Arsenal through to Champion's League

What an absolutely great game Arsenal had against Besiktas who kept the pressure on and as time ran out the pressure just kept on rising - sad to see them lose but thankful that Arsenal are in the hat for another season of Champions League football (along with City, Chelsea  and Liverpool). Thank goodness, thought Arsenal were going to have to share a coach with Man United for a few minutes back there!

No, no, no, the new Man Utd coach I meant was van Gaal!

England Football - Some World Cup Trivia

England managed to look after their players by bringing them home as quickly as possible to avoid injuries that might affect their day job and as they enjoy a long World Cup run in front of their televisions, here's a few bits of World Cup trivia for you to amaze your friends with (also handy for that moment when you want to drop something into the sermon to look knowledgeable about football).

click on image for full-size image

Hopefully this will provide the doom and gloom merchants with something to keep them happily moaning.

Have I mentioned I'm Dutch (once England go out that is!)?

World Cup goes Hollywood - made me smile

There are some extremely clever people out there and just as some stand and fight whilst others turn to flight or bite this makes for a timely smile-inducing image:

Possibly the best penalty ever?

Yes indeed folks, this combined my love of football with my love of laughter. Perhaps one of the best disguised penalties I've ever seen, talk about sending the keeper the wrong way!

sorry about the quality

Oh Vicar - all you do is work (1)

Can I just say that that's not true - I do find time for myself and have a number of interests and hobbies that creep into and out of the picture from time to time. OK, there are times of famine insofar as those that call me away from the parish are concerned but my books, music, writing, theology and other stuff all continue to create some space for my and help maintain what little sanity I might have.

So here's one of my passions for you to understand how I've suffered (and indeed been blessed) over the course of my life supporting the Gooners:

From Sheffield and Bob Stokoe's Sunderland through to oh so many cup finals I've been there - winning, losing and carrying on - a football team is for life, not just the seasons when they are winning.

There's also Southend United, Reading, Wycombe Wanderers, Marlow and (of course) Tamworth FC - with a late entry into the 'love list' of the Baggies too - boing boing!!

Football - not so much a sport  - more of a faith statement

Baptism: Universal (working) Model

And it's one that I think works for adult (proselyte, believer's, call it whatever you want) and for infant (paedobatism, sprinkling, christening and again whatever you'd like to call it) too.

best bit is that I actually think it works theologically and is supported by practice and observation and so is a well-rounded, empirically sound and sustained model.

Consider this if you will:

Back in the dim and distant time in North London a boy child was born to a family who rejoiced at the continuation of the name. The child grew up and when the time was considered to be right they were dressed in appropriate clothing and taken off to be initiated into something that the family held as special.

Arriving at the venue the Father took his son and took him to a place where, as ritual dictated, certain acts were engaged, words were said and conversations had. This part of the ritual complete the child was taken to the main place of worship and there was exposed to his first act of corporate worship. Sufficient to say that the child was not taken there again for a number of years and then, having seen some more of the worship on TV, they asked to go with their Dad to that place again.

And so they went and the child, now in his teens started to learn about the rules and regulations (we call them 'Laws') and learnt the names of the heroes of the faith. They learned the language and the songs that they sung in that place, the tactics of the enemy and the ways to counter them and be successful. Daily they grew in their knowledge and ability to emulate those heroes of the faith and eventually it was acknowledged that truly they had become a true follower, a disciple and (dare I say it) a bit of a fanatic.

On the days when worship was engaged and the, now a man, follower could not be part there was sadness. Being absent caused them pain and they would do whatever they could, even swapping work days with others to ensure they could be present.

When on holiday or on courses they would see out other like-minded folk and worship at their places. It didn't matter that they weren't part of the same faith, the act of worship and the way those who were at the front was similar and the goals were the same!

Now, if you're thinking that I'm talking about what we call 'religion' in the description above then you are right, but the religion in question is actually football and the place of worship was Highbury!

The thing is that this also works for those with faith and especially (in my context) the Christian faith (but I have Jewish and Islamic and 'other faith' friends for whom this model works equally well).

Let's take this example a little further . . .

