Secular Thought for the Day

Easter is a hugely important time of the year for millions of people.

Throughout the country they will be meeting together to offer praise, give thanks and offer comfort.

I am of course talking about the climax of the football season. At the cathedrals of football, with names like St Andrews and St Marys, thanks will be given to the teams that reach the promised land of the Premiership , while thousands will express despair at their own team’s descent into the hell of League One.

Now some people will think that this is all a bit trite and religious people might even consider it disrespectful. And, of course , spending large sums of money on an unpredictable and often disappointing football team, as I do, is as irrational as praying to an god for which there is no scientific evidence. But to be irrational is to be human and there are many activities which seem strange to much of the population, but which to its enthusiasts can provide a form of leisure and the basis of a community. Humanists will normally draw the line where beliefs and activities are imposed upon others and express justifiable anger where they are harmful.

My thought for the day is that for many people football plays an important and positive part in their lives. Football clubs provide a community of interest that is as strong as any religion. As the back pages of every local newspaper and the regular features on Football Focus amply demonstrate, local clubs and players play an important and positive part in their wider community. Football clubs have led the way in the fight against racism and it is very rare indeed that you hear a racist chant these days. When one of my own club’s supporters complained about such behaviour, the club gave his family free corporate hospitality at the next game and plain clothes Police officers took their seats. The culprits were arrested, cautioned and the activity ceased.

Football grounds now have much more diverse attendees, with women forming a substantial proportion, as well as womens’ football being the biggest growth sport in the United States. Football still has some way to go – homophobic chants recently led to arrests and bans of Spurs fans – but the important point is that the football authorities do not tolerate such acts of hatred, whereas women are still expected to remain second class citizens by the major religions and homosexuality is still portrayed as an evil by senior church members, who should know better.

So as we reach the end of another football season, as humanists we will celebrate the skills that human beings have developed in football, sports, the arts and so many other areas of activity. These skills come as a result of years of evolution, exercise and plain hard work; not as part of some supernatural design.

We should give ourselves more credit.