This article appears as part of the Herald Arts newsletter.

As we count down to the final of the Euro 24 football competition – winner unknown at the time of writing – it’s worth noting that the game is essentially made up of the best bits from theatre and dance, sound-tracked by mass choirs of fans in a ‘production’ which also features choreographed clapping, drumming, flag waving and even the odd pyrotechnic display.

With all that colour, noise and drama – basically the entire Edinburgh Festival crammed into 90 minutes – there’s not much space left for the arts. Or Arts, if you prefer your cultural offering served up with a capital letter.

There have been brave attempts in the past to fuse the two, such as Turner Prize-winning artist Douglas Gordon’s 2006 film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.

It uses 17 synchronized cameras to follow every movement made by French footballing legend Zinedine Zidane for the duration of a home game between his team, Real Madrid, and Villareal. Zizou, as he is affectionately known, manages to get himself sent off, though thankfully not until near the end of the game. It’s a fascinating film made even more appealing by a score from Glasgow band Mogwai. But it is artful. Too artful, perhaps. The football-loving pals I saw it with came out of the cinema grumbling that they’d been sold a pup, proof that Art and the Beautiful Game are like oil and water – difficult to mix.

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