For the Good of the Game(?): The Legacy of the Football Trust, the Football Pools & the Dangerous Seduction of Political Promise

During the late twentieth century, the United Kingdom’s football infrastructure and spectatorship underwent transformation as successive stadia disasters heightened political and public scrutiny of the game and prompted industry change. Central to this process was the government’s formation of an independent charitable organization to oversee subsequent policy implementation and grant-aid provision to clubs for safety, crowd, and spectator requirements. This entity, which began in 1975 focusing on ground improvement, developed into the Football Trust. The Trust was funded directly by the football pools companies who ran popular low-stakes football betting enterprises. Working in association with the Pools Promoters Association (PPA), and demonstrating their social responsibility towards the game’s constituents, the pools resourced a wide array of Trust activities. Yet irrespective of government mandate, the PPA and Trust were continually confronted by political and economic obstacles that threatened the effectiveness of their arrangements. In this paper the history of the Football Trust is investigated, along with its partnership with the PPA, and its relationship with the government within the context of broader political shifts, stadia catastrophes, official inquiries, and commercial threats. It is contended that while the Trust/PPA partnership had a respectable legacy, their history afforded little protection against adverse contemporary conditions.

'Unrealart'. A New Medium for Artistic Expression Using a Commercial Game Engine: Galleries and Installations

In this paper, we explore the use of a commercial computer game-engine “Unreal Tournament 2004” (UT2004) to produce “Immersive Environments” (IEs) which provide the digital artist with a new mode of expression, to engage with the viewing public as individuals or in collaboration. We explore two modalities of Art, the ‘gallery’ and the ‘installation’. Through a reflection on various twentieth-century abstract artists, we indicate how this technology may be engaged to more fully realize their philosophies and projects. Finally, we suggest how this technology may lead to new forms of artistic expression in our contemporary digital world.