Sport is the new Religion and we should be delighted

hoodie6029 · 07-11-2022 4:20pm #1

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2022/11/07/for-many-people-sport-has-replaced-the-religious-experience/

Written by a holy joe, it’s not surprising that this is his opinion.

Probably written in response to the recent bad coverage the GAA has gotten in the IT about favouritism, exclusion and over-competitiveness in underage teams.

Hopefully people may realise that we don’t need another religion to replace the toxic one we’re still getting over and see this biased piece for what it is. For all the greats he’s named, he leaves out Michelle Smith, Cian O’Connor, Roy Keane, the behaviour of parents that has referees withdrawing their services and so much else.

So maybe he is right, sport is like religion, Michael Cleary, Eamon Casey, every priest with their hand in the till, crushing anyone who doesn’t conform, get them at a young age, keep them for life. There are many similarities.

Sorry if this seems like such a whinge but I am sick of this orthodoxy that you have to be part of something bigger. It’s toxic. You don’t. You can just be yourself first and foremost.

Overheal · 07-11-2022 4:23pm

I for one welcome our new cleated overlords

ancapailldorcha · 07-11-2022 4:34pm

Sport is the same as it's always been, albeit a lot more corporate now. I feel like he's trying to take some thought that occurred to him in the shower and turn it into some sort of deep intellectual argument.

Personally, I can't imagine anything duller than watching sport. It's the epitome of tedium for me.

timmyntc · 07-11-2022 4:36pm

Sport is the new religion is the new opium of the masses

StupidLikeAFox · 07-11-2022 4:43pm

The rugby lads can pray to BOD and complain about the scourge of unprotected Sexton

One eyed Jack · 07-11-2022 5:06pm

Probably written in response to the recent bad coverage the GAA has gotten in the IT about favouritism, exclusion and over-competitiveness in underage teams.

It’s not written in response to anything. It’s an article basically written about the ideas in his new book in which it appears he interviews Irish sports people about the part that their faith plays in their lives, and makes a wider commentary about the overlap between faith and sports -

Gerard Gallagher works with Association of Leaders of Missionaries & Religious of Ireland and is author of Faith: In Search of Greater Glory in Sport

He’s not saying you can’t be yourself or anything else, he’s basically observing the similarities and intertwining values between faith and sports and how they interact and inform each other in individuals and as a social pursuit -

What is common among those featured and many others around the country is that they have faith in themselves, faith in their team-mates and backroom team, and faith in a greater power that, perhaps, can help them to reach their greatest potential on the biggest stages of their sporting careers.

There is no such thing as the perfect Christian. Neither is there any such thing as the perfect athlete. Both Christians and sportspeople strive for perfection. In sport there are many winners fulfilling their dreams. Yet there are many others who have had an honest go at trying to be the best they could be. Isn’t that the greater glory?

You’re reading far too much into it and coming away with something that isn’t there. There’s nothing toxic in seeking to be part of something greater than oneself. It’s the opposite of insular, narcissistic navel gazing and being unable to see further than the end of your own nose.

BaywatchHQ · 09-11-2022 5:27pm

The media always refer to sports men as warriors which I find ludicrous and actually offensive to the generations of men who had to die in battle fields. You always see it in those RTE GAA pre game montages when they paint the game as some sort of medieval war between dynasties.

timmyntc · 09-11-2022 6:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119853867#Comment_119853867

The media always refer to sports men as warriors which I find ludicrous and actually offensive to the generations of men who had to die in battle fields.

I'd say men who died in battle would not begrudge the use of the term warriors for sportspeople. You have little to be at being offended on their behalf.

osarusan · 10-11-2022 10:20am

Really weird article trying to stitch some connection between sport and religion.

20Wheel · 10-11-2022 3:43pm

Yeah but identity politics is the new biggest sport.

So petty horsesht about who said what in which context is the new religion.

whisky_galore · 10-11-2022 5:31pm

Anything that people can do a bit of 'holier than thou' finger wagging is a new religion.

Take your pick from cycling, veganism, environment, wokery.

hoodie6029 · 10-11-2022 7:56pm

Can’t control people from the pulpit anymore, so let’s try with sport. Players parading their babies around after a match, it isn’t something that happened 20 or even 10 years ago.

I’m going to sound like a real snowflake, woke gobsh1*e or whatever now but I’ll say it anyway. It’s a conformist message, promotes heteronormative stereotypes and is pro-natalist. In a sport that claims to be inclusive, displays like that exclude players, young people and fans who don’t conform to or don’t want to conform to those ideas.

One eyed Jack · 10-11-2022 8:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119858669#Comment_119858669

You nailed the sounding like a snowflake bit anyway 😁

But this -

Players parading their babies around after a match, it isn’t something that happened 20 or even 10 years ago.

Dunno what neck of the woods you’re from, but it was a regular occurrence in my experience. Oliver Callan does a good skit of the phenomenon that still to this day is fairly widespread, not just in GAA circles, but all sports and social circles* -

https://youtu.be/nGuc4E666F4

*Have you ever experienced people bringing their children to work?

hoodie6029 · 10-11-2022 8:52pm

kids in work? yep, that is the worst.

earlyevening · 10-11-2022 10:54pm

Discussion reminds me of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MusyO7J2inM

Potential-Monke · 10-11-2022 11:25pm

Both prey on the weaknesses of the sheeple. Both have cult like followings. Both cause exclusion. It didn't replace it, it's just another version.

hoodie6029 · 10-11-2022 11:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119859487#Comment_119859487

😂😂😂

ThePentagon · 11-11-2022 12:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058270804/sport-is-the-new-religion-and-we-should-be-delighted

"So maybe he is right, sport is like religion, Michael Cleary, Eamon Casey, every priest with their hand in the till, crushing anyone who doesn’t conform, get them at a young age, keep them for life. There are many similarities."

Personally, I don't see any substantial similarities between religion and sport. And, it being a free country, as an adult you're not under any pressure to engage with sport - nobody is forcing you to "conform" to anything.

Hotblack Desiato · 11-11-2022 6:25pm

Imagine if followers of a certain sports team controlled 90% of primary schools, insisted on telling kids that followers of other sports teams were at best misguided at worst evil... etc etc

Article is the usual woolly-headed load of crap we've come to expect from religion peddlers these days.

He says religion and sport bring people together, in reality they're extremely tribalist and divisive.

Sport is the new Religion and we should be delighted

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