As Long as the Lights are On

As Long as the Lights Are On was shortlisted for the Football Art Prize 2026 and exhibited at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield before joining the exhibition at the National Football Museum in Manchester. More importantly, it celebrates something often overlooked in football: the loyalty of supporters, volunteers and communities who gather beneath the floodlights week after week.

As Long as the Lights Are On explores the quieter side of football culture.

Rather than focusing on a particular match or result, the painting reflects the routines and rituals that take place under floodlights across the country every week: training sessions, midweek fixtures, and people gathering together long after the working day has ended.

There is no crowd, no ceremony, and no dramatic sporting moment. Instead, the painting celebrates the simple act of people turning up, week after week, for the communities and places they care about.

Selected from around 900 entries from across the world, the painting was chosen for exhibition at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield before travelling to the National Football Museum in Manchester, one of the world's leading museums dedicated to football history and culture.

Following the shortlist announcement, supporters began asking whether prints would be available, allowing more of the Stafford Rangers community to own a copy.

What began as a single painting had become something shared by an entire football club.

The painting was inspired by a photograph taken at Stafford Rangers FC, a club with a long and proud history at the heart of its local community.

What has made the experience particularly rewarding has been the response from football supporters themselves. Following the exhibition announcement, the painting sparked discussion amongst Stafford Rangers fans and, shortly after the exhibition opened online, the original artwork was purchased by a lifelong supporter who has attended matches at the ground for almost sixty years.

For a painting rooted in community, it felt fitting that it should ultimately find a home with somebody who has spent decades supporting the club that inspired it.