The National Football Museum
The role of sports in the development of today’s cities is increasing. At the same time, sports and culture have become inseparable communities. In the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom has the most popular football league in the world-the Premier League, so football has become a city label of the United Kingdom. For example, the football clubs of Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham have increased the city’s reputation and attract tourists, especially fans. On this basis, how to make the brand of football more deeply engraved on the label of the city has become another profound proposition of the sustainable development of the city. Football has become the cultural heritage of British cities. The promotion and protection of heritage are usually stored in the form of a museum. The policy of building a national football museum in Preston came into being.
It can be seen in the broader context that the tradition of sport is not considered as part of ‘culture’ at least in the British. This shows that sport in Britain was until recently outside the museum as a “temple of high culture” as part of popular culture. The aim of the museums has traditionally been to identify and validate high culture, defined in binary opposition to popular or “low” culture (Moore 1997). In 1997, the Preston project proposed to build the National Football Museum. Its goal is not just a heritage center or a theme park football field, but to record the history of British football culture. It received temporary funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and accepted its fate. Kevin Moore served as the first museum curator, and the construction of the National Football Museum has been on the agenda since then. The National Football Museum was opened in 2001. The British people themselves have a close emotional foundation for the sport of football. Besides, the museum’s publicly exposed exhibition areas involving disasters, such as the fire in Bradford, evoked memories of the audience. This pioneering policy project has attracted media attention, and long-form reports have dominated the headlines of the news. Regardless of the players and coaches in the football world, this project is highly praised, which is undoubtedly recognition of their dedication. The development of the museum is not as smooth as it was introduced. Two years before the opening, the number of visitors to the museum was only 40,000 in tears, only half of the expected number. More importantly, the National Football Museum is not a public cultural facility. It is similar to a private museum and requires visitors to pay for admission. This is also the main reason for the insufficient number of museum visitors.
With the development of time and the strengthening of the museum’s social influence, the national department gradually recognized his public attributes, and the National Football Museum became a national museum. In Preston, the museum provides annual employment opportunities for about 85 people, which has greatly promoted the development of the local economy. Also, the museum provides an equal and safe meeting place, which promotes social integration and community cohesion. Through cooperation with banks, the museum provides financial aid to impoverished communities and children. The National Football Museum records the history of English football and fills the gap in this cultural industry. In my opinion, the World Football Museum will be the heart of a major regeneration project in a major English city, learning lessons from both success and major challenges that have been faced and overcome with the development of the National Football Museum.
