"Lord, I don't ask that I should win, but please, please don't let me finish behind Akabusi."
Winning is not enough
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Andrew Wingfield Digby and Stuart Weir, London Marshall Pickering, 1991.
This account by two directors of Christians in Sport chronicles the lives of 11 sporting Christians, some more famous than others. It examines their sporting achievements, how they found and use their faith and what that belief means to them.
My expectations were of a book principally concerned with the way Christian faith has given strength and direction to sportsmen and women. I should have known better. Having spent 3 weeks on a CIS cricket tour with Andrew Wingfield Digby, I discovered that he was a man not in the business of thrusting religion upon people. This book throughout is consistent with that approach and remains a book about sport.
Aside from the sporting facts though, it will help to encourage everyone (especially sportspeople who are often regarded as role models) to state their views and belief that sport and God are compatible. As one of the sportsmen says about the world of racing: “It is the world into which I believe God sent me”.
Sportspeople who, owing to the length of their career, might question life’s meaning earlier than most, are also encouraged to realize what there is to fill any residual emptiness.
Importantly, the characters aren’t attempting to indoctrinate, rather, stating their faith and explaining how it has helped them.
If there is an overall aim of the book, it maybe simply to point people in a direction whereby they can make up their own mind. Alan Fordham
- Church of England Newspaper (
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