It Started as a Game

I was amused by a letter in yesterday’s Eastern Daily Press that started: ‘Why on earth did Norwich city sign Ashley Barnes? …He is to goal scoring what Long John Silver was to tap dancing.’

Football started as a game – young men, competition, fitness… Now it’s a multi-million-pound industry supported by fans who pay with their money, loyalty, energy and emotions as they support their team. The great Liverpool manager, Bill Shankly famously said:

‘Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.’

That’s more than just a game.

Yesterday Prince William presented rugby league legends Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield with their CBEs at Headingly – the home of Leeds Rhinos and where both men used to play.

It started with two friends playing a game. Burrow was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2019 and subsequently his health has declined. Together they’ve raised awareness of the illness and raised more than £15m for charities. That’s more important than any game!

We’re watching ‘The Traitors’. Claudia Winkleman greets 22 strangers as they arrive at a beautiful castle in the Scottish Highlands to take on challenging tasks and missions. It starts as a game.

Then it gets serious. There are ‘Faithful’ and ‘Traitors’. There’s detection and backstabbing as banishments are voted on and murders are committed. And there’s the hope of winning up to £120,000… Is it still a game?

I’m reading the story of Joseph. It starts as a game, a joke, sibling rivalry; a younger brother with strange dreams and a multicoloured coat. It develops into favouritism, prejudice, hatred, conspiracy and staged murder.

Then through bereavement, lies, injustice, slavery and famine there’s final resolution. Prime minister Joseph welcomes his family to his Egyptian home, and says ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.’

Somewhere in the game that got out of hand there is God…