Don’t Stop Believing!

Will our passion for sport in Waterford deliver on our hopes and dreams? 

What's the Story? in Waterford #3 

So, he’s back, Davy Fitz is back in charge of the Waterford Hurling team.  Only time will tell what this sequel will be titled, but it won’t lack passion and drama, of that we can be sure.  Since his last stint as Bainisteor the expectations, performance and success of the team has steadily risen.  Now the hope will surely be that he brings the same speedy improvement he did in Clare and Wexford, as well as in the Deise the last time.  Is it time to set aside the quiet, slow simmering hopes of improvement for the high hopes of bringing home Liam for the first time since 1948? 

Say what you like about Davy Fitzgerald, but he’s not lacking in passion or effort.  This is surely something that makes him a good fit with the Deise.  This is a county passionate about sport.  We’re only too delighted to celebrate a new hero, like Seamus Power in golf, or to treasure Sam Bennett in cycling and Craig Breen in rallying, whose achievements may at times not receive the attention they deserve.  We’re proud of our own and their efforts.

What better way is there to relax after the work of the week than a bumper weekend full of sport?  To chill out and to switch off, as life can be serious and heavy going enough.  We could all do with a diversion to delight in.  As in sport, so too in other areas of life, including big questions about life and meaning.  Sure, we might get to them one day, but let’s not be too intense.  We hold our religion losely, if we pay attention to it at all.  

In Davy Fitz in the Deise Part 1 the song of faith and hope, “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, sounded out.  This tune stirred the hearts of the faithful to dare to keep dreaming of winning a long awaited all Ireland.  Hopes of redemption and of reaching the promised land were placed on the shoulders of the one who could be the messiah to come to save the day.  

Such religious language may seem a little stretched here, but is often used for redemption stories across a wide range of sports.  John O’Shea, from Ferrybank, followed his days in the theatre of dreams in Old Trafford, by playing in the Stadium of LIght in Sunderland.  He features in the Netflix documentary, ‘Sunderland ‘til I die’, which explores the passionate support of the Sunderland fans as a type of religion.  They depend on the club’s success for their wellbeing.  Their hearts are broken by the disappointments and fall from glory of their club. 

Could it be that sport carries more meaning for us than we think? Tom Inglis, from UCD, confirms this suspicion in his book, ‘Meanings of Life in Contemporary Ireland: Webs of Significance’.  His research shows that we have complex webs of meaning including sport, but also politics, love, money and, most significantly, family and community.  Religion still features, but is in decline and fails to inform key decisions in daily life.  

So, as many are no longer moved by faith in the Christian story, but have moved away from it, it seems like we still look to place our hope in something.  Even when we aim to not be too serious and deep, we are still drawn to creating meaning and purpose for ourselves.  In a survey of almost one thousand Irish people on topics of faith and life one of the key questions revealed was, ‘Does my life really have purpose?’  We are in search of meaning. 

The Sunderland documentary offers a striking exploration of what can happen when the faith in your team is unrewarded.  There is a profound sadness and emptiness in the heart of this community.  In a much smaller way, the frustrations and irritation those by our side might endure after our team loses raise the question if placing our hope and happiness in sport brings a reward. Are the passions in life that Inglis highlights in his book capable of bearing the weight we place on them?  Can even our beloved family and friends take the weight of all our hopes and dreams? 

Ironically even though we may have left Jesus behind us he offers us language that gives meaning to what we’ve described.  He tells his followers that what they treasure is where their heart is.  He urges them to invest in heavenly treasures, rather than those on earth which decay or can be robbed from us.  This is not a call to spiritualize life or to only look to life after death, but rather to invest our lives with the meaning that comes with knowing him and living his way.  

In another story he describes this as treasure found in a field, which is worth so much the man who discovered it broke the bank to buy the field to take hold of it.  

It may seem far fetched today to say that Jesus is hidden to people in this country or that he brings something new, but could we not say he has been buried in the past, the meaning and life he offers has been neglected?  Could it be that the meaning and purpose, that we can’t help seek in life, are found in him?  How might you explore if he really is the treasure our hearts are longing for? 

PS… discovering life in Jesus does not rob us of the passion of sport in our life, but rather helps us welcome it as a gift from him to be enjoyed.  It still leaves Man Utd fans, like myself, longing for some kind of sign of hope rekindling and frustrated with current failings, even though this is not our glory song!  

To explore more of these questions about meaning, life and faith check out What’s The Story? 

This blog is written by Colin Holmes, pastor of Ferrybank Christian Community Church.  Originally from Co. Antrim, he has made Waterford his home since 2010 and enjoys a wide range of sports, including soccer, rugby, hurling.  He is a Man United fan since childhood and is quietly optimistic and strangely confused in equal measure these days.  He blogs on sport and life at The Grandstand View.