Football Art

Bend It Like Beckham - Two Perspectives (2/2)

Bend It Like Beckham (2002) is a hit film which chronicles the struggles of a young British-Asian teenager Jess. Despite the ambitions of her family Jess doesn't want to end up as a solicitor or doctor. Instead, she wants to emulate her hero, David Beckham, and become a footballer. The film has been a major hit in the UK, and surprisingly, quite a big hit in the USA too. Here we have the perspectives on the film from a female British writer and a male American writer.

Bend It Like Beckham - Two Perspectives (1/2)

Kit Designer, Darran Medley

'When designing football shirts you're dealing with a property which is culturally important to so many people world-wide.'

Stadium Architect, Derek Wilson

"Fans have to be able to say, I know where that is, I recognise that stadium. Or there's my football club. I belong to that."

Architectural Modeller, Alastair Gaff

'The old grounds may have been gloomy and draughty but they had real character.' Being born and bred in the magnificent Scottish capital of Edinburgh, you would expect architectural modeller Alastair Gaff to have an appreciation of historic buildings. Yet it is not castles or churches which get Gaff excited - it is old football grounds.

Footy On Film

Football and films have both been part of popular culture for more than a century but their paths have only just started to cross regularly. Phil Minshull looks at the recent growth of films about football.

Performance Poet, Rosemary Dun

'"You don't understand, about boys and football ..." announced my - soon to be ex-boyfriend, with a sneer. So, No I don't understand. But I could have if all of you had let me.'

Painter, Laura Green

'People who are interested in football are very rarely interested in art.' Or at least they were until the recent emergence of a rather unusual 22 year old artist, Laura Green. Laura is so enamoured with football grounds that during her last four years' training at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, in England, she has painted little else.

Children's Author, Bob Cattell

'To me as an author what is interesting is how young players cope with pressure. Will they buckle under or pull through?'

Football Philosopher, Mark Perryman

'Football is, to me, a symbol of popular internationalism.' Fast talking Tottenham fan Mark Perryman wears many hats, one of them a woolly 'bobble' hat (as last seen on English football terraces circa 1965).