Of course no one in the 19th century set out to found a 21st century Premier League Club. Churches formed sports clubs, many existed for a short time and many remained church teams all their lives but a few evolved into professional clubs. So that’s what we’re doing in football, and that’s why we’re having sessions like today … because I think faith alongside football, makes a great community.”

Comparing that with religious belief, she added: “When you have religious belief, you’re a participant in something, you have those beliefs. Christianity calls upon you to act on those beliefs and, as a football fan, I’m called upon to not just watch but to really get behind the team.”Retired professional footballer Linvoy Primus, who played for Portsmouth, Reading and Charlton Athletic, saw a change in his career after he converted to Christianity.“Playing football was my dream, but at 27 or 28 I realised it wasn’t giving me everything I hoped it would give me,” he said. The church and football complement each other really well,” he told the briefing, saying that he regularly discussed the sport with parishioners of all ages. He still plays and even captains the Archbishop of Canterbury’s football team, which in the coming weeks will compete against teams from The Times, the Vatican and the Swiss Guards. She said: “He has said very publicly that he’s driven by his personal experience of growing up in poverty but also by his faith.It isn’t just for the headlines. There are a lot of other players putting their faith into practice at a local level really quietly, but really brilliantly.” Strong affiliations in football have sometimes been linked to religious rivalries, but Ms Pepinster hopes such sectarianism is disappearing.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for...By faith Abraham...was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:1,2, 8,10 But let us thank God for Rev Tiverton Preedy, founder of Barnsley St Peter’s Football Club, for John Ripsher, who ran a Bible Class at All Hallows Church, Tottenham and poured his life into the boys of the area and their football club or William Baker Pitt, curate of Christ Church, Swindon. Where would Barnsley FC, Tottenham Hotspur or Swindon Town be without them?

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How could the members of the Young Men's Bible Class who decided to found the Aston Villa (Wesleyan) Football team or the boys of the All Hallows Church Bible class who founded the Hotspur Football Club, for example, possible have guessed that two of England's finest clubs, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur who emerge in later years? Now an initiative organised by the Football Association hopes to show that a dedication to the sport can work hand in hand with faith groups to enhance the game’s reputation — on and off the pitch. Mr Primus believes the Christian message of ‘love thy neighbour’ can help to stamp out racism in the stands.“How about finding out about that person next to you and understanding that shouting out racist terms or to discriminate isn’t right?”

When you go on the field you concentrate on the game but there’s so much more going on besides,” he added. A chaplain’s role was best summed as “pastorally proactive and spiritually reactive”. It is a little known fact that of the thirty seven clubs that have played in the English Premier League since its inception of the 92/93 season, twelve can trace their origin directly to a church. However, many of these famous football clubs know little about their origins or their founders. This book, which is the fruit of seven years intensive research, features chapters on: Aston Villa, Barnsley, Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Queen’s Park Rangers, Southampton, Swindon and Town Tottenham Hotspur. This book is a must read for football fans everywhere! About the Author Peter Lupson’s academic credentials have been put to excellent use in the intensive research undertaken to compile this unique volume. He is the author of a number of successful school and university French and German text books, as well as Across the Park: Everton FC and Liverpool Common Ground (Trinity Mirror Sport Media, 2009). He is honorary life president of a semi-professional club in North Wales and the founder of a thriving church youth league on Merseyside. He currently combines part-time English teaching with writing. Review The FA’s Faith and Football programme will see special events take place with other faith communities in the coming months. As part of the initiative, it held an online webinar with the Religion Media Centre to discuss the links between football and Christianity.Mr Lupson explained that values such as fair play and self-control were key to both Christianity and football when the sport first emerged. He cited amateur club Corinthian FC, which was founded on the basis of fair play and moral values.The team, he said, historically never argued with the referee or took part in matches involving cash prizes. The original Thank God for Football! was published to great acclaim in 2006. This new edition, with abbreviated text, contains almost 120 illustrations. It gathers together a huge number of rare images of founders, founding churches and early teams. It includes contemporary photographs of streets where players lived, pubs in which they socialized and churches where they gathered. Furthermore, it offers images reflecting the impact of Thank God for Football! the restoration of founders’ graves, the inducting of Christian founders into Halls of Fame, and features in match programmes and club magazines. Aston Villa Barnsley Birmingham City Bolton Wanderers Everton Fulham Liverpool Manchester City Queen’s Park Rangers Southampton Swindon Town Tottenham Hotspur This week I attended the launch of Peter Lupson’s new book* on the Christian origins of football clubs at Liverpool Cathedral. These verses seem relevant. Matt Baker has been chaplain at Charlton Athletic since 2000 and is national director for England at Sports Chaplaincy UK. While footballing has a reputation as a glamorous career path, players often struggle to cope with the transition to life in the spotlight, he said.

Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-1-g862e Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9360 Ocr_module_version 0.0.14 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-WL-2000075 Openlibrary_edition Peter Lupson interviews key players, including former professionals and managers, who share their personal experiences of how their Christian faith helped shape their careers. Lupson’s interviews reveal fascinating insights into how these individuals were able to reconcile their religious beliefs with the pressure and challenges associated with being a top-level footballer. If we want to win the World Cup, we need to get more young people playing football on the streets, then playing football on the pitch, then playing football up the levels,” he said. “And the only way of doing that is actually working with communities because they have a great organising power. urn:lcp:thankgodforfootb0000lups:epub:dffaac8b-2f56-49eb-b3cc-54091becceb1 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier thankgodforfootb0000lups Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s25hh602gdt Invoice 1652 Isbn 1902694309The book’s title is based on the following quotation from Lord Arthur Kinnaird, who played in nine FA Cup Finals between 1873 and 1883 – as well as being a leading Christian statesman of his era. “I believe that all right-minded people have good reason to thank God for the great progress of this popular national game”. Many of us regularly and sincerely thank God for football. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2022-01-29 11:09:29 Bookplateleaf 0004 Boxid IA40331008 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier My Christian faith is based on making a difference, of serving that model we have of Jesus during his 33 years on this earth.” He added: “The Corinthians refused to take penalties because they believed that if you take a penalty, you accept that cheating is part of football.”