Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The GuardianĮditing pictures became the route out of weekly witnessing English football at its worst, and in 1988 Eamonn was recruited as picture editor of the Guardian by its then editor, Peter Preston, to help the paper see off the new Independent with its well-printed photography. Phil Thompson and Phil Neal of Liverpool celebrate winning the European Cup in Paris in 1981 against Madrid. “I went as a sports photographer, thrilled to be covering Juventus against Liverpool, and ended up a news photographer, as the whole thing turned into a terrifying disaster in which 39 supporters were killed … I never processed the films from the game itself. He said that witnessing this horror had a lasting effect on him and perhaps hastened his departure from sports photography. He was there to cover a football match, but sport was forgotten when the tragic events unfolded. In 1985 he won news photographer of the year for his photographs of the Heysel stadium disaster in Brussels.

He was bringing something different to sports photography and his trophy cupboard started to fill. From his early pictures, such as one of a table tennis player with a very high throw, or an image of Björn Borg’s gimlet eyes on a tennis ball, it was recognised that Eamonn, like Borg, had his own way of perceiving the world. His work won him picture editor of the year an unprecedented six times and sports photographer of the year four times, creating groundbreaking photographs for the Observer. And when he wasn’t shooting, editing or talking about images, he was collecting awards for doing so. Eamonn McCabe, who has died suddenly aged 74, was a photographer, photo editor, educator and broadcaster, and served as the Guardian’s picture editor for 13 years.

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