For all of you obsessed Vancouver Whitecaps fans lol 
;)
"For many people, soccer is a religion, a worship" -- Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos.
;)"For many people, soccer is a religion, a worship" -- Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos.
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The “god” of Soccer
© The Rev. Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and St. Vlassios Hierotheos
The month of June was marked by the world cup in soccer
held in Japan-Korea. Many people watched the games between the national
teams for several hours a day and knew a lot about these games.
What impressed me was a “prayer” written by an anglican
“priest” called Fletcher on the eve of the crucial match between England
and Brazil. The prayer was broadcast by the BBC According to the
“Eleftherotypia” newspaper (22 June 2002), the prayer is the following:
“Rise up o Lord and prevent Brazil from dominating over us. Spread
terror over them, Lord. Rise up and extend Your hand to suppress the
force of Rivaldo and Ronaldo. Plunge Ronaldinio to confusion and,
Allmighty Lord, if this does not work either, at least grant us a goal
in the last minute, even if from an offside position. Help us, Lord,
reach the final, even if it will be held on a Sunday and no one will go
to church!” According to “Eleftheros Typos” (21 June 2002) the prayer
also contained the phrase “make their goalposts look like … an airport
runway and their goalkeeper small like an ant”. And the newspaper
commented: “Mercy!”.
At first sight, the content of this prayer brings
laughter and creates the impression that one should not take these
things seriously. However, the subject has also some very interesting
aspects.
For many people, soccer is a religion, a worship.
Several expressions used are taken from religion. Spectators sit in the
stands and their “gods”, the soccer players, contest as another
twelve/eleven gods in the field for Victory. Since soccer is considered
by many as a new worship, there is certainly their own god, the god of
soccer. They pray to this non-existing god. In fact, there are phrases
like “the law of soccer”, “the ball punishes”, “a magician player”. We
read in “Kathimerini”: “So we witnessed this year the enlightened of the
West break easily the superstition record – one (the coach of Italy)
drops ritually some holy water given to him in a bottle by his nun
sister; the other (the coach of Spain) kisses passionately, but secretly
(so that he is not captured by the eagerly waiting blasphemous cameras)
a small icon kept in his purse, probably of San Jose Goleador. But the
first prize for superstition goes to the English, who for many years now
have been worshipping Beckham as the thirteenth Apostle, and this is
why they built him a huge statue in Trafalgar Square, to worship in his
shadow and pray”. “The fans of all teams respect the customs of
superstition -- they cross themselves, they murmur hocus-pocus, they
tie their fingers, they pray to Allah. But whatever their religion or
their soccer god, after all they remain faithful to the doctrine of
self-idolatry” (30-6-2002, p.4). After Brazil’s victory they wrote: the
German Bild: “God is Brazilian”. The French “Equipe”: “Brazil to
eternity”. The “Washington Post”: “A divine carnival of victory. The
conquest of the World Cup by Brazil was an opportunity for the
glorification of the religion of soccer” (Eleftherotypia, Tuesday
2-7-2002).
Returning to the prayer of the anglican “priest”, let me
point out that this shows another reality too, that unfortunately we
have spoiled even the holiest moments in our life. Prayer is the most
holy communication with God, it is an “intercourse between man and God”.
But we pervert even this holy case. We make similar prayers when we ask
God to help us in lowly aims and in our worse human passions, to
succeed professionally, to gain something, to attract attention or
interest, to multiply our money, to see someone punished, to satisfy
unlawful and illegal pleasures and ambitions.
We have to understand that prayer is done mostly for the
therapy of our soul. We cannot use the name of God for futile matters.
Otherwise, we fool not God but ourselves.
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