University of Glasgow teams up with Scottish Football Museum

Scotland’s football heroes may be thousands of miles away this summer in pursuit of World Cup glory, but back home fans will be able to get close to some of the sport’s greatest treasures like never before.  

A new virtual reality attraction is kicking off at the Scottish Football Museum in time for the start of the global football tournament, courtesy of football heritage chiefs and virtual museum experts at the University of Glasgow.  

Immersive

‘The Treasures of Scottish Football: A Virtual Reality Experience’ is an immersive exhibition of football objects from the national collection that brings to life some of the Scottish game’s most iconic trophies, artefacts and memorabilia in a specially-curated virtual gallery where fans view and ‘hold’ objects using VR headsets.  

• Window on a world of football history. Image: Martin Shields

Thanks to groundbreaking extended reality technology developed by researchers at the University’s Realities and Immersion Glasgow centre (RIG), and using the Wonder platform developed by University spin-out Infinite Muse, fans will be able to examine objects in astonishing detail such as: the original Scottish Cup from 1874 -the oldest national football trophy in the world; Kenny Dalglish’s football jersey from the 1978 World Cup; and the match ball used in the Scottish Qualifying Cup Final of 1898.   

Other treasures include the ‘Rosebery shirt’ worn by the Scotland men’s national team against England in 1907, the Meissen Vase that was presented to the Scottish FA by the German Football Association for the first meeting of the two national teams in 1929, and football legend’s Billy Steel’s boots from the 1940s.  

Visitors to the Scottish Football Museum will experience the artefacts using headsets deployed in the [un]box Virtual Reality kiosk developed by the University’s Museums in the Metaverse team, which has previously exhibited at Glasgow Science Centre, St Giles Cathedral, and the National Portrait Gallery in London.  

Using advanced photogrammetry and digital artistry, the technology creates museum-quality 3D models that can be experienced in a suite of specially created virtual environments.   

We’re incredibly proud that our ‘Wonder’ technology will enable awe-inspiring new interactions with the nation’s football heritage as the men’s team return to the world stage. The story of Scottish football is extraordinary and deserves to be known far and wide. 

Pauline Mackay

The exciting gallery of objects has been created in collaboration with curators at the Scottish Football Museum and will be sited in the museum's 'Hall of Fame' at Scotland's National Stadium.  

The experience, which is open to the public from this week, has been developed with support from the University of Glasgow, and proceeds over the summer will benefit Alzheimer's UK.  

The Wonder virtual reality platform was developed through the Museums in the Metaverse project as part of the UK Government’s Innovation Accelerator programme. The project was established to make good on the great economic promise of this technology for the cultural heritage sector and its audiences, and to enable previously impossible access to collections all over the world.  

Professor Pauline Mackay, Co-Director of RIG and a Co-Founder of Infinite Muse, said: “We’re incredibly proud that our ‘Wonder’ technology will enable awe-inspiring new interactions with the nation’s football heritage as the men’s team return to the world stage. The story of Scottish football is extraordinary and deserves to be known far and wide. We’re delighted that we’ve been able to support the custodians of this heritage to tell the story in exciting new ways.”  

• The experience is open to the public in time for the World Cup. Photo: Martin Shields
   
  Neal Ross, Chief Executive at the Scottish Football Museum, said: “This has been an incredible project to work on with the team at the University of Glasgow, and it will enable us to really take the treasures of the Museum to the world. As World Cup fever sweeps the nation and the whole world, we are so excited to be part of this groundbreaking initiative.”  
  
  
  
• Main image: (Pictured) Demi Boyd, curator of Hampden Museum, with Calum Livingstone, Hampden Visitor Services Officer, and pupils from Craighead Primary School, Milton of Campsie, Annabel Gelston, aged 10, (left) and Roma Stevenson, nine.