I know a child who was from an early age decked out in their father's team of choice's merchandise -  A Bib emblazoned with the words 'I'm a great dribbler!', the football logo babygro and the like - they were also taken to the place of worship and yet never chose to take it any further. If asked their team they would respond with the words: 'Me? I'm a ..........' (the empty space being the team their Dad supported). Now they had a team but chose not to follow it. Then, many years later they decided to become a disciple and because they had a team, this was the way they went.

It helped that the team was good and played well and were enjoyable to watch and so, one day, they bought a season ticket. It would not have made much sense to buy one at birth, after all they wouldn't have enjoyed being at the game until perhaps eight or nine years of age, but once the interest came into being - the team was already something there was a tacit allegiance to and a wider awareness of.

Consider a friend of mine who came from a home where sport was something to be avoided. The grew up, went to school and university and got married and had children and, one day, were asked to take their children to a football match, which they did.

Having gone to the match, which the family enjoyed, they decided to become a follower and bought a shirt and a season ticket and started to learn the laws and the heroes and the tactics and before you know it, they'd become a disciple and their children along with them (turns out the wife had always been a true believer and was glad at last that she could get back into the stadium and enjoy the worship with her whole family!).

Now this is exactly what baptism is - for contrary to some people's beliefs regarding baptism:

Baptism does not you saved - but it recognises where salvation is to be found.
Baptism is all about becoming part of the Church (that's universal) - it doesn't make you 'saved' but is a recognition of who and what Jesus is and says, 'I want to be (or have my child become) part - I want (me/us) to be associated with the team (Church).'

Baptism does not make you a disciple - but it opens the doors to being one.

Baptism doesn't make us disciples, but it offers us the potential to be that by the association with the team. We can be baptised and never become a disciple (and this is true for the adult or infant variety) - I know a fair few who have been baptised and adults and as children who have never taken their faith any further. (That said I think there is a danger that if we offer the 'folk religion' Christening as that and that alone we are seeding ourselves for a greater failure rate. After all, one would hope that those who come of their own accord might fare better - would hope but this is not always the reality of course!!).

Baptism does not make you a Christian - But it puts you in the right place to become one

Being baptised doesn't make you Christian - but it does point to a place where you can become one!
This will (most likely) prompt the question, 'What's a Christian?' - which I will try and answer another day). The big problem is that many who have had the infant variety assume that this makes them such when, as I've pointed out, it merely makes you Church!

Baptism doesn't get you into heaven - But Jesus does!
All you need to is acknowledge this and then, having said 'Thank You' and 'I'm Sorry!' you step up and take the ticket from his quick and lively, resurrected hands!

So here it is (again) in simple form:
Baptism registers you as a member of the Church - you can choose whether you want to take out a season ticket and learn about what it means to be a follower and can choose to be a full-on follower (disciple) or an occasional viewer (Easter, Christmas hatch, match and dispatch).

It doesn't make you a follower of the team (Jesus) but it opens the opportunity for it at a later date (if infant) and immediately (adult) but it takes commitment and attendance and study and all that stuff that's so unpopular when it comes to Church and yet to be admired when it's a bunch of overpaid chaps kicking a ball  (now that is surely something contrary, isn't it?).

Hope this makes some sense - we'll do the theology later!

(and probably do the fighting sooner ;-) )      (c) Vic the Vicar 2014

Made me smile - Premier League Table

Well I have to say that it worked for me :-)

What a strange start to the season when five games in Man Utd are below Southampton.

Happy Tuesday guys

:-)

Spend, spend, spend: Arsene buys at last!

It's not often that I get the chance to have a first with the news but I can at last reveal to the football supporting world that Arsene Wenger has at last got out there and put his hands in his pockets and 'splashed the cash'.

I know the Emirates have been trying to keep this image and the corresponding news out of the media but working on the assumption that where there's a will there's also a lawyer making money somewhere very close behind, here is the image all of the White Hart lane crowd have been hoping to see:

Forget AVB - Wenger shows he clearly knows how to spend!

Having been exposed as having just enjoyed one of the biggest buying sprees Arsene Wenger is reported to have said, 'It's been really successful as I've managed to find some really big spuds like those I bought at the end of the transfer season last year!' He went on to add that he'd also managed to get three sorts of paté and some rather nice goat's cheese too - so things will be looking up when AVB gets invited back to his office for a post-match snack and tipple.

