The story of skateboarding is an interesting one and speaks to the creativity of those that are “not in” with the popular click. Since its inception, the boundaries of daring have been pushed and creativity is always reaching new levels! In the U.K, the legendary ROM Parl is a holy grail that has helped in the evolution of skateboarding in Britain and continues to this day. But in recent years it has had it’s troubles and the world of skateboarding almost lost this historic gem. Film director Matt Harris has been documenting the history of this park for the past five years, culminating in this most informative documentary and the journey to preserve it for future generations. He was kind enough to partake in this interview, and myself being a former skateboarder, I really enjoyed learning about this history!
There’s been quite a bit that’s gone into this documentary! Can you tell us how long the entire process has been from start to finish and what were some of the most enjoyable, and maybe not so enjoyable moments, in the filming of it?
The initial idea came about five years ago in 2015. I was looking for somewhere to take my daughter on a slow Sunday and I wondered if Rom, a place I’d gone to as a kid, was still open. When we arrived we saw all these guys in their forties and fifties and no kids. I thought “well this is strange..” Having been away from a skateboard for over 35 years I had no idea that there was this old school scene. Then I found out that Rom had been historically listed in 2014 and I thought, there must be a story in this. The rest as they say is history.
The most enjoyable aspects of making this film have been the people I’ve met along the way. If you’d told me when I was a kid that I’d be sitting down with Bob Haro or Lance Mountain I don’t think I could have computed that. Also the Rom locals, I mean we now meet and go for breakfast and I feel I’ve become a part of that community – even though I’m still rubbish on a skateboard.
The not so enjoyable moments – I figured early on at the start of this that I needed to get back on a board to at least show everyone I was serious about this film and to get into the inner circle, so to speak (and give them all a laugh at the same time). Within two weeks I’d fractured my shoulder from slamming in the Performance Bowl. Five years later I can still feel it!
The story behind this park is really amazing, and I have to say as a former skateboarder myself, I was unaware of this place so I was amazed to hear about the history of this place. Could you share a brief background about the park, and why it is so significant in the world of skateboarding and BMX?
Rom was built in the summer of 1978, it was when skateboarding was experiencing its huge surge in the UK (and the rest of the world). It was built alongside a handful of other parks by the same park designers – called G-Force, during that “craze” period across the UK.
Today only a couple are left in existence – Harrow, and Rom. Of the two, Harrow is open to all and is owned by the local council, as such it hasn’t been as well cared for, is covered in graffiti, and has been adapted and patched up through the years.
Rom which has always been privately owned has been “fenced off” and so is in a much better state of repair – it really hasn’t changed at all since it was built. So in 2014 a historian called Simon Inglis, who specializes in British sporting history, figured that a skatepark should have some kind of protection because of the part they have played in British subculture. So along with Professor Iain Borden of University College London, they achieved something unique in getting Rom officially recognized as a protected historic site of cultural importance. So now it can never be bulldozed or replaced by a block of apartments. It will always be there in some guise or another as a showcase for the best of 1970’s skatepark design.
Here in the states skateboarding and BMXing is viewed as this sort of subculture activity for the “bad” kids or unpopular, outcasts, misfits….however, one chooses to describe us! I imagine it might be the same across the pond, but I wanted to ask what is the perception of skateboarders and BMX-ers over there?
I think it’s pretty much the same, as Lance Mountain says in the film it was always the “weirdos” at first. That’s something I wanted to cover in the film – I mean I interviewed a retired corporate banker who skates, a senior examiner for our Civil Aviation Authority who flies 747’s but still rides BMX bikes in his fifties, and a professor of architecture. I really wanted to turn that negative perception on its head and say that while it might have been the outcasts back in the day now it’s pretty much everyone from all walks of life who do it.
As I mentioned before I used to do skateboarding (and actually I just saw a kid today trying to learn how to Ollie so I gave him some pointers lol), but now I primarily concentrate on my music as my creative outlet. But I am still of the opinion that skateboarding and BMXing are artists themselves in the sense that the everyday surroundings most people take for granted they view it as their “canvas” for creativity. What are your thoughts on the parallels between say music and skateboarding or BMXing and visual art?.. etc 🙂
These types of sports, if you want to call them that, I think probably produce more creative people than an organized sport would. There is a freedom to them that you don’t see on a football field which is guided by strict rules and regulations where you’re penalized if you stray from those rules.
With BMX and skating they move forward by breaking the rules (and laws of physics in some cases). If you think about it you’re being really creative when you perform a trick by getting your body into a certain position through the attachment to a board or bike. Then by looking at photos or footage of yourself you learn about style and what makes some skater or rider more aesthetically pleasing to watch than another. From that then, at a young age you become very visually aware – certainly in my case – from pouring over magazines and videos of pro skaters as a teen I think also contributes to that understanding of composition, even when you don’t really know what composition is you quickly learn what looks right and what looks wrong.
I think the same with musicians, you’re probably sub-consciously driven by the sounds of wheel slides, or the sound of trucks scraping on metal coping and you carry that across to some form of creative output at some point later in life. In this case music. It’s just a different type of understanding of creative composition right?
ROM park seems to be one of those holy grail places where people who skate and BMX need to check out. Can you give us a taste of some of the great riders who have been to ROM over the years?
Pretty much everyone. In the film, we interview Bob Haro, Lance Mountain, and Miki Vukovich and have footage of the current top pro skaters such as Pedro Barros and Ronnie Sandoval who I shot in 2018 on a thrasher tour. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Rodney Mullen has skated Rom as well as Mark Gonzales and Geoff Rowley. Matt Hoffman rode there along with Chase Hawk a couple of years ago. Pretty much anyone who’s anyone has been to Rom at one time or another.
BUT…..having said that as far as we’re aware, the two Tony’s – Tony Hawk and Z-Boy Tony Alva haven’t visited yet! I’m hoping this film encourages them to pay a pilgrimage. The world’s most well-known skater and the godfather of pool skating HAVEN’T been to Rom…I mean come on !!
Part of the purpose of this video is to raise awareness about the state of emergency the park is in. What can viewers do to help support the continuation of this park?
Currently, we’re trying to really get a program up and running for 2021 with some funding and real community support behind the park. This year COVID has really put a spanner in the works for every business, not just Rom. We’re in talks with Sport England, our governing sporting body over here to hopefully get some much-needed funding to try and rebuild our indoor facilities and create a proper sustainable business. We’re looking at community ownership and so at the moment are in the process of setting all that up. We’ll be establishing a crowdfunding campaign and all sorts of ideas moving forward. The best thing to do will be to follow our website – romskatepark.co.uk for the latest news.
The film will be available on Apple TV, Vimeo, Amazon, Hulu, Google Play, Microsoft plus others. It will also be available as HD and 4K UHDI want to thank Matt Harris, for his time and for his vision in making this documentary. Definitely was an interesting skateboarding history lesson for me, and I hope we’ll get to venture further into the world of skateboarding in the near future!
Photos courtesy of Matt Harris
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