Dear friends,
I am grateful for feedback. Last Wednesday’s letter earned me a gentle rebuke for suggesting that ‘love Island’ was the only alternative to the football. I do apologise. Especially as now it appears that ‘Location, Location, Location’ was also available to watch at the same time. As someone having to contemplate moving house in the not-too-distant future may be my time would have been better spent doing exactly that. Well, if all else fails, there is always ‘Homes under the Hammer’. Sadly, the match itself has been overshadowed by controversy. Alcohol fuelled violence perpetrated by a significant minority detracted from the occasion itself and video clips and still photographs seen all around the world cannot but have reflected badly on our reputation as a country. More than that, the overtly racist abuse directed at the three English players who missed their penalties during the shoot-out that decided the winners is a stain on the character of the nation. We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that they were poor penalties. One might have expected highly professional footballers, whatever their age, – each of them plays at the highest level for club and country – to have done better. But that does not excuse those who expressed their disappointment (?), criticism (?), anger(?), hatred (?) in the way they did. But what has been interesting is that all of a sudden, the three players – Rashford, Sancho, Saka – it’s as if they have been beatified by those most vocal in their defence. While this is entirely understandable, it fails to appreciate what IS really at stake here. They are not saints. They are not perfect. They are not extraordinary individuals. They should not have to out-perform the rest of us as a way of redeeming themselves in the eyes of those who would otherwise treat them with contempt. They are no different to you or I. They are who they are. They are who we are. We are who they are. There should be no room in a civilised society for any form of racial discrimination…The Christian faith affirms each and every one of us is made in the image and likeness of God. Everyone of us is deserving of being afforded the basic dignity that being human demands. Every individual human being has a responsibility to contribute to the establishing of a common humanity. Such a shared commitment, mutual and reciprocal, to each and all alike, is fostered in and through the life, death and resurrection of Christ. ‘All one in Christ Jesus.’ The Church, each individual congregation, has to take the lead, to be an example of what this means in practice. More than that, it is incumbent on the Church to use whatever influence it might have in wider society to denounce anyone whose words and/or actions are at odds with this understanding…It has been suggested that footballers stick to football and leave the politics to the politicians. Well, on the evidence of recent days, the footballers would make far better politicians than the politicians would make footballers. ‘Been there, done that, got the T-shirt’, even an England shirt isn’t enough anymore. Often on the terraces, you hear the chant, ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’ aimed at a player having a bad game…Makes you wonder…