Religion and sports

[David Swidler]

Can anyone point me to a treatment of the similarities between loyalty to a sports team and adherence to a religion?

It seems fertile ground for discussion (and I'd love to hear (read?) anecdotes on the subject if you'd care to share).

Tawk amongst y'selves...

[Lothian]

I am not aware of any study but while their might be similarities there are also differences.

Supporting sports teams is not exclusive as following a religion. While you are unlikely to support a team and its rivals it is common to support another local team in a different league. The religious equivalent ‘I follow Islam but also worship the lesser followed deity “Helios” is probably not so common.

You also, I suspect, get people switching between and away from religions a lot more than sports teams.

[David Swidler]

Interesting approach. I was thinking more along psychological/emotional lines, such as the warm fuzzies one gets from rooting for a winner. So during, say, the Crusades, a Christian might react in much the same way to news of Godfrey's taking of Jerusalem as Boston Red Sox fans did to last year's championship (though I do not mean to imply, however popular the sentiment, that the NY Yankees are a bunch of infidels worthy of destruction).

There are, as we know, many instances in which religion and sports mix (here I refer less to the prayers recited before football games and more of the occasional "Jesus Himself deflected the ball from the goal" stories that appear in Latin America). But I'd like to know if there's any literature that compares the two types of devotion in depth.

What prompted the OP was a recollection that someone once related to me regarding the emotional appeal of idolatry. Apparently the dean of a certain Jerusalem yeshiva grew up in New York, but moved to Israel decades ago. To illustrate the lasting emotional pull of idolatry he compared it to the sadness he feels, all these years later, when someone tells him the Yankees lost.

So there's definitely what to compare. I just want to see some scholarly thought on the subject.

[Mojo]

Interesting approach. I was thinking more along psychological/emotional lines, such as the warm fuzzies one gets from rooting for a winner. There are definite differences though. I've never noticed the supporters of a religion having to acknowlege that their team has been given a damn good hiding! There are, as we know, many instances in which religion and sports mix (here I refer less to the prayers recited before football games and more of the occasional "Jesus Himself deflected the ball from the goal" stories that appear in Latin America). Or, indeed, the graffiti from 1960s Liverpool:

"JESUS SAVES."


"But St John nets the rebound!"

http://cards.littleoak.com.au/196768_abc_starplayers_blackbacks/44_ian_st_john.JPG

[Steve]

I’m not sure about religion, but Desmond Morris wrote a book titled “The Soccer Tribe”, published around 1980, in which he compared soccer clubs and their supporters to the sociological and emotional attachments found in tribes, clans, etc. of earlier societies. I do not recall any comparisons to religion in this book – I have not read it for more than 20 years – but this could easily be a component of his analysis. It might be worth tracking down a copy to see if it answers any of your questions.

[Dubium]

Following a sporting team is a form of tribalism. The human needs something to identify with and in, and in these modern times where everyone lives (mostly) in homogenous communities, we seek out rock bands or sporting teams to identify with (music is a very powerful force in this area, especially for the teenaged).

I don't think sport and religion can be compared as a belief system though. You might care much more about your sport than your god, but most fans won't pray to the team captain.

Sport is something you can identify with on a human level, where as religion is 'out there' and intangible.

Maybe

[Mojo]

I don't think sport and religion can be compared as a belief system though. You might care much more about your sport than your god, but most fans won't pray to the team captain. The big difference is that, in sport, no matter how many times your team is beaten, you still follow it.

Religions never admit to being beaten.








"Carlisle 'till I die."

[Lothian]

The big difference is that, in sport, no matter how many times your team is beaten, you still follow it.

Religions never admit to being beaten.


"Carlisle 'till I die."Mojo. Do you not see the similarities between the reported miracles of Jesus and the actual miracle of Jimmy Glass.

[Starrman]

Can anyone point me to a treatment of the similarities between loyalty to a sports team and adherence to a religion?

It seems fertile ground for discussion (and I'd love to hear (read?) anecdotes on the subject if you'd care to share).

Tawk amongst y'selves...

The main difference for me is I never tailgated before Church. If there was more of that, I might get in line for the labotomy.

Off topic: Reminds me of the line from 'Arrested Development' the other night: "I want a corndog cross with all the crucifixins!" said at the Church and State fair.