I love football.
Recently a video began to autoplay on my social media feed. It featured the 20th minute of the 1996 League Cup Final. As it did, goosebumps appeared on my arms and my heart quickened. The ball breaks to Aston Villa’s number nine, a much-maligned Serbian by the name of Savo Milosevic. He drives at a defender before propelling an inexplicably unstoppable, beautiful, left foot shot past a helpless goalkeeper. As the waves of nostalgia crashed over me, I could picture the exact spot I had first witnessed this moment and the unadulterated joy I felt as a 13 year old, captivated by this game.
I believe football is God-given.
The beautiful game was instituted by beautiful people – their sense of creativity, competition and collaboration instilled in them by a beautiful God who made them in his image. Our imagination and inventiveness are a reflection of our divine imprint. Football has the power to bring out the best in people – the sportsmanship of England manager Gareth Southgate comforting the Colombian Mateus Uribe after his penalty miss at the 2018 World Cup and the unity around the Black Lives Matter movement. It has the astonishing capacity to unify a town and community in elation or grief. It has the capability to bond permanently two people who have nothing in common apart from the club they support.
And yet… despite its beauty, like all created things, it is corruptible.
John Calvin said this: ‘The human heart is a factory of idols. Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.’ From pop-stars to pets, spouses to stamp collections, all our passions can occupy the place in our heart designed for one thing and one thing only.
Football is not exempt. The religious fervour of so many sports fans makes the worship of many religious people seem colder than lukewarm. Stadia are treated like temples, match days like pilgrimages and indoctrination of children begins at that first babygrow in team colours.
The events of the last week and the uproar over the European Super League have revealed our love, passion and enthusiasm for the beautiful game. But have they also revealed the grip it has over our lives? If you are a follower of Jesus, perhaps a good question to ask is how much of a hold football has in your life. It is a dangerous question to ask. It once resulted in me fasting sport for a year.
More than anything else the ESL plans show us how something that brings such delight can be defiled. It should remind us of the foolishness of placing too much trust in the wrong place. Jesus said, ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ I hope the ESL doesn’t happen. I hope that greed and injustice don’t win. But I am also taking the opportunity to remind myself that despite its beauty, like all idols, football is flawed and broken like the rest of creation. Join me in taking the opportunity to ask where your real allegiances lie and who really has won your heart.
There’s a famous misquote attributed to late Liverpool manager Bill Shankly: ‘Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.’ The good news is that football really isn’t that important, if it was we should all be a lot more upset by the ESL. The better news is that following Jesus or not really is a matter of life and death. Choose life today.
