PROFESSIONAL FOULS – ‘THOU SHALT NOT GET CAUGHT’?

 

In the 2002 Rugby European Cup final Munster lost to Leicester. Munster might have scored in the dying minutes but for Neil Back using his hand to knock down the ball being fed by the Munster scrum-half Peter Stringer, of which incident Anthony Foley of Munster later said: 'We've never blamed the result on Neil Back. Fair play to him. The Leicester team of that era had a very ruthless and dominant streak that, under no circumstances, were they going to lose. You've got to credit them for that.'

 

Putting aside the ironic use of the phrase ‘fair play to him’ (!) Foley does sum up a wide-spread view amongst players – particularly at the elite level – that professional fouls are an acceptable or even essential part of the modern game. It seems that the world is divided not so much into those that do and those that don’t commit professional fouls, but those that do get caught and those that don’t.

 

How should the Christian athlete play in such an environment? Is it realistic or even right to say that Christians should ‘play by the rules’ even if others don’t? After all would Neil Back by the player he was if he didn’t kill the ball at a ruck, or would Christiano Ronaldo win as many goals for his team if he didn’t go to ground in the box even if he could have stayed on his feet?

 

Well it seems that the Apostle Paul has issues of this kind in view when he writes, ‘Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will’ (Romans 12:2). There will always be pressure to go the way of others around us but the Christian player is transformed by God’s way – even when it goes against the prevailing culture… especially when it goes against the prevailing culture.

 

So what is God’s way? After all there doesn’t seem to be anything about professional fouls in the New Testament? In Peter’s first letter he writes, ‘Live such good lives amongst the pagans (those that don’t know Christ) that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of his visitation’ (1 Peter 2:12). He’s saying that Christians should play in a way that is beyond reproach, so that even in a culture where accusations of fouls and cheating abound, the Christian player stands out head and shoulders above everyone else.

 

Now I know that there are many objections to this viewpoint – and in next week’s email we’ll look at some of them. Equally I know that there may be a real cost in putting this into practice – in terms of what others think about you and even whether you win or lose. But what the Lord requires of a sportsman or woman is the same he desires of all who follow him – ‘to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God’.

 

Pete