their families, or of the people behind the scenes, the ground staff and the women who washed the kit every week.
“Sometimes the attitude to women could bring benefits. The press box had no female toilets, but I was allowed to go up to the next floor where the directors’ rooms were, and use the Ladies there. One day, Crystal Palace had played Manchester United and had beaten them 5-0. George Best was playing and after the match I went upstairs, and I saw him going into one of the rooms. I hung around and when he came out, I took a photograph. It turned out he’d been had called in to be sacked. And I had a photograph of him leaving the meeting!”
Hy’s work is encapsulated in the book Hy On Palace, a collection of photographs curated to celebrate the club’s 100th anniversary and known by supporters as the Palace Bible. Her work is also on display around the walls of the club’s Malcolm Allison Lounge. Hy had photographed the charismatic manager many times during his tenure, insisting that his trademark fedora hat and large cigars played a prominent role.
When the lounge was opened ten years ago, every wall was adorned with large prints of Hy’s images, with her name clearly displayed across each one.
“I don’t know why I ever thought I had a right to be in there, but I did,” said Hy. “It was awful at times, I had to stand up for myself, and that made me unpopular, but 1 got such a thrill from what I did. And the fans seemed to love me, I’d always get a bit of a cheer when they saw me take my place behind the goal.
“Over the years I’ve photographed Muhammed Ali, sat on Barry Sheene’s motorbike, I’ve photographed the Wimbledon championships – it’s been such a pleasure. But my favourite thing is still to sit and just watch a goalkeeper, waiting to get that moment when they are horizonal, flying through the air and just getting their fingertips to the ball. Or when the ball goes in and the net bulges and capturing that amazing moment.”
Hy Money will be speaking at the Networking Lunch at Holiday Inn Corby/Kettering A43 on June 17 between 11.30am and 2pm. To book, email salesmgr@hicorby.com.
Find out more about Hy Money on LinkedIn or on Instagram @hymoney
