The end of the football season has come again and after my team has played its 38 games in the season (not to mention a reasonable run in the FA cup and an all too brief spell in the Champions League) I begin to wonder about the beautiful game's effect on my life. I'm a bit of a lists guy so here's my list of pros and cons.
I must admit this list started off as a bit of fun for a Liverpool fan wondering about whether his club will ever enjoy the glory days we once knew, but now I am wondering whether a little review of football's impact on our lives might be a generally useful thing after all.
1. Moments of transcendence
There have been some incredible moments where all I could do was gasp. Even if a lot of them have come from watching other teams, whether it was the mesmerizing Lionel Messi or the rampant Ronaldo. There is something beautiful about watching someone master their discipline, whether that is a classical violinist, a painter or a free-kick specialist. It is part of the cultural mandate given in Genesis, where human beings were commissioned by our creator to make something out of what God created out of nothing.
2. Inspirational physical exercise
Watching football is vicarious exercise. It is tiring watching 22 men run across a football pitch. There are certainly a lot of very unfit, overweight soccer couch potatoes out there. But the culture around football inspires and encourages millions of young people around the world to get active. Saturday morning football training, rain or shine, has definitely been a positive influence on many of my children. If people weren't watching football they would probably find something else to watch that didn't have the same knock-on global health benefits. "Physical training is of some value," we are told by the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:8. For Timothy as a young pastor, looking after his physical body was to be seen as useful as our bodies are a gift from God and are not to be neglected or abused.
3. Fun
There is an argument that watching football can just be a great way to relax and simply have some fun. Human beings exist for more than work. We do not need find a utilitarian justification for every part of our day. We are encouraged to rest and enjoy the good creation that God has made and football can a part of that. God himself models this in the creation story itself. He did not just make a place for humans to exist that was purely functional, he created fruit that was not just nutritious but pleasing to the eye and to the tastebuds. God provided beauty and flavour for our enjoyment. God created us to appreciate, celebrate, enjoy what he had made and perhaps football can be seen as part of that celebration.
4. Conversation
Football has been a great conversation topic for me with a whole range of people. I have an ongoing bit of banter with work colleagues on the topic of football. Strangers on a train are often up for talking about football as they catch me reading the back page of their newspaper. Sporting a football shirt has opened more conversations than it has closed down, even with fans of lesser teams than the mighty reds. By the grace of God this year I have had the opportunity to talk with some of my childhood football heroes not just about Liverpool's legacy but life and faith too.
It's been a door opener for conversations with some of my children – in fact I even "invested" time this year to run a fantasty football team so that I would have another point of contact with my teenage sons (for some reason neither of my daughters have participated this year but maybe there's still hope for next year). Being able to tease them about my skillful choice of players most weeks has been another opportunity for bonding. Perhaps taking the time to understand the intricacies of football is another way in which we can connect with our wider culture. As the Apostle Paul put it: "I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22).
I can definitely stand by all of these reasons for continuing to pursue an interest in football. But at the end of a season, it might be worth just checking whether football has taken an unhelpful place in my life.
1. Enabling personal deterioration
There are so many young footballers that have gone off the rails because they didn't know how to handle the fame or the money. Some of these footballers have committed crimes, others have had personal tragedy with addictions. Others just seem to have allowed the money to shape their personalities. By investing time, energy and money into the system am I just enabling the further breakdown of the players? Am I complicit in their failings?
2. Wasting money
I don't have a subscription to SKY or BT but it is very tempting to get one. To watch all the televised premiership football matches, or even just to watch all the games my team is in, would cost me in the region of £75 a month. If instead I go to watch a football game once a month the cheapest Liverpool tickets I could find were £46 – and don't get me started on season tickets. Is this kind of investment in propping up a flawed and broken system a worthwhile use of money? Is it good stewardship? Settling for the highlights of Match Of The Day and reading the game reports in the newspapers is frustrating as it seems so many steps removed from the action. Is it worth continuing on?
3. Time investment
Football is a time-intensive spectator sport and I am not even involved in the regular pilgrimage that many go on in faithfully following their teams around the country. Do the cost benefits actually work out? If I weren't watching, reading about or tweaking my fantasy team would I have more time for the people in my life? If I weren't investing this amount of time in football would I develop a wider range of interests that would give all of the relational pay-offs that football currently gives me?
4. Emotional volatility
OK, time for a bit of honesty. I can get disproportionately angry watching football. I end up muttering disgust at the opposite team for "parking the bus" or getting worked up when certain young players don't show any loyalty to the team that nurtured them and ask to renegotiate contracts they have already signed up for. If my team underperform, lose or draw it puts a stupid cloud over my day. There are times I get more upset with the sports results than I do about the headline news. Even worse, I can sometimes get more emotionally engaged in a football game than I do in a worship service. Have I given football an unhealthy place in my emotional life? Has football become an idol to me?
My favourite footballing moment was the day when my foster son picked up an award at our local football club. He had many challenges in his life and he had an ADHD score off of any scale I had come across before. He wasn't particularly good at football. The chances are slim for him to get scouted for a major football club any time soon. Yet he was voted the player that gave the best effort in practice by his coaches and he almost burst with excitement when he went up to receive his award. I am not certain that I will continue watching football with the same commitment after this season, but I do believe football can be a wonderful tool to do some good in the world. So maybe I'll just stick to using jumpers for goal posts on the park outside my house and helping some of our foster kids find their footballing feet.
Krish Kandiah is a contributing editor to Christian Today. He is president of London School of Theology and founder and director of Home for Good. You can follow him on Twitter: @krishk
