STEPHEN
WHAT’S IT TO YA?
July 30, 2026
Stephen Attong is a Trinidad-born, Toronto-based photographer whose work explores sentimentality in public spaces. He’s the co-founder & captain of Parkdale Panthers FC, a grassroots co-ed football club in downtown Toronto, a Manchester United supporter, and a prolific tweeter.
We caught up with Stephen after a Panthers run to talk early memories, his favourite United era and more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is your first football memory?
The first one that sticks out is when I first started to get into football; my dad wouldn’t get me any name-brand shoes, so we went to Payless and they had these all-black, like, really terrible cleats that were pretty cheap. So I remember him buying those for me, and then I would basically play with him in my backyard before I ever played with friends. It was just me and my dad. I used to have this iron clothesline in my backyard that kind of looked like a goalpost, so I would just shoot on that all day basically. I was probably like eight or nine.
You’re from Trinidad and Tobago. How would you describe the football culture there?
Football is basically the number one sport in Trinidad—the only rival would be cricket. But as far as the culture, it was very focused on the Premier League. Everyone has their favourite team. Growing up, you were either a United fan, Liverpool fan, Chelsea fan, or Arsenal. Obviously with United, Dwight Yorke was a big influence. In Trinidad, when you say you’re gonna play something, we have what we call “sweating”, which just means you’re gonna play football. That’s the default sport.
We caught up with Stephen after a Panthers run to talk early memories, his favourite United era and more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is your first football memory?
The first one that sticks out is when I first started to get into football; my dad wouldn’t get me any name-brand shoes, so we went to Payless and they had these all-black, like, really terrible cleats that were pretty cheap. So I remember him buying those for me, and then I would basically play with him in my backyard before I ever played with friends. It was just me and my dad. I used to have this iron clothesline in my backyard that kind of looked like a goalpost, so I would just shoot on that all day basically. I was probably like eight or nine.
You’re from Trinidad and Tobago. How would you describe the football culture there?
Football is basically the number one sport in Trinidad—the only rival would be cricket. But as far as the culture, it was very focused on the Premier League. Everyone has their favourite team. Growing up, you were either a United fan, Liverpool fan, Chelsea fan, or Arsenal. Obviously with United, Dwight Yorke was a big influence. In Trinidad, when you say you’re gonna play something, we have what we call “sweating”, which just means you’re gonna play football. That’s the default sport.
Do you have any special memories of watching the national teams?
The greatest goal I’ve ever seen live is Chris Birchall versus Bahrain. This was 2005. It was the first leg of our World Cup qualifying playoff, and we drew 1-1. It was at the national stadium, Hasely Crawford Stadium, and Chris Birchall scored like a 25-yard volley. The stadium just erupted. So that to me is probably my best memory watching the national team. Everyone on the island was going crazy. To this day, that’s the craziest goal I’ve ever seen live.
You’re the co-founder and captain of Parkdale Panthers FC. What’s been your approach to building the club?
Well, basically, to start, I just wanted an excuse to have people come and hang out, and the friends that I already had who were interested in football to gather once a week to play. Because of that, the environment was never like you had to be of a certain skill level to join. You could just show up once you’re friends with one of the players. That’s kind of expanded now to where people will be like, oh, ‘I want to join the Panthers, how do I join?’ And basically, you just have to message one of us, and that’s pretty much how you join. There’s no tryout; it’s literally just a message. So if you’re down and we have space, you just join.
I think people gravitate towards that because a lot of people want to be active but they don’t want that type of intimidating environment. I feel like it’s kind of become bigger than my initial plan, but it’s good. I have fun telling people about it and inviting people to play.
The greatest goal I’ve ever seen live is Chris Birchall versus Bahrain. This was 2005. It was the first leg of our World Cup qualifying playoff, and we drew 1-1. It was at the national stadium, Hasely Crawford Stadium, and Chris Birchall scored like a 25-yard volley. The stadium just erupted. So that to me is probably my best memory watching the national team. Everyone on the island was going crazy. To this day, that’s the craziest goal I’ve ever seen live.
You’re the co-founder and captain of Parkdale Panthers FC. What’s been your approach to building the club?
Well, basically, to start, I just wanted an excuse to have people come and hang out, and the friends that I already had who were interested in football to gather once a week to play. Because of that, the environment was never like you had to be of a certain skill level to join. You could just show up once you’re friends with one of the players. That’s kind of expanded now to where people will be like, oh, ‘I want to join the Panthers, how do I join?’ And basically, you just have to message one of us, and that’s pretty much how you join. There’s no tryout; it’s literally just a message. So if you’re down and we have space, you just join.
I think people gravitate towards that because a lot of people want to be active but they don’t want that type of intimidating environment. I feel like it’s kind of become bigger than my initial plan, but it’s good. I have fun telling people about it and inviting people to play.
How did you come to start supporting Manchester United?
My dad was a United fan, so growing up, those were the jerseys that were in the house. Then I would say, around 2003, 2004, when a bunch of my friends were starting to watch football, and I started to watch, and saw Wayne Rooney playing, I was like, this is the sickest player I’ve ever seen. And he played for United, so it was like that coinciding with my dad’s support of them. And since then it’s just been United. That’s the only team we’ve known. But yeah, Rooney was my first favourite player, and I used to try to play like him.