When asked about the transfer market, Wenger said he'd got a really cool skull and crossbones on his left arm and had some others he hadn't used yet so he wouldn't need to pop back up to Camden Market for a few weeks yet!

On the pitch Wenger's still not being pressurised into buying players, he knows if he's good and waits until the December transfer window Santa will bring him some for Christmas!

I have a sneaky feeling that AVB is looking forward to bringing his team with all their new players to the Emirates this Sunday - Prozac anyone?

Made me laugh - Past the Xtra Strong mints

Saw this in a tweet from 'Derek the Cleric' and could resist posting it as it reminded me of one such person who could take your eyebrows off at ten paces.

Was thinking of buying TicTacs as I'd heard Arsene Wenger endorsed them then realised that he's probably confusing them with TacTics!

Now wonder we've got the end of season part next month :-)

Ukraine - Never a goal

Or was it?

Seems Sep(tic) Bladder is right - English Football doesn't need goal line technology!

Or to quote the BBC:

Euro 2012 : Last-ditch John Terry clearance saves England

Ukraine are denied an equaliser as Marko Devic's effort is hooked away by John Terry, despite appearing to have crossed the line.

FabGon - Another FArsse

So farewell Fabio Capello, who will go down in history as being perhaps one of the few England managers not to have seen his side fall apart in international contest.

Having taken the armband from John Terry after he engaged in a bit of extra-marital off the pitch relationships Fabio had come out in favour of Terry keeping the England captaincy and will not support the FA's decision to strip terry of the armband because of his apparently racist altercation with Anton Ferdinand.

Now, oddly enough, I can see some logic in Capello's position because there was not doubt that Terry's adultery was proven, admitted and obvious and therefore, as there was no doubt, it made sense to remove the dubious honour of being the England captain from him. After all, England players should be role models for the youngsters of tour nation (now that's stretching it a bit perhaps considering some of those in the squad, but hey ho!).

Terry has been charged with racially abusing Ferdinand but as, in our legal system, one is considered innocent until proven guilty (by jurors, not the press and people with axes to grind) it seems to me that Terry is still, legally, an innocent man. This means the FA have acted as prosecution, jury and judge and having found him guilty just a bit before the trial has even started have decided to add 'executioner' to their list of skills.

Personal opinions regarding Terry and the Ferdinand case aside, I think Capello did the right thing in standing by Terry, sadly he did the wrong thing (twice)in picking him though.

Well done Fabio, the rumour mill had you linked with a nice Italian Job and now you can go with your integrity intact and no shame attached for England's results later in the year.

A real win-win (and now I guess we'll get 'Arry now he's been acquitted)!

Football and the race rows

I don't know about other people but I am becoming a little alarmed that Luis Suarez is handed am eight-match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra when the only evidence that appears to have been prersented is from Evra himself! Now I'm not questioning Evra's account but am questioning the fact that he apparently abused Suarez (in his own language and by his own admission) such that it elicited the response for which he (Suarez) has been punished!

It seems to me that both players need to be facing bans for their behaviour and the FA, whilst trying to make a grand gesture are on the road to making yet another spectacle of themselves. Mind you, if the Crown Prosecution Service are successful in their forthcoming court appearances with Chelsea and England Captain John Terry, also on racist comment charges, I can only assume he will lose his place in the England squad and face an even lengthier ban. Ironic when you consider that the English FA went and appealed against Rooney's ban (for a blatant and ridiculously typical'rooneyesque' foul which merited the punishment given) because it was in their interests. But what about the interests of fair play and integrity? No even a hint of such things :(

Seems racism is not OK (which is the right position to take) but cheating and behaving contrary to the laws of the game is. Double-standards or what?

Yes indeed - a game of overpaid, loose-moraled, prima donnas with even more dodgy types gracing the governing bodies (or was FIFa just a blip) who set duplistic standards and somehow still manage to fall short of them.

Still, the good news is that it will help to rekindle the almost maniacal hatred between the two teams involved which has to be good for the next meeting of the two (if you like to see police officers kept busy that is).

we need to be robust about dealing with bad behaviour, all bad behaviour, not just that which suits us or benefits us at the expense of integrity.

