Category: Sportmanship

Of influence?

There has been a lot in the news lately about ‘influencers’ – especially those like Andrew Tate whose misogyny has had such a big impact on teenage boys. (See on for a helpful ‘Guardian’ article about this and the impact in schools.)

Influencers in social media

‘Influencers’ come in all guises. One of the most impactful of late is a ten-year-old girl from Kashmir (writing under ‘What Aqsa says’) who at least focuses on the beauty of her part of India, on sport and on health. Another is called Pedro Alvarez from Venezuela who writes about fashion, make-up and comedy. There are plenty of avowedly Christian ‘influencers’, too, such as LA pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts, who also heads up a lifestyle brand, and Jerry Flowers of Redefined TV. Whilst these largely inhabit the social media world, I was delighted last weekend to see someone well known speak out on mainstream TV about his faith, catching his interviewer off guard.

An influencer in sport

I am not sure that England rugby player Maro Itoje would call himself an ‘influencer’ but he speaks up for the greatest influencer of all time who has a following far and away in excess of Tate, et al – Jesus Christ. When Itoje was interviewed at the end of the New Year’s Eve Saracens’ rugby match on ITV by pundit Topsy, he was asked if he was going out to celebrate that evening. Itoje replied quite simply that he was going to church to worship God that evening – to sing His praises. In an interview a couple of years back, Maro Itoje said this: ‘I feel as if everything I have, everything I’ve been given and the position I am in, is as a result of God. He can take it away but fortunately He’s given it to me. It’s about giving all the praise and glory back to Him’. Now there’s an ‘influencer’ worth considering!

If you want to read more about Tate and combating his malign influence, then here’s the ‘Guardian’ article:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/07/andrew-tate-misogyny-schools-vulnerable-boys?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

A sporting moment?

For many of us interested in sport, our thoughts this past month have been focused on the men’s football World Cup. I hesitate to add to the comment online and in the ‘papers except to say that I was shocked by some members of the Argentine team mocking their crestfallen opponents, the Netherlands, on the pitch after their quarter-final match. I was also perturbed to see Ronaldo leave the field quickly after the Portugal semi against Morocco without, it seems, shaking hands with his opponents or consoling team mates. Perhaps this came later? In contrast, the sportsmanship of the French in the ways they approached the English team after full time, and also the genuine support offered to the distraught by the coaching team and other players, were heart warming. Images, too, of the Japanese tourists helping pick up litter in the stadia and the bravery of the Iranian team speaking out about the treatment of women in their country, brings much uplift to the human condition.

The ‘professional’ foul

In thinking about sporting behaviour, I don’t suppose I am alone in hoping that one day in the so-called ‘Beautiful Game’, there will be a move to be more honest on the pitch. The ‘professional foul’ is clearly a misnomer, a euphemism for cheating, and it always baffles me when a ball goes out of play and inevitably players from both sides claim the throw-in or the corner kick when in most cases it must be very obvious to the players immediately involved who it was who last touched the ball. What a moment it would be when a professional footballer actually ‘owns up’ to having touched the ball last and asks the referee to change the decision that initially went in his or her favour! And don’t let me start on the way referees themselves are abused, hassled and intimidated by so-called ‘sportsmen’.

True sportsmanship

Whilst of a very different era, and no doubt our minds are impacted by images in the film ‘Chariots of fire’, it is abundantly evident that Scottish athlete Eric Liddell was the consummate sportsman in all senses of the word. At church two weeks ago, I met a 90-year-old lady who had been interred with Liddell in China in the 1940s, a prisoner of the Japanese. Two things stood out in our conversation: Liddell could have been released (after Churchill’s intervention) in a prisoner exchange. He chose instead to have a pregnant woman take his place. The other incident especially referred to by the lady I met was Liddell’s willingness to put aside long-held beliefs about Sunday sport and to organise games on the Sabbath for other internment camp children. As we go through the week ahead and endure the Press ‘noise’ over the victors in the World Cup final, let’s consider afresh the legacy, compassion and sportsmanship of athletes like Eric Liddell and be thankful for positive role models.