“What team do you support?” I get asked this a lot as I grew up in Manchester but live in Newcastle, two great footballing cities. The truth is that I don’t really like football, but I do love sport. I could watch tennis and snooker (I know!) for hours and really enjoy playing racquet sports and pool.
We’re a nation of sports enthusiasts. 19.2m people in the UK are regularly cycling, running, swimming and / or doing team sports (that’s about 28% of the population)[1]. 31% of UK adults reported watching live sport in 2023/4 and this is increasing[2]. Whether we’re joining in our local Park Run or cheering on the Lionesses, there’s something about sport that stirs our emotions and compels us to be part of it.
But have you ever wondered why sport is so important to us? After all, football is essentially a group of people kicking a bag of wind about. Snooker is people spending hours in dimly lit halls hitting balls with a stick. F1 is people going round and round in increasingly technologically advanced cars. Is there any deeper meaning to all this? What does all this tell us about our humanity?
There are many important things that sport teaches us about what it means to be human, but I want to highlight three in particular:
Our need to grow
Sport teaches us important co-operation and social skills, which is why we were all forced to do PE at school. We admire the discipline and skills of the athletes we follow. Sport is more than just getting a ball in a net or winning a race; it’s a means to develop character and perseverance.
Most of us hope not to just perform certain tasks throughout our life, but to become better people. We admire the courage, teamwork, discipline and self-sacrifice that we see on the sports field or track. But that in turns begs the question: why does our character ultimately matter?
The aim in competitive sports is to win a medal, trophy or title that we can rightly be proud of and makes all the hard work worthwhile. But ultimately our abilities fade, the trophies get dusty in the showcase and someone else becomes world champion and breaks our records. Our prize doesn’t last. We grow, we hit our peak and then we fade. The great Novak Djokovic was recently derided as a ‘has-been’ by an Australian tennis commentator who clearly thought his 24 Grand Slam titles no longer count for much![3] In a wider sense, this is analogous to our lives. Unless there is an ultimate purpose: we’re born, we grow and learn, we achieve things and then we die. The question is: is there an ultimate purpose that means all our development won’t go to waste?
Our need to belong
Sport is also about shared purpose and bonding. It brings people together. It’s our tribe verses the opposition. Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff put it like this:
“Humans love teams, team sports, synchronized movements, and anything else that gives us the feeling of “one for all, and all for one.“[4]
We long for belonging – to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We are embodied people who want to touch and be touched and to connect in meaningful ways. In our over-sexualised and individualistic culture, sport might be the only context in which we can give and receive healthy touch as we tackle an opponent or hug a fellow supporter when a goal is scored. We want to matter to other people and we want to be missed when we’re not there. Sport – whether we’re watching or participating – gives us a community to belong to. When the season-ticket holder’s seat is empty; when there’s no one to fill the wing attack position on the netball team; when a match is cancelled because we’re injured, we are missed.
“To be included you just need to be present. To belong you need to be missed.”[5]
Sport does give us an important sense of belonging, but it’s also fragile. There are conditions attached. What if we don’t make the team? What if we get injured or fail the time trial? What if we can’t afford the match tickets or Sky Sports subscription? Is there anywhere we can securely belong no matter what our circumstances?
Our need to worship
Diego Maradona famously said, “Football isn’t a game, nor a sport; it’s a religion”[6] and it’s easy to see why he thought that. Whatever the particular sport, we often hear the language of ‘heroes’ and ‘gods’. We hear people saying that they worship their favourite players and stars.
Sport is a whole-body experience. We jump up in elation when we’re winning and hang our heads in despair when we’re losing. In victory, we pile on our teammates and perform celebration rituals. Communal chanting and singing on the stands on a Sunday morning echoes the hymns and songs being sung in church at the same time. Fans sacrifice huge amount of time and money to support their beloved teams. The billion pound merchandise industry shows that we’re keen to publicly demonstrate our allegiances by wearing the right kit and collecting precious memorabilia. Hard core fans study stats and spend hours discussing tactics.
But so often our sporting heroes let us down. Whether it’s through cheating scandals, poor performances, unwise words or bad behaviour, we’re painfully aware that all human beings are a complex mix of good and bad just like us, whether they’re sporting stars or not. So can our inherent needs to worship be directed towards someone who won’t let us down?
Ultimate growth, belonging and worship
There’s no doubt that sport can be really good for us. It shows that we value character development, it helps us build community and places to belong and it calls us to worship someone other than ourselves. But does sport point to something that’s even better?
The Bible often uses sporting metaphors to point us to our true purpose:
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.[7]
The promise that’s being talked about here is eternal joyous life with God in a remade and healed world. Unlike a medal or trophy, it can be enjoyed forever and into which God invites our participation! Whoever we are, whatever our skills and talents, we can all be welcomed into God’s community where we can experience belonging without fear of rejection.
And our in-built need to worship is only truly satisfied when it’s directed to our heavenly father whose love is never-ending and has promised to never leave us if we trust him. Unlike a fallible sports personality, he will never let us down.
Sport is great and adds huge value to so many people’s lives. But have you ever wondered if it points to something even greater than itself? We are made to grow and develop, to belong to a family and to worship something bigger than ourselves. Christians believe that these profound needs, while hinted at in sport are truly met in Jesus Christ.
If you recognise a need in yourself to grow as a person, to belong to a loving community and to worship something beyond yourself and your own limitations, I’d encourage you to explore the message, life and person of Jesus for yourself.
Have You Ever Wondered? is also the title of our popular book and a series of articles and videos on this website. With intriguing answers to questions as diverse as ‘Have You Ever Wondered’ why we are drawn to beauty, respect altruism, value the environment, preserve the past, chase money, love music and defend human rights?; the book has a wide range of authors who’s wonderings have drawn them to spiritual and Christian answers to their investigations. With free copies available for people who sign-up to support Solas for as little as £4/month, and big discounts for bulk orders – Have You Ever Wondered? is an effective and affordable way to engage in helpful spiritual discussions.
[1] Sport England, Nov 21 – Nov 22. Sport England, Active Lives Adult Survey November 2021-22 Report, 2023
[2] UK Government, Main report for the Participation Survey (May 2023 to March 2024)
[3] https://news.sky.com/story/australian-broadcaster-apologises-to-novak-djokovic-after-has-been-comments-13292913
[4] Haidt, J and Lukianoff, G, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, Penguin (2019) p.153
[5] John Swinton, From Inclusion to Belonging: A Practical Theology of Community, Disability and Humanness, (2012) p. 184
[6] https://www.thechase.co.uk/projects/football-is-a-religion/
[7] 1 Tim 4:8
