Last night I was out at a restaurant with my family to celebrate my partner’s birthday. At the end of the meal the waiter passed me the bill and solicitously said to me “England are losing one nil.” I tried to look as if I cared about this because, after all, he thought he was doing me a favour by supplying me with an update on a football match. I think he thought that, as a man, I would rather be watching the world cup than being out with my family. And that is what annoys me about football, not that people gather together to watch some men play a ball game either in person or on the TV, but that it is assumed that everybody shares their interest. Also a sinister undertone to this is that if you are uninterested in football, you are not patriotic.

Every four years since 1930 (except in 1942 and 1946 thanks to the Nazis), the world's biggest single-event sporting competition takes place. It is estimated that over 700,000 people watched the 2006 final match in Germany, and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa was broadcast to over 200 countries. As you probably know by now, the 2014 World Cup will happen in Brazil and it starts tomorrow, June 12. I figured I'd better get this blog posted now, because I'll be a bit preoccupied through July 13. 

This next month might be a good time for a guest blog by one of our artists who actually couldn't care less about football (I won't mention names), but this installment is about the artists who do. Read on, and please  leave your comments below...