If you had to pick a favourite United team or era, which would it be?
I’m going to pick the 2007-2008 team. That’s when Ronaldo broke the scoring record for a winger. I think he scored like 42 goals in one season. We won the Champions League, we won the Premier League, and that team to me, I could always bring up in a debate. I could always argue against the other team that’s brought up. Like, that’s one of the greatest teams of all time. I think between '07 and '09, United had basically a bulletproof team. Watching back then, it was never if we would win or lose, it was just like how much [we would win by] in those days. It’s crazy to think that that was my experience, cause nowadays, we might lose to fucking Burnley. Every weekend is a toss-up now, whereas back then, it was just smooth sailing.
My dad was a United fan, so growing up, those were the jerseys that were in the house. Then I would say, around 2003, 2004, when a bunch of my friends were starting to watch football, and I started to watch, and saw Wayne Rooney playing, I was like, this is the sickest player I’ve ever seen. And he played for United, so it was like that coinciding with my dad’s support of them. And since then it’s just been United. That’s the only team we’ve known. But yeah, Rooney was my first favourite player, and I used to try to play like him.
If you had to pick a favourite United team or era, which would it be?
I’m going to pick the 2007-2008 team. That’s when Ronaldo broke the scoring record for a winger. I think he scored like 42 goals in one season. We won the Champions League, we won the Premier League, and that team to me, I could always bring up in a debate. I could always argue against the other team that’s brought up. Like, that’s one of the greatest teams of all time. I think between '07 and '09, United had basically a bulletproof team. Watching back then, it was never if we would win or lose, it was just like how much [we would win by] in those days. It’s crazy to think that that was my experience, cause nowadays, we might lose to fucking Burnley. Every weekend is a toss-up now, whereas back then, it was just smooth sailing.
Tell us about your pilgrimage to Old Trafford.
Okay, so my pilgrimage—it’s pretty funny. I had a summer abroad in 2014 and was staying in Oxford for a month. One weekend I decided to go to Manchester to see the first Premier League game of that season. We were playing against Swansea, and it was Louis van Gaal’s first game. I was excited, I was like, “I’m gonna see Rooney for the first time—like it’s gonna be crazy.” I went to a pub before to get a pint, and we ended up losing 2-1 in that game. Rooney scored, but it was like a consolation goal.
They had some players on that team that I just started to hate even more because I saw them live, like Marouane Fellaini and Ashley Young. Watching these guys live, I just started to be like, ‘why the hell are they playing?’ But overall, it’s sick that I managed to pull it off. Like I went to Manchester by myself, got a hotel by myself, and saw a game to tick it off the bucket list.
Last question: if you could photograph any 3 players, dead or alive, who would you choose?
Okay, one would be Eric Cantona for sure. I think he would be fun to photograph, and I think he’d be interesting to talk to. I think he has a lot of cool opinions. So that’s one. I think to impress my family the most, David Beckham. My sister would hate me and love me simultaneously if I got to photograph David Beckham, so that’s number 2. Then let’s see… number three for the nostalgia of it, I’ll do Wayne Rooney, even though I think it’d be kind of goofy to photograph him. I feel like I wouldn’t really like the photos that much, but it would be cool to meet him, just to get that experience and tell him how much of an impact he had on my childhood. So yeah, I would do Cantona, Beckham, and Rooney.
Photos: Ella Murphy
Okay, so my pilgrimage—it’s pretty funny. I had a summer abroad in 2014 and was staying in Oxford for a month. One weekend I decided to go to Manchester to see the first Premier League game of that season. We were playing against Swansea, and it was Louis van Gaal’s first game. I was excited, I was like, “I’m gonna see Rooney for the first time—like it’s gonna be crazy.” I went to a pub before to get a pint, and we ended up losing 2-1 in that game. Rooney scored, but it was like a consolation goal.
They had some players on that team that I just started to hate even more because I saw them live, like Marouane Fellaini and Ashley Young. Watching these guys live, I just started to be like, ‘why the hell are they playing?’ But overall, it’s sick that I managed to pull it off. Like I went to Manchester by myself, got a hotel by myself, and saw a game to tick it off the bucket list.
Last question: if you could photograph any 3 players, dead or alive, who would you choose?
Okay, one would be Eric Cantona for sure. I think he would be fun to photograph, and I think he’d be interesting to talk to. I think he has a lot of cool opinions. So that’s one. I think to impress my family the most, David Beckham. My sister would hate me and love me simultaneously if I got to photograph David Beckham, so that’s number 2. Then let’s see… number three for the nostalgia of it, I’ll do Wayne Rooney, even though I think it’d be kind of goofy to photograph him. I feel like I wouldn’t really like the photos that much, but it would be cool to meet him, just to get that experience and tell him how much of an impact he had on my childhood. So yeah, I would do Cantona, Beckham, and Rooney.
Photos: Ella Murphy
