Sport- an alternative religion, an alternative to religion, or none of the above?
I was perusing blogs when I came across Sanisha's post, the beautiful game. Its an interesting concept, the idea of sport being a religion, one which many Aussies are quite passionate about... I found this article when I googled "footy" and "religion":
There I was, last weekend, still reeling from the shock! horror! front page story about Ian Thorpe's agony when, a few pages further into my Sunday tabloid, I discovered far more alarming news. The headline said it all: "Sunday for Mass, not sport: Pope." Fair dinkum, I almost choked on my cereal. Forget your footie sex scandals and the brawling in the bleachers. Forget Thorpie. Here was the real front-page story - a full frontal attack by the Vatican on our most hallowed sacred cow, Sunday sport.What else is interesting, if you Google "AFL" and "religion" then the official AFL website comes up as the first search result... (being the scientist that I am, I decided to check that there weren't other factors involved- ie the fact that AFL was entered first- when "religion" and "AFL" are entered, the AFL website is 3rd after a dead link to some AFL-CIO page and some personal blog that happens to mention both...[I'm quite certain that this AFL-CIO thing is something political and unrelated to Australian Rules Football])
Also having fun with google, I found the A-Z of Melbourne, Birthplace of Aussie Rules. Under "F" for footy- AFL is said to be known as Melbourne’s alternative religion.
Are people neglecting religion because of their love for footy? Is it possible to love footy and still be religious?
THE HEYDAY.COM interviews Aussie Baha'i youth/Pro AFL player, Luke McPharlin about this potential dichotomy.
In fact McPharlin has had quite the coverage of both his Footy and his Faith in WA media.
"I'm a Baha'i and that 's the most important part of my life," McPharlin was featured as saying, in the Fremantle Herald.Perhaps all those footy fanatics haven't found what they are looking for in religion so they have to turn to sport for a sense of belonging, an instant solidarity with fellow fans, "gods" to worship...
"It's a faith for this day and age," he said. "It aims to eradicate old modes of thought and old prejudices so things like equality of the sexes and unity of all races are very important."
Perhaps they need to
posted by caz | 4:29 pm
2 Comments:
wow,whats great take on this topic, its a hefty one, by sheer numbers ( amount of fans of football for example) and what it is saying about us , modern day society. I like the Oz twist too
i know they are famous for rugby...as is SA,where I am from.These two countries often battle it out on the field.
but its alsoa game thats shows the legacy of colonisation left by the British so this sport issue, besides it being an alternative to religion these days, also tells you about the social status and class (?) of a person or country maybe , am just stirring the pot.
see ruha reyhani's blog post and commenta, also very interesting.
we do have rugby here too, but AFL is "Australian Rules Football" unlike any other kind of football you may come across (except perhaps gaelic football)!
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