Football and Faith
I hope you haven't picked up your copy of the village magazine to escape
the wall-to-wall coverage of the World Cup, because, in this column at least,
the football theme continues. As I noted in last month's contribution, we
have been showing their matches on a big screen, providing a space for families
to have fun together as we cheer on Rooney and the rest.
At the beginning of the tournament I was interviewed on the radio because there was some surprise that faith and football should mix in this way. The fact is that, just like healthcare and education, the national game has much to thank the church for. In the latter part of the 19th century, with the advent of the 5½ day week, many of the men coming out of work at lunchtime on a Saturday would spend the afternoon drinking their wages away. Christians, seeing the impact of this on families and communities, sought to respond to this problem by setting up football clubs. These church-based teams began to flourish and in 1886, at the initiative of William McGregor of the Aston Villa Wesleyan Football Club, ten of them organised themselves into a league structure. At Swindon Town FC the local church youth worker, Harold Fleming, became a star player of this era, and went on to play for England. Fulham FC also had its origins in the church, and even the local vicar was regularly on the team sheet. Basil Wilberforce, the grandson of the great antislavery campaigner, was instrumental in the formation of St. Mary's Association Football Club, which later to become Southampton FC.
Football in this country has changed a lot since then with players now earning ridiculous amounts of money; but faith and football can still work hand in hand. One Christian charity, KickLondon, is taking God's love to the more deprived parts of London using football, and in many poorer countries churches continue to offer hope through the beautiful game. Indeed, many of the great players from these nations have a strong Christian faith -who can forget Kaká and his 'I Belong to Jesus' Tshirt, or the scenes at the end of the 2002 World Cup when most of the victorious Brazilian team fell to their knees and prayed as the final whistle blew.
God has given us many good things -and I believe one of them is football. It's not right to worship the game, or idolise those who play it; but there's nothing wrong in enjoying it and using it to make a difference in our world. If England come home without the cup, however, I may need to remind myself of the words of Lucio (one of those Brazilian players from 2002) who said: "We should always give Jesus the glory -in good times and bad" .