In 1953, as part of its 90th anniversary celebrations, the Football Association (FA), in conjunction with the Arts Council of Great Britain, organised a Football and the Fine Arts competition in London, followed by a national tour. Artists were invited to submit entries ‘dealing with a game of association football in England, or any scene directly connected’ with the sport. According to Sir Stanley Rous, the aim of the exhibition was to break down the ‘barrier between football and art’ (Birkenhead News 1954). J St John, the key organiser of the exhibition and subsequent tour, suggested that: ‘The worlds of art and football were not so far apart. The excitement of admiring paint skilfully applied to the canvas was not so far removed from the artistry of men like Mercer, Puskas and Matthews’ (Liverpool Daily Post 1954).

St John developed his point by congratulating the FA on the idea of the exhibition, saying: ‘art today needed a new form of patronage’ and he hoped ‘that other bodies would follow the example of the FA’ (Liverpool Daily Post 1954). As well as the 90th anniversary of the FA, the other context of the exhibition was the establishment, immediately after World War II, of the Arts Council, the remit of which was to encourage wider participation in the arts.