Thank God for Football! The Illustrated Companion

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This week I attended the launch of Peter Lupson’s new book* on the Christian origins of football clubs at Liverpool Cathedral. These verses seem relevant.

The FA’s Faith and Football programme will see special events take place with other faith communities in the coming months. As part of the initiative, it held an online webinar with the Religion Media Centre to discuss the links between football and Christianity. Strong affiliations in football have sometimes been linked to religious rivalries, but Ms Pepinster hopes such sectarianism is disappearing. This is an unusual weekly devotional but I hope you share my encouragement that those of us who are seeking to represent Jesus Christ in football (or sport generally) are following in the footsteps of many generations. The book’s title is based on the following quotation from Lord Arthur Kinnaird, who played in nine FA Cup Finals between 1873 and 1883 – as well as being a leading Christian statesman of his era. “I believe that all right-minded people have good reason to thank God for the great progress of this popular national game”. Many of us regularly and sincerely thank God for football. He said the book stemmed from his own efforts to set up a church team in Merseyside.“A lot of the boys were being ridiculed for playing for a church club and many left because they couldn’t cope with those comments,” he added.“So, I wrote Thank God for Football to tell the boys in the club, ‘look, you’re not freaks, you’re part of a rich tradition’.

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Matt Baker has been chaplain at Charlton Athletic since 2000 and is national director for England at Sports Chaplaincy UK. While footballing has a reputation as a glamorous career path, players often struggle to cope with the transition to life in the spotlight, he said.

Comparing that with religious belief, she added: “When you have religious belief, you’re a participant in something, you have those beliefs. Christianity calls upon you to act on those beliefs and, as a football fan, I’m called upon to not just watch but to really get behind the team.” Now an initiative organised by the Football Association hopes to show that a dedication to the sport can work hand in hand with faith groups to enhance the game’s reputation — on and off the pitch. It is a little known fact that of the thirty seven clubs that have played in the English Premier League since its inception of the 92/93 season, twelve can trace their origin directly to a church. However, many of these famous football clubs know little about their origins or their founders. This book, which is the fruit of seven years intensive research, features chapters on: Aston Villa, Barnsley, Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Queen’s Park Rangers, Southampton, Swindon and Town Tottenham Hotspur. This book is a must read for football fans everywhere! About the Author urn:lcp:thankgodforfootb0000lups:epub:dffaac8b-2f56-49eb-b3cc-54091becceb1 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier thankgodforfootb0000lups Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s25hh602gdt Invoice 1652 Isbn 1902694309Williams, a referee and former coach, said: “It’s about making sure people all around the country and of all faiths and denominations feel welcome in football.”

The show delves into the lives of several inspirational Christian footballers who helped pave the way for future generations. These players share their stories of how their faith grounded them and gave them a newfound purpose both on and off the field. Viewers are given an unprecedented look into how these players overcame adversity to achieve greatness in the sport they loved. But let us thank God for Rev Tiverton Preedy, founder of Barnsley St Peter’s Football Club, for John Ripsher, who ran a Bible Class at All Hallows Church, Tottenham and poured his life into the boys of the area and their football club or William Baker Pitt, curate of Christ Church, Swindon. Where would Barnsley FC, Tottenham Hotspur or Swindon Town be without them?She said: “He has said very publicly that he’s driven by his personal experience of growing up in poverty but also by his faith.It isn’t just for the headlines. There are a lot of other players putting their faith into practice at a local level really quietly, but really brilliantly.”

Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-1-g862e Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9360 Ocr_module_version 0.0.14 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-WL-2000075 Openlibrary_edition When you go on the field you concentrate on the game but there’s so much more going on besides,” he added. A chaplain’s role was best summed as “pastorally proactive and spiritually reactive”.Of course no one in the 19th century set out to found a 21st century Premier League Club. Churches formed sports clubs, many existed for a short time and many remained church teams all their lives but a few evolved into professional clubs. Retired professional footballer Linvoy Primus, who played for Portsmouth, Reading and Charlton Athletic, saw a change in his career after he converted to Christianity.“Playing football was my dream, but at 27 or 28 I realised it wasn’t giving me everything I hoped it would give me,” he said. Peter Lupson’s academic credentials have been put to excellent use in the intensive research undertaken to compile this unique volume. He is the author of a number of successful school and university French and German text books, as well as Across the Park: Everton FC and Liverpool Common Ground (Trinity Mirror Sport Media, 2009). He is honorary life president of a semi-professional club in North Wales and the founder of a thriving church youth league on Merseyside. He currently combines part-time English teaching with writing. Review He added: “The Corinthians refused to take penalties because they believed that if you take a penalty, you accept that cheating is part of football.” Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2022-01-29 11:09:29 Bookplateleaf 0004 Boxid IA40331008 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier