Invitations were sent out to local organisations, and sportsmen and women would attend these services en masse.

Churches would be decorated with club paraphernalia and cups won by local teams. Sporting celebrities - perhaps a Test cricketer or First Division footballer - would read the lessons, and the vicar or priest would preach on the value of sport and the need to play it in the right spirit.

Occasionally, the preacher would himself be a sporting star such as Billy Liddell, the legendary Liverpool and Scotland footballer.

Since 1960, however, the trajectories of religion and sport have diverged dramatically.

Throughout the UK, attendances for all the largest Christian denominations - Anglican, Church of Scotland, Catholic and Methodist - have fallen by more than half.

At the same time, the commercialisation and televisation of sport has turned it into a multi-billion dollar global business.

Invitations were sent out to local organisations, and sportsmen and women would attend these services en masse. Churches would be decorated with club paraphernalia and cups won by local teams.

Sporting celebrities - perhaps a Test cricketer or First Division footballer - would read the lessons, and the vicar or priest would preach on the value of sport and the need to play it in the right spirit.

Occasionally, the preacher would himself be a sporting star such as Billy Liddell, the legendary Liverpool and Scotland footballer.

Since 1960, however, the trajectories of religion and sport have diverged dramatically.

Throughout the UK, attendances for all the largest Christian denominations - Anglican, Church of Scotland, Catholic and Methodist - have fallen by more than half. At the same time, the commercialisation and televisation of sport has turned it into a multi-billion dollar global business.

Numerous high-profile sporting stars talk openly about the importance of religion to their careers, including England footballers Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka.

World heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury credits his Catholic faith with bringing him back from obesity, alcoholism and cocaine dependency.

Yet it is sport, and its "gods" like Fury, that attracts far greater devotion among much of the public. Parents are as anxious today to ensure their children spend Sunday mornings on the pitch or track as they might once have been to see them in Sunday school.

But to what extent is the worship of sport, and our regular pilgrimages to pitches and stadiums up and down the country, responsible for the emptying of churches and other religious establishments?

This is the story of their parallel, and often conflicting, journeys - and how this "great conversion" changed modern society.

When religion gave sport a helping hand

Two hundred years ago, Christianity was a dominant force in British society.

In the early 19th century, as the modern sporting world was just beginning to emerge, the relationship between church and sport was mainly antagonistic. Churches, especially the dominant evangelical Protestants, condemned the violence and brutality of many sports, as well as their association with gambling.

Many sports were on the defensive in the face of religious attack.

In my book Religion and the Rise of Sport in England, I chart how sport's advocates - players and commentators alike - responded with verbal and even physical attacks on religious zealots.

In 1880, for example, boxing historian Henry Downes Miles celebrated novelist William Thackeray's stirring descriptions of the "noble art" while also bemoaning religion's attempts to curb it:

[This description of boxing] has lines of power to make the blood of your Englishman stir in days to come - should the preachers of peace at-any-price, parsimonious pusillanimity, puritanic precision and propriety have left our youth any blood to stir.

Yet around this time, there were also the first signs of a rapprochement between religion and sport.

Some churchmen - influenced both by more liberal theologies and the nation's health and societal failings - turned from condemning "bad" sports to promoting "good" ones, notably cricket and football.

Meanwhile the new Muscular Christianity movement appealed for recognition of the needs of "the whole man or whole woman - body, mind and spirit".

By the 1850s, sport had become central to the curricula of Britain's leading private schools. These were attended by many future Anglican clergymen, who would go on to bring a passion for sport to their parishes.

No fewer than a third of the Oxford and Cambridge University cricket "blues" (first team players) from the years 1860 to 1900 were later ordained as clergy.

While the UK's Christian sporting movement was pioneered by liberal Anglicans, other denominations (plus the YMCA and, a little later, the YWCA) soon joined in.

In an editorial on The Saving of the Body in 1896, the Sunday School Chronicle asserted that "the attempted divorce of the body and soul has ever been the source of the keenest woes of mankind".

It explained that, unlike medieval saints' instances of extreme bodily mortification, Jesus came to heal the whole man - and therefore:

When the religion of the gymnasium and the cricket-field is duly recognised and inculcated, we may hope for better results.

Religious clubs were formed, mostly strictly for fun and relaxation on a Saturday afternoon.

But a few went on to greater things. Aston Villa football club was founded in 1874 by a group of young men in a Methodist bible class, who already played cricket together and wanted a winter game.

Rugby union's Northampton Saints started six years later as Northampton St James, having been founded by the curate of the town's St James Church.

Meanwhile, Christian missionaries were taking British sports to Africa and Asia.

As J.A. Mangan describes in The Games Ethic and Imperialism: "Missionaries took cricket to the Melanesians, football to the Bantu, rowing to the Hindu [and] athletics to the Iranians".

Missionaries were also the first footballers in Uganda, Nigeria, the French Congo and probably Africa's former Gold Coast too, according to David Goldblatt in The Ball is Round.

But at home, religious denominations and their members responded selectively to the late Victorian sporting boom, adopting some sports while rejecting others.

Anglicans, for example, enjoyed a love affair with cricket. One of the first books celebrating it as England's "national game" was The Cricket Field (1851) by Rev. James Pycroft, a Devon clergyman who pronounced: "The game of cricket, philosophically considered, is a standing panegyric to the English character."

Admittedly, Pycroft also noted a "darker side" to the game, arising from the large amount of betting on cricket matches at that time. But, in a claim that would be made for many other sports over the next century and a half, he suggested it was still a "panacea" for the nation's social ills:

Such a national game as cricket will both humanise and harmonise our people. It teaches a love of order, discipline and fair-play for the pure honour and pure glory of victory.

Meanwhile, Jews came to the fore in boxing in Britain - in contrast to the nonconformists who mainly opposed boxing because of its violence, and who were totally against horse racing because it was based on betting.

They approved of all "healthy" sports, though, and were enthusiastic cyclists and footballers. In contrast, many Catholics and Anglicans enjoyed horse racing and also boxed.

But as the 19th century neared its end, the most hotly debated issue was the rise of women's sport. Unlike in other parts of Europe, however, there was little religious opposition to women taking part in Britain.

From the 1870s, upper and upper-middle-class women were playing golf, tennis and croquet, and not long afterwards sport entered the curricula of girls' private schools.

By the 1890s, the country's more affluent churches and chapels were forming tennis clubs, while those with a broader social constituency formed clubs for cycling and hockey, most of which welcomed both women and men.

The involvement of churches in amateur sport would peak in the 1920s and 30s.

In Bolton in the 1920s, for example, church-based clubs accounted for half of all teams playing cricket and football (the sports most widely practised by men) and well over half those playing hockey and rounders (typically practised by women).

At this time, an extensive sporting programme was so taken for granted in most churches that it scarcely needed a justification. However, there was a gradual decline in church-based sport after the second world war - which became much more rapid in the 1970s and '80s.

When sport became ‘bigger than religion'

Even before the dawn of the 20th century, critics of private schools and universities were complaining that cricket had become "a new religion". Similarly, some observers of working-class cultures were concerned that football had become "a passion and not merely a recreation".

The most obvious challenge that the rise of sport presented for religion was competition for time. As well as the general problem that both are lengthy pursuits, there was the more specific problem of the times when sport is practised.

Jews had long faced the question of whether playing or watching sport on a Saturday is compatible with observance of the Sabbath. From the 1890s, Christians began to face similar issues with the slow-but-steady growth of recreational sport and exercise on Sundays.

The bicycle provided the perfect means for those who wanted to spend the day outdoors, far from church, and golf clubs were beginning to open on Sundays too - by 1914, this extended to around half of all English golf clubs.

But unlike in most other parts of Europe, professional sport on Sundays remained rare.

This meant that Eric Liddell, the Scottish athlete and rugby union international immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire, could quite easily combine his brilliant sporting career with a refusal to run on Sundays, so long as he remained in Britain.

When the 1924 Olympics were held in Paris, however, Liddell famously refused to compromise by taking part in the Sunday heats for the 100m sprint.

He went on to win 400m gold instead, before returning to China the following year to serve as a missionary teacher.

The 1960s finally marked the beginning of the end for Britain's "sacred" Sunday.

In 1960, the Football Association lifted its ban on Sunday football, leading to the formation of numerous Sunday leagues for local clubs. The first Sunday matches between professional teams took rather longer, starting with Cambridge United v Oldham Athletic in the third round of the FA Cup on January 6 1974.

Before then, in 1969, cricket had become the first major UK sport to stage elite-level Sunday sport with its new 40-over competition - sponsored by John Player cigarettes and televised by the BBC.

But perhaps the clearest indicator of the growing perception of sporting sites as "sacred spaces" was the practice of scattering supporters' ashes on or close to a pitch.

This gained particular popularity in Liverpool during the reign of the football club's legendary manager Bill Shankly (1959-74), who is quoted in John Keith's biography explaining the reasoning behind it:

My aim was to bring the people close to the club and the team, and for them to be accepted part of it.

The effect was that wives brought their late husbands' ashes to Anfield and scattered them on the pitch after saying a little prayer … So people not only support Liverpool when they're alive. They support them when they are dead.

Shankly's own ashes were scattered at the Kop end of the Anfield pitch following his death in 1981.

By now, sporting enthusiasts were happy to declare - and elaborate on - their "sporting faith".

In 1997, lifelong Liverpool fan Alan Edge drew an extended parallel between his upbringing as a Catholic and his support for the Reds in Faith of Our Fathers: Football as a Religion.

With chapter titles such as "Baptism", "Communion" and "Confession", Edge offers a convincing explanation of why so many fans say that football is their religion, and how this alternative faith is learnt:

I'm attempting to provide an insight into some of the reasons behind all the madness; why people like me turn into knee-jerking, football crazy lunatics … It is a story that could apply equally to fans from any of the other great footballing hotbeds …

All are places where cradle-to-grave indoctrination is part of growing up; where football is a primary - at times, the primary - life-force, supplanting religion in the lives of many.

‘Sport does things religion no longer offers'

Whether as participant or supporter, many people's loyalty to sport now provides a stronger source of identity than the religion (if any) to which they are nominally attached.

When writing about his experiences of long-distance running, author Jamie Doward suggests that, for him and many others, running marathons does some of the things that religion can no longer offer.

He calls running "the secular equivalent of the Sunday service" and "modernity's equivalent of a medieval pilgrimage", adding:

It is perhaps no surprise that the popularity of running is increasing as that of religion declines. The two appear coterminous, with both delivering their own forms of transcendence.

In turn, sport has narrowed down the societal space traditionally occupied by religion.

For example, the belief held by governments and many parents that sport can make you a better person has meant that sport frequently takes over the role formerly performed by churches of seeking to produce mature adults and good citizens.

In 2002, Tessa Jowell, then secretary of state for culture, media and sport, introduced the Labour government's new sport and physical activity strategy, Game Plan, by claiming that increased public participation could reduce crime and enhance social inclusion.

She added that international sporting success could benefit everyone in the UK by producing a "feel-good factor" - and a year later confirmed that London would bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

Amid its growth, however, sport also had to cope with regular controversies that seemingly threatened to reduce its appeal.

In 2017, at a time of widespread public concern about drug-taking in athletics and cycling, betting and ball-tampering in cricket, deliberate injuring of opponents in football and rugby, and physical and mental abuse of young athletes in football and gymnastics, a headline in the Guardian read:

"General public is losing faith in scandal-ridden sports".

Yet even then, the referenced poll found that 71 percent of Britons still believed that "sport is a force for good".

Religious organisations have responded in different ways to the role of sport in contemporary society.

Some, like the current bishop of Derby Libby Lane, see it as presenting opportunities for evangelism - if that is where the people are, the Church should be there too.

In 2019, following her appointment as the Church of England's new bishop for sport, Lane told the Church Times:

Sport may be a way of growing the Kingdom of God for the Church … It shapes our culture, our identity, our cohesion, our wellbeing, our sense of self, and our sense of place in society. If we are concerned about the whole of human life, then for the Church to have a voice in [sport] is vital.

The sports chaplaincy movement has also grown significantly since the 1990s - notably in football and rugby league, where it is now a standard post in most major clubs.

And at the London Olympics in 2012, there were 162 working chaplains belonging to five religions.

A chaplain's role is to provide personal support for people working in a difficult profession, many of whom have come from distant parts of the world.

In the early 2000s, the chaplain of Bolton Wanderers asked the football club's players about their religions. As well as Christians and those with no religion, the squad included Muslims, a Jew and a Rastafarian.

But in addition to reflecting the rapid internationalisation of many professional dressing rooms, chaplains' increased adoption by sports teams may reflect growing recognition of the mental as well as physical toll that elite sport can take.

Meanwhile, the proliferation of Muslim cricket leagues and other Muslim sporting organisations in Britain is in part a response to threats and challenges, including racism and the widespread drinking culture of some sports.

The recent formation of the Muslim Golf Association reflects the fact that, although the explicit exclusion which Jewish golfers faced in earlier times would now be illegal, Muslim golfers still feel unwelcome in some UK golf clubs.

And UK sporting organisations for Muslim women and girls, such as the Muslim Women's Sports Foundation and the Muslimah Sports Association, are a response not only to prejudice and discrimination by non-Muslims but to the discouragement they may encounter from Muslim men.

A Sport England report in 2015 found that, while Muslim male players were more active in sport than those from any other religious or non-religious group, their female counterparts were less active than women from any other group.

Of course, religious differences have long contributed to tensions and, in some cases, violence both on and off the pitch - most famously in Britain through the historic rivalry between Glasgow's two biggest football clubs, Rangers and Celtic.

In 2011, Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two prominent fans of the club were sent parcel bombs intended to kill or maim.

Duncan Morrow, a professor who chaired an independent advisory group on tackling sectarianism in Scotland in response to these heightened tensions, identified a fascinating shift in religion's relationship with sport:

In a time where religion is less important in society, it is almost as if it has become part of the identity of football in Scotland. In a sense, sectarianism now is a way of behaving rather than a way of believing.

Why many elite athletes still rely on religion

In the early 2000s, the Muslim ethos of the Pakistan cricket team was so strong that the only Christian player, Yousuf Youhana, converted to Islam.

The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Nasim Ashraf, wondered aloud if things had gone too far.

"There is no doubt," he said, "religious faith is a motivating factor for the players - it binds them together." But he also worried that undue pressure was being put on less devout players.

In more pluralistic and secular societies, the use of religion to bond a team together may prove counterproductive. But it is still vitally important for many sportsmen and women.

Faith-driven athletes find in their reading of the Bible or the Qur'an, or in their personal relationship with Jesus, the strength to face the trials and tribulations of elite sport - including not only the disciplines of training and of overcoming physical pain, but also the bitterness of defeat.

One of the best-known examples of how a leading athlete drew on his religion is Britain's world record-holding triple jumper Jonathan Edwards, who spoke frequently about his evangelical Christian belief during his days of competing.

(Edwards would later renounce his faith following his retirement, claiming that it had acted as the most powerful kind of sports psychology.)

As well as strengthening his drive to succeed and helping him bounce back from defeat, Edwards also felt an obligation to speak about his faith. Or as his biographer put it:

Jonathan felt he was answering a call to be an evangelist - a witness to God in running shoes.

Athletes from religious minorities frequently see themselves as symbols and champions of their own communities.

Thus, Jack "Kid" Berg, world light welterweight boxing champion in the 1930s, entered the ring with a prayer shawl round his shoulders and wore a Star of David during each fight.

More recently, the England cricketer Moeen Ali has been a hero for many Muslims, yet provoked the ire of one Daily Telegraph journalist who is said to have told him: "You are playing for England, Moeen Ali, not for your religion."

The stresses arising from failure in elite sport - and the value of faith in dealing with them - have also been highlighted in the career of British athlete Christine Ohuruogu, who won 400m gold at the 2008 Olympics having earlier been banned for a year for allegedly missing a drug test:

Among the athletic victories, Christine has had to cope with numerous injury problems, the indignity of disqualification, and cruel false allegations in the tabloid press. Christine says that it is her strong faith in God which has sustained her.

And England rugby union star Jonny Wilkinson claimed that 24 hours after the last-minute drop goal which won the World Cup for England in 2003, he was overcome with "a powerful feeling of anti-climax".

He later explained in an interview with the Guardian that he found the solution through his conversion to Buddhism:

It's a philosophy and way of life that resonates with me. I agree with so much of the sentiment behind it. I enjoy the liberating effect it's had on me to get back into the game - in a way that's so much more rewarding because you're enjoying the moment of being on the field.

In the past it was basically me getting into the changing room, wiping my brow and thinking: "Thank God that's over."

While sport has assumed a place in society that religion once filled for many, the questions that religions seek to answer have not gone away - not least for elite athletes.

For them, sport is a profession and a very demanding one, and a significant number find strength and inspiration through their faith.

Of course, many of today's UK-based sporting professionals hail from less secularised regions of the world, while others are the children of immigrants and refugees.

The 2021 census found that both the absolute number and proportion of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and those selecting "other religion" had all increased in England and Wales over the previous decade.

So we are left with something of a paradox. While religion has been crowded out by sport in general society, it remains a conspicuous part of elite sport - with a number of studies around the world finding that athletes tend to be more religious than non-athletes.

The Church of England is aware of this contrast, and has responded by launching a National Sport and Wellbeing project, piloted in eight of its dioceses.

Despite launching just before the pandemic, initiatives have included adapting church premises for football, netball and keep-fit sessions, formation of new sports clubs aimed especially at non-churchgoers, and after-school clubs and summer holiday camps that offer a combination of sport and religion.

In fact, the agenda is more explicitly evangelistic than in the Victorian days of Muscular Christianity.

Those engaging in today's "sports ministry" are well aware of the challenges they face. Whereas in later Victorian times and the first half of the 20th century, many people had a loose connection with the church, now the majority have no connection at all.

But today's religious evangelists display a strong faith in sport. They believe it can help build new connections, particularly among younger generations. As the Church of England's outreach project concludes:

This has a huge mission potential … If we are to find the sweet spot [between sport and religion], it could contribute to a growing and outward-facing Church.

• First published in The Conversation
• Hugh McLeod is Emeritus Professor of Church History, University of Birmingham

Dr JJ Carney and Dr Max Engel's research offers insights into the spiritual dimensions of athletic competition and how the two worlds can interconnect.

Evangelisation through sport

Carney and Engel teach a popular course examining sport from a faith perspective.

Their research posits sports as a unique platform for spiritual engagement and evangelisation, and their book "On the 8th Day: A Catholic Theology of Sport" aims to help students recognise the intrinsic links between religious beliefs and the realm of sports.

"The trials and tribulations in sports can lead to profound encounters with Jesus through the Paschal Mystery" notes Engel.

Examining sports' ritualistic and spiritual practices also challenges the distinction between superstition and genuine spiritual acts.

"We focus on ritual and prayer as a means of deepening one's relationship with God" Carney clarifies, differentiating between authentic spiritual practices and mere rituals.

"That's different from saying 'I'm going to pray this way, and God will make sure that field goal goes through'."

The professors also strive to help students recognise the grace, communal bonds and self-sacrifice in sports, mirroring Jesus' teachings.

Suffering death and resurrection in sport

Engel noted that sports' inherent suffering and loss present "an opportunity to encounter Jesus through the paschal mystery".

The researchers encourage students to explore how formative experiences like season-ending injuries or championship defeats relate to core Catholic teachings about the passion and resurrection of Christ.

"Seeing other people go 'Oh, I see what you're talking about...I didn't realise what sacrifice for the team had to do with Jesus' sacrifice for us'" Engel said, describing some students' reactions.

Student growth and insight

For Carney and Engel, some of the most rewarding aspects involve witnessing students' perspectives evolve as they uncover spiritual truths through the athletic lens.

Carney cited instances where pupils began to understand how "just because you didn't win the championship didn't mean God wasn't in that difficult experience".

Engel echoed that sports can serve as "an easy entrée" to explore profound theological concepts through a familiar passion, fostering deeper self-reflection among students.

Source

• Southern Nebraska Register
• CathNews

Kamila Grabska was involved in a car accident on her way to work in the Irish town of Ennis.

The car she was a passenger in was rear-ended, which allegedly left her with debilitating physical trauma.

She told a High Court in Limerick that her pain kept her in bed on bad days and prevented her from carrying relatively light loads, like bags of groceries.

However, they didn't stop her from participating in and actually winning Christmas tree-throwing contests. 

Asked by the lawyers if she felt any pain while participating in the tree-throwing contest, the 36-year-old said that she was indeed in pain, but she was "trying to live a normal life". Read more

MSP is Wellington's Catholic rugby club.

Speaking with RNZ's Lisa Owen, MSP Chairman Rob Evans reluctantly confirmed the 'n.....' word had been used

He told Owen that after OBU scored the final try of the game, some spectators who were drinking alcohol on the sideline, rushed onto the field before the full-time whistle and yelled "vile racial slurs".

Evans told Owen there is no room for racism in sport nor in society, and the same goes for violence.

He said he was surprised about the drinking at the game, and more so because it was a school ground.

RNZ reports the father of an OBU rugby player was attacked by MSP players in response to "repeated vile racial slurs".

"It is clear some of our players became upset following repeated, vile racial slurs and the attack on the father of one of our players by an intoxicated group of OBU supporters.

"Just as violence cannot be tolerated, the kind of racial abuse witnessed on Saturday has no place in our game or society," Rob Evans said.

MSP did not condone violence of any kind and the club met players on Monday to "get to the bottom of the facts", he said.

OBU chairman Pete McFarlane would not be interviewed by RNZ over the matter but said in a statement that his club was investigating an incident.

"It is important to note that there are no allegations against any OBU players, management or coaches from the match and from what I have seen they conducted themselves admirably given the circumstances," McFarlane said in the statement.

Wellington Rugby is investigating the incident.

Its chief executive Matt Evans​​ says staff were rewatching video footage of the game to work out exactly what had happened.

Parts of the altercation were caught on match video, but apparently, the racial abuse was not available.

However, Rob Evans confirmed to RNZ's Lisa Owen that he had a number of witness statements.

Wellington Rugby says the union will discipline those involved as soon as possible.

Chief Executive Matt Evans sees the incident as "a cloud hanging over rugby."

In 2017 Rugby NZ released the results of a "culture review" acknowledging that entitlement and alcohol were a part of rugby's culture.

Source

• Stuff
• RNZ
• RNZ
• Scoop
• Image: RNZ

But one method becoming increasingly popular amongst players is the PRAYER GRIP.

This is a method that sees the hands level and facing directly opposite each other.

Click here to read the advantages of this grip style…

New world junior champion swimmer, Erika Fairweather had been surprised by the welcome home, which was "super cool" Read more

The authors are in favour of a radical change to what they describe as "the outdated structure of the gender division currently used in elite sport".

Associate Professor Anderson and Dr Taryn Knox from the Dunedin Bioethics Centre, together with Otago physiologist Professor Alison Heather, investigate the ethics and science to do with the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision in research published in the latest issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics.

The recent IOC guidelines allow trans-women to compete in the women's division if (amongst other things) their testosterone is held below 10nmol/L.

Heather says this is significantly higher than that of cis-women.

"Science demonstrates that high adult levels of testosterone, as well as permanent testosterone effects on male physiology during in utero and early development, provides a performance advantage in sport and that much of this male physiology is not mitigated by the transition to a transwoman," she says.

However, not all researchers have interpreted the existing studies in the same way, or agree that trans women have unfair advantages.

Human Rights researcher Jack Byrne said studies about testosterone were red herrings because the majority of trans women reduced their testosterone to very low levels.

The Otago team propose possible solutions. Some options value inclusion more than fairness and vice versa.

They include:

• Excluding trans-women from competing in the women's division
• Creating a third division for transwomen and intersex women
• Calculating a handicap for transwomen based on their testosterone levels - similar to that used in golf

Their preferred option is an extension of this with a proposed algorithm that could account for a range of parameters.

Source

• eurekalert.org
• rnz.co.nz
• Image: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

The statue was covered with red and yellow tags including swear words.

The attack has been blamed on McEvedy Shield rivalry, following Wellington College's victory on Tuesday.

The track and field competition, named for St Pat's Town old boy Dr Patrick McEvedy, who donated the wood shield.

This year Wellington College was the winner, with just over 212 points. St Patrick's College Kilbirnie came second with a collective score of 179.5 followed by St Patrick's Silverstream with 119 points. Rongotai College came last with 38.

Rongotai College has also been hit twice in the space of three days.

On the weekend the school's sports changing rooms were tagged.

Then late on Monday night, the outside of the school's special needs classroom, brickwork and front entry signs were defaced.

Wellington College principal Gregor Fountain said he was "appalled" at the actions "made in the name" of Wellington College.

Fountain said he and Wellington College's head prefect met with the head prefects, principals and caretakers at both Rongotai College and St Patrick's College on Wednesday morning to apologise for the vandalism.

He would be working with the Police and other schools to identify the people involved, he said.

It is not the first time that college rivalries over the McEvedy Shield have resulted in property damage.

Ahead of the competition in 2016, staff and students at Wellington College found obscene graffiti, including metre-high male genitalia and "F... you" scrawled on the new $1.4 million turf, which was partly funded by Wellington ratepayers.

It was signed "SPC" - an acronym for St Patrick's College - and blue paint on the Frank Crist Centre read: "See you at McEvedy" and "You started this".

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: nzherald.co.nz

Mosiah MacDonald had expected to be at the national basketball championships in Wellington this week.

Instead his Manawatu basketball teammates are playing without him.

The 15-year-old says his team dropped him because he would attend only one of the two Sunday training sessions, due to his religious beliefs.

Now he's training alone at a Foxton school.

The MacDonalds are Mormons who believe that Sunday should be a holy day. Hence it says it's a day reserved for Sabbath practices.

The family will do other activities on Sundays after worship. They'll even miss the odd service.

But the prospect of a full two months of basketball without church was too much for Mosiah.

Consequently he knows he needs to resolve the conflict between church and sport if he wants to develop his basketball dreams.

He's been playing basketball since he was 2. He says Steven Adams is one of his heroes.

MacDonald is a potential member of the 25-strong squad national under-16s basketball team.

His dropping from the Wellington tournament may affect his chances.

Beginning of problems

In May the Manawatu's basketball team coach changed practice times from later on Sunday afternoons to mid-morning and early afternoons.

MacDonald would have attended the afternoon sessions but not the mornings until a couple of weeks before the tournament.

Because he wouldn't attend all sessions, he says the coach dropped him.

Rather than lose a place, MacDonald tried unsuccessfully to join the Hawkes Bay squad.

Manawatu basketball chairwoman Tess Petley says she's surprised the MacDonalds and the coach hadn't found a compromise.

"The decision was not based on the fact he was Mormon. I feel a bit sad if that's what they are thinking," she says.

Petley says she and the coach agree that Mosiah is an amazing kid, and they want him to play.

She says she'll try to work out a way that MacDonald can regain his place.

Sources:

• Stuff

The document addresses a number of matters, including highly competitive children's sports, putting political and economic pressures on athletes to win "at all costs", playing sport on Sundays and unsportsmanlike or violent behaviour.

The document, which speaks out about sports-related corruption, over-commercialisation, manipulation and abuse, says organisations and institutions sponsoring sports programmes need expert-guided child protection policies.

E-sports - video game competitions and tournaments that award large cash prizes and draw huge numbers of spectators - are also mentioned.

Bishops, parishes and lay Catholics are called on to help "humanise" sports.

The timing of sports is mentioned in the context of Mass attendance.

The document says playing sports on Sundays is alright, as a means of bringing families and communities together in joy and celebration.

However, it notes these events should not be used as an excuse to miss Mass.

The document was released by the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.

Pope Francis, who is a football supporter, says sport is "a very rich source of values and virtues that help us to become better people.

"We need to deepen the close connection that exists between sport and life, which can enlighten one another," he says.

Specific concerns the document raises include:

• Parental responsibility to show children they are loved for who they are, not for their successes, appearance or physical abilities
• Sports that inevitably cause serious harm to the human body cannot be ethically justified
• People are not machines
• Parents, coaches and communities must avoid objectifying players, particularly with expectations that they receive medals, scholarships, wealth or break records
• Dignity and freedom that must be protected in sports is protection against abuse
• The Church should develop and promote an "apostolate for sports" showing its commitment to the integral well-being and development of the human person in sports and to directly initiate sports-related activities at the local level.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Catholic News Service
• Image: Concord Monitor

With the start of the new term next week, the year-13 pupil will be back at St Patrick's College in Wellington.

At the back end of the season, following a series of consistent performances for the club's reserves team, he became a fill-in on the bench during an injury crisis, but ended up making seven appearances with six of those coming as a starter.

Cacace said balancing study and training can be difficult but he has been getting advice from goalkeeper Keegan Smith, who was in the exact same situation last year.

"It's quite challenging to balance the two because I want to train every day with them but you've also got school that same day."

"Rushing after training to school was quite hard because you'd be missing half the day.

"But having those supportive teachers and also the coaches, they always told me if you need time off training to go to school then you can.

"Some days leading up to my exams I'd maybe take one training day off a week to focus on the exams but it's been good, I've received some results already and I've been getting solid marks."

Through his role as a prefect, Cacace recently recruited a band of his schoolmates to attend a home game against Brisbane Roar - his sole appearance at Westpac Stadium.

He said it was awesome to have them in the crowd, dressed in their St Patrick's College uniforms, cheering him.

Cacace was born and raised in Wellington. His parents are Italian, and his father owns La Bella Italia - an Italian restaurant in Petone.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz Phillip Rollo

Speaking at Marcellin College was all the initiative of the former troublesome teenager, now WBO heavyweight champion.

"He asked us if he can come to school to help us out in any way," said Marcellin director of services Anthony Weijermars.

Mobbed by Marcellin College students, Parker did not mind walking around to have his picture taken with every student, reports Stuff.

While at the College, Parker presented students with their sports awards.

Faith Ah Wa who took out the college's junior girls touch player of the year and middle school sports girl of the year said it meant a lot to her and other award winners to have their certificates presented by Parker.

"I can't believe I shook his hand, he shook my hand," Ah Wa said.

"I was really surprised that he was the one who presented us with our awards.

"I knew he was going to be here but I didn't know he would be giving me my certificates himself."

Not always a model student, Parker was more interested in fixing cars and going fishing than doing his homework recalls Year 11 Dean, Dr Swatantra Bassi.

Bassi said it wasn't until Parker decided to get serious about a sport that the benefits overflowed into the classroom.

Once he found his direction he was totally devoted to it, he said.

"He used to go to the gym early in the morning and he would stay back after school to work out. And from there he kicked on," Bassi added.

22 pies and counting

Not forgetting his old school teachers, Parker keeps in regular email contact with Bassi; his favourite teacher.

"I felt he was the only teacher that understood me and showed that he really cared a lot.

"He would explain my circumstances to other teachers and they began to understand me better," Parker told Stuff.

He also regularly emails former principal Dennis Fahey.

As a student, Parker one day persuaded Fahey to buy him a pie at lunchtime.

These days the pair look back at Parker's cheeky request and laugh.

"I email Mr Fahey every fight as well. He just replied the other day and said the reason why you do so well in your fights is because I bought you that pie," Parker said.

By Parker's reckoning he has won 22 fights so has 22 butter chicken pies waiting to be delivered.

Parker left the college with four words he famously writes on his boxing gloves for big fights: "power comes from within".

Source

• Stuff
• Stuff

Both Fitzpatrick and Argentinian rugby star Hugo Porta spoke at the three-day conference, where the Sport in Service of Humanity project was launched.

The project aims to unite people from every faith, nationality and culture through sport.

Those present included athletes and competitors at all levels and of all ages and abilities.

Coaches, owners, managers, corporate sponsors and experts in fields ranging from sports medicine and psychology to training, discipline, education and formation attended.

Despite their different backgrounds they have a common goal - to help those who need it most, especially the marginalized and the disadvantaged.

The project also aims to encourage everyone to develop life skills, character, common values and to increase their capacity for the enjoyment of life itself.

During the week, the conference attendees met with leaders from the world's great religious traditions to discuss how sport can be used in the service of humanity.

The conference organizers and sponsors hope to foster a worldwide movement.

They hope the movement will enrich lives by using sport to help people build trust, learn cooperation, foster friendship, live healthy lives and have fun.

Founding partner, Allianz, has encouraged the creation of the Humanity Sports Club to act initially as a motor for the movement.

The new movement's Preamble to its Declaration of Principles states the participants' common commitment.

This commitment is to the idea that sport has the power to celebrate our common humanity, regardless of faith, race, culture, beliefs, gender and ability.

It says sport "... can bring us together - to meet one another across borders and boundaries, to learn to compete as friends, to respect and trust one another even in opposition."

It also says: "Sport has the power to teach positive values and enrich lives.

"Everyone who plays, organises and supports sport, has the opportunity to be transformed by it and to transform others."

Source

• Vatican Radio
• Image: www.wvalways.com

The parish hall in St Joseph's Catholic Church in Bracknell UK is sporting a painting of recently retired captain of the Irish team, Brian O'Driscoll.

He has been included in a "Gallery of Good Examples".

Some of the people in the Gallery were chosen by the 26 candidates for Confirmation in 2014

Their choices are a mixture of world famous and what appear to be to be more local heroes.

• Nelson Mandela
• Brian O'Driscoll,
• Martin Luther King
• Demi Lavato
• Fr Adrian Walker
• Fr Danny McEvoy
• Rosa Parks
• St Josephine Bahkita
• Mary Berry
• Gordon Ramsay

 
Parish Social Justice Co-ordinator Hugh Gibbons arranged and painted them on a 2400mm x 300mm wooden panel.

Mary Berry is shown holding one of her Fairtrade recipes alongside Gordon Ramsey in marathon kit. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and civil rights leader Rosa Parks carry banners as in a rally. Singer and anti-bullying campaigner Demi Lavato and anti-slavery symbol St Josephine Bakhita also appear. His two cats support parish priest Fr Danny McEvoy, while Fr Adrian Walker holds a dove.

Hugh says "the aim of these Galleries is to educate, inspire, intrigue and amuse - and for many years ahead."

"I'd commend parishes and schools to consider one."

"They're different from different from religious art bought in for churches because they're home-grown, specific to your place and time, and give a sort of snapshot of the parish can be updated and revisited."

"You just need to identify a bit of fallow space and someone with a brush and a bit of imagination. Young people are obviously great at suggesting an interesting mix of figures."

Other figures include:

• St Joseph wearing a safety helmet and carrying a spokeshave.
• St Margaret Clitherow has a keyring with ball-bearings brought from St Josef's parish in Schweinfurt, Germany, as part of the Thanksgiving Field project at Winkfield.
• Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, famous "voice of the voiceless", carries a CAFOD postcard saying "Aspire Not To Have More But To Be More". An old wooden ruler is a reminder that he originally trained as a carpenter.

 
O'Driscoll has sent "sincere appreciation and best wishes" to the parish.

More information and photographs

Source

• Supplied: Hugh Gibbons
• A Gallery of Good Examples
• Image: Suppled: Hugh Gibbons

I wonder if a harmless nomenclature like the "Blues" explains the relative lack of success enjoyed by Kirwan's men.

I have been trying to think of a suitably violent animal to suggest to Sir John but all suitable names seem used up.

The violence that the codes of both games tolerates both on and off the fields is frankly appalling.

Spear tackling which I understand is illegal in rugby can lead to permanently disabling injuries.

No one seemed too concerned apart from Brian O'Driscoll when All Black Tama Umanga spear-tackled the Irishman in 2005 thereby ensuring he could no longer play in the Lion's tour of the country that year.

Umanga branded O'Driscoll as a "sook" in his biography and berated the media for criticising his violent action. The two men were reconciled some four years later.

There has been more than one incident this year of spectator or player attacks on referees.

A minority of rugby and league players seem to have few qualms about beating up their partners.

And apparently the All Blacks have iconic value for all New Zealanders.

The odd visit to Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland does not disguise the fact that players are committed to a violent game. Continue reading.

Previous events have left countries with decaying venues and huge bills that take years to pay off.

Local communities are increasingly unhappy that a large portion of their government's funds are directed towards events that might line the pockets of corporations, but do little to support local industry.

The $51 billion Sochi Winter Olympic Games — believed to be the most expensive Olympics in history — may have showcased modern Russia to the world, but it also shone a spotlight into the darker corners of the country's society: its treatment of LGBT people, the crackdowns on free speech of groups like Pussy Riot, and the corruption among the country's elite.

The spotlight will soon turn on Brazil, with the World Cup kicking off in June.

Here too, the event has brought world attention to the country's issues.

Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets to protest the enormous financial costs, the forced evictions of communities, and the exploitation of construction workers.

Marginalised people bear the brunt of costs for these global events.

A new report from Caritas Australia estimates that around 200,000 people have been forced out of their homes in favelas in Brazil to make way for the construction of venues for the World Cup - that's one in every 1000 people. Continue reading.

Source: Eureka Street

Image: ShutterStock

"It's always with you," he replied.

"I'm Catholic. Go to church whenever I can. When we were on tour in Italy I stopped into a church with a couple of the other boys and went to confession."

"I said I hadn't been to church for a long time and the priest said being Christian is not just about going to church, it's about having a relationship with God. That was really special and made me feel a bit better because it's hard when you're on tour."

"As I've gotten older in my faith, it's been about the gratitude, being thankful for what I have.

"When you travel around the world as we do, you quickly realise not everyone is as lucky as we are. You might be staying in a five-star hotel, but the poverty is just across the road. I really want to teach my kids to be grateful for all they have," says Mealamu.

Keven Mealamu is the third All Black to play more than 100 games for the national side. He is a father of two and illustrates children's books to raise money for the Starship hospital.

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• Image: horiwood.files.wordpress.com

He says his Muslim Faith has helped him to become the man he is today.

He grew up a Christian but meeting a Tunisian family who lived with their five children in a one-bedroom flat in the south of France led to to his conversion to Islam.

On CNN's Human to Hero series. he said, "I was real close with them, and I saw how happy and content they were. And to see how they lived their lives, it was just simple,"

"I've become a true Muslim," added Williams. "It's giving me happiness. It's made me become content as a man, and helped me to grow. I've just got faith in it and it has definitely helped me become the man I am today."

Source

• CNN
• Image: ResourcesOnews.com.au

The race came at the end of a week in which the Vatican announced the formation of its own cricket club and an Argentinian boxer gave the Pope a replica of his world championship belt.

For the October 20 event, organised by the Pontifical Council for Culture, an impromptu race track was set up along the Via della Conciliazione leading into St Peter's Square.

Some 5000 participants took part in the three-hour event, including several high-profile athletes. Welcoming them, Pope Francis declared that "believers are spiritual athletes".

Using imagery that St Paul described to the Corinthians, the pontifical council likened Christian life to a sort of ideal relay race in which faith is transmitted from generation to generation.

The following day the council held a seminar, focusing on the relationship between sport and faith.

The formation of the Vatican's cricket club was promoted by the Australian ambassador to the Holy See, John McCarthy, a keen player and former member of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust.

He expects the team will consist mainly of priests and seminarians from cricket-playing countries, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies.

He is also on the lookout for religious sisters from Sri Lanka, India or Pakistan who could form a women's XI as well.

McCarthy also envisages ecumenical and interfaith opportunities — "there are many players here in Rome who would like to see, for instance, the Vatican play the Church of England….

"Cricket as a sport is something that covers many religions and ethnic groups...the Vatican could play the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs."

The Argentinian boxer who met Pope Francis was middleweight world champion Sergio Martínez, who said beforehand "I will be asking the Pope for blessings and spiritual protection to all of those who enter the ring".

It is believed Martínez also told the Pope about an anti-bullying campaign he has initiated.

Sources:

eNCA

Vatican Information Service

Vatican Radio

Catholic Herald

Image: eNCA