Pax

Heroes or zeroes?

I really struggle with a culture that puts some on pedestals when it is obvious that they are just a little too flawed to be there. I watch our children (society's, not mine personally thankfully) emulate and idolise these 'heroes' and despair. How do we help them see things as they are rather than as the hype would have it?

In football we hear the Football Association speak out about the bad language and poor behaviour on the pitch, promising to 'get tough' and yet the reality is that we can be sure that watching some teams is sure to reveal torrents of foul language, and this needs to stop. Ironically we have a world cup going on at the moment and I would have little problem letting my children watch the games for there is little bad language evident and no dissent visible.

If only I could say the same about football (soccer for you ex-colonial types :•) ), but I can't can I? I have stopped watching England and have found myself increasingly struggling with the game at most levels and apparently I'm not alone.

So those of us who have a public voice need to encourage parents to address the issue with their children and perhaps also write to the FA and tell them that they are part of the problem that is damaging our kids.

Let's take these faux heroes off their pedestals and applaud those who contribute to our society, demonstrate what is good and make a difference.

Time to show our over-paid 'heroes' the red card!

Pax

Off the boots of babes and sucklings

One of the most rewarding (and exhausting) things that I get to do as a dogcollar is that of being involved in our Kid's Club. Pretty much every Monday and Friday finds us engaged in a variety of activities ranging from console games through to craft, cooking, snooker (extremely popular!) and football. It is in the football that we get to see society's values most clearly demonstrated. Here are three of the most common:

1. The culture of self.
Give a kid a football and he will set off for goal. There's no passing or awareness of anyone else on their side, it's them and the goal and no one else matters. They can have people in open spaces (kid's football is great you can fit everyone (apart from the keepers) into a five foot square) but they continue through the melee to consistently lose the ball! It is all about them.

2. The end justifies the means.
Watching the kids play, I am amazed at the blatant fouling, the use of the hand to control the ball and just about anything else that contravenes the laws of the game. When asked about the infringement, their responses can be summed up by this, "Anything goes as long as it brings about the desired result." Yes indeedy - the end justifies the means, one of the key mantras of our society today.

3. Always get even!
The tackles (often off the ball) almost always result in the acted against player seeking to 'settle accounts' and this usually means that there will be at least one full-on punch-up during the game. There's nothing about turning the other cheek in today's society, we live on a rich diet of revenge, retribution and a skewed form of rough 'natural justice'. What we see in the adults, we see sown at an early age in their children and the shoots of the same escalations that so beset our adult society are on display in the very youngest among us.

Want to see where our society is having problems? Take a look at kids playing football.

Hey Ho!

Football in a nutshell

A great definition of football which applies equally well to Church:

"football - a game with twenty-two men in need of a rest watched by sixty-eight thousand in need of exercise!"

Pax

St Teresa of A(ston)Villa

Yes, that's right - AstonVilla

The Saints and Patristics team at Tamworth Theological college has unearthed documentary proof that in fact St Teresa of Avila was not a Spaniard at all but came from Witton and had her convent overlooking the Aston Villa ground. For year's theologians have toiled in the misunderstanding that it was 'Avilla' when all along it was actually 'Aston Villa'!

At last we can display the icon that confirms what has long been suspected and also explain away that loss of Arsenal last week to the claret and blues:

Many thanks to Doctor Willis, who has for years regarded the Villa ground as a shrine and a holy place.

Pax

Man Utd - Now we see it, then we didn't!

I often find the world of football to be a place populated by people of shifting morality and opinion! A bloke can divert his run by a few metres to enable him to whack an opposing player in the throat as he passes him by and, despite the outcry of others, neither the ref' or the player's manager 'sees anything in it'!

A few days later, the same player sticks his behindside out and an opposing player obligingly sends hims tumbling. This time, although once again the ref' see 'nothing in it', this time the manager (yes, the same one as before) sees lots in it. He goes red, fumes, waves his arms like a fledgling learning to fly and remonstrates with the fourth official.

Then it gets betterer and betterer because the week later his team lose their second game on the bounce and there should have been a sending off (well, two at least from the game I saw) and the result should have been theirs. Once again, thanks to poor (biased?) refereeing, the best team lost!

