Field of Play:End of the Game

Field of Play: End of the Game is part of a wider research theme that David Prior and Frances Crow have been developing that considers the impact of ubiquitous sounds on our perception of our landscapes and as part of our cultural heritage. Many of the sounds that we associate with particular places or communities are being lost and through this research question we consider how these intangible forms of heritage - ‘soundmarks’ might be remembered. In Field of Play:End of the Game Liminal created a memorial for a lost soundmark.

Field of Play:End of the Game memorialises the sound of the football crowd at Cambridge City Football Club's Milton Road ground following the construction of 106 new homes by Crest Nicholson.

An engraved, brass whistle encased in a box is hung in each new home built on the site of the old Cambridge City football ground. The whistle remains silent except for once, annually, when it may be blown from 3pm within a 90-minute period on the Saturday closest to the 27 April. This is the day in 2013 on which the last Cambridge City game was played at the Milton Road football ground.

End of the Game is part of Field of Play which was the inaugural community event held on Saturday 30th April 2016, to mark the final match played at Milton Road Football Ground and to celebrate the new community at Mitchams Park. It was conceived by Liminal to contribute to Zoe Chamberlain’s KickstArt Project, funded by Crest Nicholson. ADeC coordinated the event, in collaboration with Zoe Chamberlain, Liminal and Kathryn Rowland.

CAMBRIDGE KICKSTART

Cambridge KickstART is a programme of public art projects celebrating the creation of over 100 new homes at Mitchams Park, the former site of Cambridge City Football Club. Field of Play is part of the KickstART programme developed by artist and producer Zoё Chamberlain, supported by award-winning house builders Crest Nicholson Plc. KickstART incorporates a variety of cross art-form collaborations to help foster community pride and enhance a sense of place within the neighbourhood of the new development.

As part of the earlier work Zoe had undertaken, the surrounding community identified the loss of the sound of the football crowd as something they would miss. End of the Game remembers this lost ‘soundmark’. The sound of the crowd for us, signified the coming together of the wider community, whether they watched the game or only heard it from a distance. At 3pm every Saturday, on ‘the whistle,’ play began. Now only those who used to live around the Milton Road ground when Cambridge City played, remember the sound. With the new housing, came a new community and the question we were asked to address was how to create a memorial for this lost soundmark?