The Artification of Football: A Sociological Reconsideration of the ‘Beautiful Game'

Football is widely referred to as the ‘beautiful game’. This gives the impression that the sport can be aesthetically appreciated by its human observers. However, while many people might acknowledge that some of the physical movements made by top level football players exhibit grace, even beauty, this does not equate to football being accepted as a form of culture comparable to other areas of human activity described collectively as ‘the arts’. While this article takes an interest in philosophical inquiry into the aesthetic possibilities of football, it is primarily concerned with a sociological explanation as to how football has become ‘artified’. In doing so, the article draws upon the concept ‘artification’ as developed by Roberta Shapiro and Nathalie Heinich. The approach is not concerned with definitions of art according to aesthetic criteria or notions of appreciation, but with ‘how and under what circumstances art comes about’. This requires examining football in relation to discernible ‘constituent processes’ of artification. For reasons explained in the article, the contextual focus is on the artification of football in England. Artification is not a closed and finished matter. In that it can be said to have occurred, artification must be balanced against ‘de-artification’ in the form of potentially countervailing tendencies. Such consideration is taken up in the conclusion, via reflection upon the damaging impact of the excesses of commercial organisational control. Overall, artification is advocated as a sociological model that offers insight into the cultural significance of football in contemporary life

Mutational Analysis of cis-Acting RNA Signals in Segment 7 of Influenza A Virus▿

The genomic viral RNA (vRNA) segments of influenza A virus contain specific packaging signals at their termini that overlap the coding regions. To further characterize cis-acting signals in segment 7, we introduced synonymous mutations into the terminal coding regions. Mutation of codons that are normally highly conserved reduced virus growth in embryonated eggs and MDCK cells between 10- and 1,000-fold compared to that of the wild-type virus, whereas similar alterations to nonconserved codons had little effect. In all cases, the growth-impaired viruses showed defects in virion assembly and genome packaging. In eggs, nearly normal numbers of virus particles that in aggregate contained apparently equimolar quantities of the eight segments were formed, but with about fourfold less overall vRNA content than wild-type virions, suggesting that, on average, fewer than eight segments per particle were packaged. Concomitantly, the particle/PFU and segment/PFU ratios of the mutant viruses showed relative increases of up to 300-fold, with the behavior of the most defective viruses approaching that predicted for random segment packaging. Fluorescent staining of infected cells for the nucleoprotein and specific vRNAs confirmed that most mutant virus particles did not contain a full genome complement. The specific infectivity of the mutant viruses produced by MDCK cells was also reduced, but in this system, the mutations also dramatically reduced virion production. Overall, we conclude that segment 7 plays a key role in the influenza A virus genome packaging process, since mutation of as few as 4 nucleotides can dramatically inhibit infectious virus production through disruption of vRNA packaging

1967

A Poem by David King (page 1) Dedication by William W. Wollinger (1)Keeping the Golfer Informed by Thomas Caputi (2) Tips on Keeping Your Help by Charles Lane (2) Control of Helminthosporium Diseases by Ronald Hodgkinson (4) Early history of Golf by Louis F. Facy (4) Modern Products for Modern Living by Rod Hermitage (6) Class Will of \u2767 (7) Soil Acidity and Liming by F.E. Hutchinson (A-1) History of Poa annua by John C. Harper II (A-2) Irrigation Practices on Poa annua by Joseph R. Flaherty (A-9) From Poa annua to Bluegrass by Charles H. Tadge (A-10) Renovation - Timing and Nutrients by Lee Record (A-13) Poa annua Panel - Questions and Answers by Alexander Radko (A-16) The Green Section Specifications for a Putting Green by James L. Holmes (A-19) Soil Modification and Results of Further testing by D.V. Waddington (A-25) Water in the Right Amount in the Right Place at the Right Time for Turf by Eliot C. Roberts (A-31) That\u27s Not What I Said! Frank Gallagher (A-39) Growing and Distribution of Sod by Ben Warren (A-43) Post Management of Sod by George F. Stewart (A-44) Sod Certification by Henry W. Indyk (A-45) Management of Various Park and Turf Gardens by Robert W. Sharkey (A-47