What a load of tosh, and what a wonderful mirror to hold up to our society, football is becoming. I meet so many people during the course of my dog-collaring and a great number of these are always ready to point to the excesses of the groups who stand opposed (or are perhaps merely 'different' to them! They tell me how others lie and do things that demonstrate their lack of Christian whatever. They can denounce every movement made by others as wrong and yet, when the mirror is brought into play, fail to recognise the same in themselves.

Lord,
Give me the grace to see in myself the things that I so easily see in others.
To rise about the tackles and foul play of this world and keep my game pure;
To keep on running for the goal when taking a tumble might yield more.
Father, football is important, but it's not about life and death,
So help us to live because the death of Christ brings us life.
And may we come to the place where we are saved and never need face the penalty.
Amen.

Man Utd - Now's there's Something In It!

What a funny old game football is! Only a few days ago we see Wayne Rooney divert his run to elbow an opposing player only to have the referee take no action (other than a free kick) and Sir Alex Ferguson see 'Nothing in it'.

Last night Man U lost 2-1 to Chelsea and when asked about the match, Sir Alex told reporters, "You want a fair referee - or a strong referee, anyway - and we didn't get that, when I saw who the referee was I did fear it. I feared the worst!"

Oddly, I would have thought that not only has the bloke defended the indefensible over Rooney's deliberate assault on an opposing player, he has compounded his naughtiness by once again attacking referees and thus bringing the game into disrepute.

Odd how he didn't make the same comments at the decision on the weekend isn't it (or is this merely duplicity and a large measure of hypocrisy?)

I was surprised that Luis didn't get sent off but watching the Rooney incident again he kept himself in a position to be hei and hence the playing on!

Seems to me that Sir Alex (and Man U) need to have Matthew Seven baited on the wall of their dressing room in that how you see things will colour how people see the things you do.

So, last night and the moaning about the Luis' tackle - it's simple:

"There was nothing in it!"

Now as for foul and abusive language, crowding the officials and intimidating, who you gonna call?

Yep - when it comes to all the things that are wrong with the Premiership, think they were all on display last night (but still an excellent game and a just reasult for the impartial observer).

Pax

Role Models

I met a man a couple of weeks back who had been a referee but had given it up because of the language and abuse that he received during and after the game. the crunch came for him (literally) when he was assaulted following his awarding of a penalty. As the offending player was being sent off his mother stormed onto the pitch and punched the referee in the face, breaking his nose! Perhaps I should have mentioned that this was a junior league match, the players were all around ten years old.

The man said that the language, the fouls and the abuse from the parents was such that he'd already had enough and the smack in the face was the final straw. Asking him what had gone wrong, he said that the kids emulated what they saw in the senior professional game.

Wel  last week, despite claims by the FA that they were going to be tough on swearing and abusing the referees I didn't need training in the art of lip-reading to make sense of the expletives that were flying around!

Yesterday that icon of Premiership football, Wayne Rooney, diverted his runs to elbow a player and escaped with nothing more than a free kick and a pat on the shoulder from the Ref'. Perhaps the laws of the game are as variable as some fans claim after all, not only that but Alex Ferguson saw, "Nothing in it." I wonder if he'd have been saying that had the roles been reversed? Or perhaps, as the commentator says, "he's been a lucky boy, he gets away with one here (again?)"

Some scream for Rooney to face a lengthy ban whilst others justify his action as, "Part of the passion and fire that makes him a great player." The reality is that he, and those who dive in the box (a blue shirt is appearing here) or manage to engage in sexual relationships outside their marriage or long-term relationships are all excused because of the pressure upon them are thus permitted to continue in their lifestyles and attitudes as poor role models.

Watching the rugger yesterday I saw a very different set of sportsmen. Different in terms of language used, payment received and pride demonstrated.

Time to get football out of the gutter once and for all and make it a sport that teaches controlled passion and sportsmanship? I think so.

ps. Went to Villa yesterday and saw a clean and well-won match (4-1 against Blackburn) amongst a great bunch of polite supporters. Perhaps there's just something about certain clubs? Hey ho, time to do next service . . .

Pax