"God answers my prayers everywhere except on the golf-course."
Professional foul
The final of the 2002 Heineken Cup had reached a dramatic climax. Leicester hold a 15-9 lead in the dying minutes but Munster have a 5 metre scrum in front of the posts. A converted try will win the game for Munster. As Munster scrum half, Peter Stringer, is about to put the ball into the scrum, Leicester Flanker Neil Back illegally knocks the ball out of his hand and back on the Leicester side of the scrum. The referee is unsighted. The ball is cleared and Leicester have won the Heineken Cup. After the game, Neil Back says, "I did what I had to do".To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'you must not eat of it', Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, And you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food Genesis 3:17-19
In Genesis 3 we see sin for the first time. Sin entered into the equation when Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God's authority, often referred to as "The Fall" Not satisfied with being made in the image of God, they wanted more. They wanted to equal authority with God; they wanted to be in charge.
Ironically one Greek word for sin is a sporting metaphor. It means to shoot and miss the mark, to fall short of the target. Just as we as sportspeople understand the concept of shooting wide of the goal, so as Christians we understand the concept of falling short of God's standards.
The consequence of the fall is judgment. In Genesis 3:14 God says, Because you have done this... and continues to outline for the serpent and for Adam and Eve, the consequences of their actions. The consequence for our relationships is described in Genesis 3:16. I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. All our relationships are now broken because our relationship to God is broken by our rebellion. At the same time Genesis 3:17 tells us that by thorns and thistles you will take forth from the ground. Our work, our use of our talents, gets broken too.
The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve's sin affects us all - we are all sinners because of them. Yet at the same time, by personal choice we perpetuate sin and become responsible for our own actions. The whole of creation is tarnished. What God created for mankind to enjoy in work and relationships is now ruined by our selfish and sinful attitude to them.
Sin breaks everything, everything is now flawed. Sin spoils the way we say our prayers, it spoils the way we read our Bibles. It spoils the way we use our sexuality, our money, our authority in society. It spoils our playing sport. So we should not be surprised to find sin rampant in the world of sport as everywhere else.
Within the context of modern professional sport, perhaps Neil Back is right that he did what he had to do and what many other players would have done. The Christian player must respectfully reject this view and try to be a voice for fair play, honesty and integrity in the club. Winning is important. It is the purpose of the contest. There is no shame in being competitive. However, the Christian plays for an audience of one, who is more concerned about the player's attitude and motivation than the outcome. Winning is not enough.
The evidence of human sin is all around us, in the world of sport as much as, but no less than, anywhere else. There is the cheating, the win at all costs attitude, attempts to con the officials, players pretending they have been fouled when they have not. The world of sport needs to be brought back to God's way, and so we can either turn our backs on it or find out how it can be corrected.
PS I am using the rugby story because it illustrates the issue well. We are trying to look at the principle and do not mean to criticize Neil Back personally.