Christian Living

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There are normally two sides to every tale. In the cricket world, Ireland is riding a wave. Considered by many to be one of the teams to simply 'fill up the numbers' until the real tournament starts, Ireland surprised most with their performance in the past week. Ireland literally defied the odds to snatch a tie from one of the supposedly recognized sides, Zimbabwe. Granted Zimbabwe has its own internal and political problems, so a challenge by anybody is not that surprising. But then the Irish really stood up on St Patrick's Day and defeated the team rated number four in the world, Pakistan. The Irish team, which is uniting the historic division of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, must surely be singing 'Irish eyes are smiling.'

Not so Pakistan. In the subcontinent cricket is taken very, very seriously and this defeat has led, in the extreme, to effigies of players being burned in the streets. The loss of face experienced by a national humiliation is far from trivial. The captain, not always known for his physical fitness or passion, has resigned. And the coach, ex-England player Bob Woolmer, was found dead in his hotel room just hours after the game. The cause of his death has not yet been confirmed. What is known is that a very high price is demanded of players and officials who do not provide the victory that an adoring public demand.

While commenting on Woolmer's death, one sports writer, Peter Roebuck, has hinted that something is seriously wrong: "Cricket was his canvas and his laboratory. Fatefully, it also became his life. To fly too close to sport is to suffer the fate of Icarus. At the end there was no one to tell him that his cause was doomed, that his captain was self-indulgent, that his players lacked humility, that it was not his fault, or that none of it really mattered. Alas it mattered to him. Or what else was his life about?"

Sport used to be a game we all played, but only a few freaks excelled. Sport should be about having a go in the sunshine, giving your best, working as a team and risking defeat, so that occasionally we might taste victory. But professional sport has turned players into gods, victory into life, and defeat into death. Worshipping false gods is more dangerous than most of us realize. It's bad for us, as it leaves us eternally disappointed. It's bad for them, for at best their deification is temporary and at worst it is incredibly destructive.

I hope Ireland keeps winning.

They worshipped their idols, which became a snare to them. Psalm 106: 36
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" Luke 4: 8

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