Thanks to the Football Association,
FIFA and Cambridge City Council for early funding, artists
The Renn & Thacker Partnership LLP, in collaboration
with poet and author Simon Rae, have been commissioned
to create a modern artwork, to provide a permanent 'tribute'
to Parker's Piece as the birthplace of the modern game
of football. The sculpture is to be situated at the
Parkside/Gonville Place corner of Parker's Piece and
is called 'Planting the Seed'. The artwork takes the
form of a traditional lace-up leather football, separated
into four quarters. Each segment will sit on top of
its own specially cast bronze base at a height suitable
for seating. In one sense, the artwork will be completed
when the seats are occupied: the placement of four people
facing each other across a hard landscaped area enclosing
a crossroads, suggests discussion or debate.
