Impact case study database

A key driver of the impact has been the relationship between the University of Central Lancashire’s International Football Institute and the National Football Museum (NFM) [A]. This applies especially to the impact related activities of Adams and Hughson. Dr Adams’s main direct impact activity in connection with the National Football Museum was in a consultancy capacity to the major exhibition The Greater Game: Football & the First World War (19 December 2014 – 13 September 2015) [B]. In this capacity, Adams consulted on potential artefacts and delivered a workshop to the staff before the NFM major exhibition. Several of the exhibition cases carried quotes and information attributed to Adams and a quote from him was writ large on the wall above the section dedicated to the Christmas Truces. He was individually mentioned on the acknowledgements board at the exit of the exhibition. His research was used to inform the publication, The Greater Game: A History of Football in World War I (Oxford, Shire Publications, 2014), which accompanied the exhibition. Furthermore, Adams wrote a play, titled A Game for Christmas, which has been used as a teaching resource in primary schools at no cost. The play was made available to schools via Learning and Resources pages of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and the resources website of the National Children's Football Alliance (NCFA) [C]. It was also performed, several times, at the National Football Museum during The Greater Game: Football & the First World War exhibition. The play was also performed in a radio version during the two-week ‘Celebrate Sport’ event, which was held by the BBC at Media City UK. This radio version of A Game for Christmas was recorded and disseminated to schools. HRH The Duke of Cambridge, a supporter of the project, remarked:

“We all grew up with the story of soldiers from both sides putting down their arms on Christmas Day, and it remains wholly relevant today as a message of hope over adversity, even in the bleakest of times.” [C]

Adams’s research [3-6] has also been used in other broadcast and print media, public talks and events, to disseminate knowledge to the general public and specialist audiences in promoting discussion and debate about football during WWI. Broadcast media include BBC World Service (global listenership of 150 million per week) Sportshour programme and podcast [D], BBC Radio Lancashire’s Drive Time, BBC Radio 5 Live’s The Daily Interview, and Radio Hochstift in Sennelager, Germany. Adams’s research has been cited in numerous British national and local newspapers as well as the international media (e.g. The Times, The Independent, The Telegraph and The Daily Mail, The Warrington Guardian). A number of public and specialist talks have been delivered including five at the National Football Museum. Adams gave two public talks at The National Archives, Kew (available by podcast) [E, F] and presented a paper at the Ministry of Information Press Centre in Belgrade, Serbia. On 9 December 2014, Adams delivered the ‘Daily Briefing’ to the officers of the 20^th Armoured Infantry Brigade at Sennelager before the playing of a commemorative football game. In other school related activities, Adams conducted workshops and gave presentations at several local schools, including Cheetham Primary School, Manchester (19 November 2014) and John Cross Primary School, Bilsborrow (24 February 2015).

Adams was invited to appear at the BBC World War One: The Home Front roadshow at Blackpool and Blackburn on the 21 and 24 June 2014. The BBC estimated the audiences across the two days at approximately 3,000 people. Adams was a contributing consultant historian to the British Library on the WWI pan-European ‘Europeana 1914-1918’ project. He was also a contributing historian on the British Council/Premier League/FA ‘Football Remembers’ project [G]. In relation to this project, an education pack was developed and distributed to 30,000 British schools and mass participation events were organised by the British Embassy network around the world. Adams consulted on the staging of a centennial commemorative football game between British and German army units at Sennelager, Germany in December 2014. The game was attended by thousands of soldiers from both armies and several thousand civilians. Each spectator was given a souvenir programme, which included a page overview authored by Adams about how and why football was played in ‘no man’s land’ on the Front during Christmas of 1914. This page was provided in both English and German.

The Football Association (The FA) invited sculptor Andrew Edwards to create a monument to mark the occasion [H]. Edwards approached the National Football Museum for information about the football played on the Front by the troops in 1914 and Adams was, in turn, invited to consult Edwards on preparation of the art item. A full size bronze was unveiled on 22 December 2015 in Messines Town Square, Belgium on a site identified by Adams as in close proximity to a possible game of football between the 6/Cheshires and their German opponents as briefly described in Lt. Brockbank’s diary exhibited at The Greater Game: Football & the First World War. A modified resin full-size statue was displayed at St Luke’s (“The Bombed-Out Church”) in Liverpool from December 14 to 21, 2014 and then at the Christmas Carol Concert at the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool. Internationally, the resin statue was also displayed on the site of the former truce in no man’s land in Belgium on Christmas Day 2014, and the following day at the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium [I]. It was also shown at several football grounds to raise awareness and funds for a permanent memorial. The ‘Football Remembers’ project has impacted WW1 veteran football players and young academy footballers through the veterans sharing their experiences of the war and football during the war [G].

As Director of the International Football Institute, Professor Hughson has worked closely with the National Football Museum to ensure the museums interpretations are accessible and appealing whilst being informed by high level curatorial scholarship and expertise [J]. Hughson drew on his published research [2] on the painting Any Wintry Afternoon in England by the British artist C.R.W. Nevinson to advise the National Football Museum to seek a loan of the artwork from its owning institution, the Manchester City Art Gallery. Accordingly, Hughson was involved in discussions regarding the loan with senior staff at both the National Football Museum and the Manchester City Art Gallery. The loan went ahead, and the painting was displayed at the National Football Museum, with key object status, from October 2013 to October 2014. While the painting was on display at the National Football Museum, Hughson gave a number of presentations to the public and provided expert commentary in an educational video made in situ at the National Football Museum in front of the painting. This video was made available as an educational resource to schools. Hughson’s discussion addressed the ‘football and war’ theme regarding Nevinson’s intention in the painting and in regard to subsequent interpretations of the artwork.

Melling's research from the 1990s to the present day on the Dick, Kerr Ladies [1] football team informed the 2017 Channel 4 television documentary, ‘When Football Banned Women’, presented by broadcaster Clare Balding [K, L]. By collaborating with the acclaimed and award-winning Lambert Productions, Channel 4, Jean Williams, Gail Newsham, and Clare Balding CBE, Professor Melling was able to bring the debate over the 1921 FA ban on women’s football into the wider public domain. ‘When Football Banned Women’ received 500,000 ‘hits’ on the first night of screening, and many more via playback, social media, and the national press. Balding noted, during her narration of the documentary, that many of the young women players today had no concept of the game’s history or the struggles their predecessors experienced. This media collaboration therefore acts not only as a vehicle of information, but also as an important tool of informal education around sport, gender and politics. Furthermore, the documentary utilises Melling’s research in understanding the political connotations associated with the FA’s ban on women’s football, highlighting the change of women’s football from fundraising for charities to supporting war-wounded families to focusing on supporting the striking miners. Women’s football and sport journalist, Suzanne Wrack highlights that “With the war over, their fundraising turned to support for workers in struggle, and in particular for the striking miners. “You had women playing football and striking miners, and huge crowds watching them. The whole thing was revolutionary,” says Dr Melling” [M]. Wrack describes the documentary as “Inspiring, moving and analytical.” [M] In May 2019, the British Library hosted a screening of the documentary, followed by a public debate chaired by Clare Balding [L].