In Depth:  sport

Graham Daniels

Earlier this year, during the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, members of Norway’s ski-jumping team were found to have manipulated their suits — adding tiny, hidden stitches to alter aerodynamics and gain extra lift. It was ingenious, even creative. But it was also deceitful. Within days, medals were stripped, coaches suspended, and reputations torn.

It’s tempting to distance ourselves from that kind of scandal. But any competitor, in sport or life, knows the pull to bend the truth — the quiet pressure to perform, to justify our worth, to hold our place. That’s why this story matters. It exposes something far deeper than a few altered seams; it exposes the human heart.

Jonny Reid

British Olympic swimmer Ben Proud has joined the Enhanced Games. It’s a decision, and a potential trajectory, for sport, with significant consequences and challenges for Christians to reflect on.

The Enhanced Games encourages the use of performance-enhancing drugs to break world records. It claims to be the future of sport “on a mission to redefine super humanity through science, innovation and sports.”

Graham Daniels

The Ryder Cup crowds were loud, proud, and at times out of control. Even in the gallery, Christian fans are called to a different way - one shaped by prayer, restraint, and witness.

Bethpage Black crackled with energy this weekend. American fans turned the Ryder Cup into a cauldron of noise. Flags waved, chants roared, and the U.S. team fed off the atmosphere. It was sport at its loudest and liveliest.

Graham Daniels

Giovanni van Bronckhorst knows what it’s like to be in the spotlight. As a player, he lifted the Premier League trophy and won the Champions League. As a manager, he guided Rangers to the Europa League final. Yet today, instead of prowling the touchline as the leading man, he sits on the Liverpool bench - not even Arne Slot’s number two.

Similarly, Gabriel Heinze, once a fierce competitor for Manchester United and Real Madrid and a respected coach in Argentina, is now part of the Arsenal staff.

Luke Randall

The start of the British football season brings excitement and anticipation of what might be achieved over the 38-game marathon between August and May. While the likes of Wimbledon and The Open have provided some welcome refreshment, it is always good when things get back to normal.

However, for those of us who support any of the previous season’s five best-placed Scottish teams, the first few weeks thrust us right into the nervous pressure cooker of the European qualifiers as our teams battle to secure places in the continent’s most high-profile and lucrative competitions.

Graham Daniels

In the high-octane world of Formula 1, few names resonate like Lewis Hamilton's. With seven world championships, he is undeniably a titan of the sport.

Recently, his candid remark about Ferrari potentially seeking his replacement - particularly after teammate Charles Leclerc's surprise pole position at a track Hamilton has long dominated - made headlines.

Rosie Woodbridge

One sport, yet three totally different experiences.

Federer: loved the game

Roger Federer is one of the most successful tennis players of all time: a twenty-time Grand Slam champion, once holding the world number one position for 237 weeks in a row. He is the most successful grass-court male player of all time, and played with a style, grace and elegance which made him loved by many. Fellow champion Novak Djokovic even remarked, "You have to wonder if he's from the same planet."

Rosie Woodbridge

This Easter, many of us will have enjoyed our chocolate eggs and a big feast on Easter Sunday. But for those of us with a more complicated relationship with food, times of the year like this can be a source of trepidation.

It is estimated that at least 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder^[1].

Luke Randall

It’s now early April and that means that sporting competitions move into the oft dubbed ‘business end’ of the season, where every point seems to matter that wee bit more and every mistake feels more costly. However, for those who follow golf, April means the start of the major season, and more specifically, that The Masters is just around the corner.

Hosted at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, USA, the event is now widely considered as the crown jewel of golf’s four major championships, with perhaps just The Open vying for its crown. It is the only major to be hosted at the same location every year and the beauty of the course is perhaps only rivalled in sport by tennis’ annual Wimbledon Championships.

Luke Randall

The Six Nations is underway for another year and the tournament has reached the halfway stage, when onlookers start to get an idea about who is likely to go all the way and claim victory following their five matches.

However, one perhaps lesser-known story surrounding the annual international rugby tournament centres around newly appointed England captain, Maro Itoje, who has spoken publicly about his Christian faith in the past and is known to refrain from swearing during matches.

Simon Lennox

Every year, as the clock strikes midnight on 1 January, we are bombarded with familiar messages of ‘new year, new me.’

Self betterment has become an inevitable part of our culture, with methods of improving yourself ever increasing in both volume and popularity. 79% of New Year resolutions are centred on fitness, with half of those surveyed stating that their top resolution is to exercise. Yet just 31 days later, the gyms have quietened down, with 80% losing the motivation to stick to their goals. But as Christians, what if faith and fitness are more similar, and more important, than we previously imagined?

Luke Randall

As Christmas approaches, we have officially entered the period of the football season in which consistency is everything.

As we all know thanks to the moaning and groaning of managers every year, this time of year features a hectic schedule of matches, with the top clubs often playing an average of one game every three days or so, exacerbated further by dark and wintery conditions.

Graham Daniels

In the high-stakes world of elite sport, winning is often seen as the Holy Grail. Yet, as tennis legend Andre Agassi noted in his autobiography, Open, success can be surprisingly hollow.

Agassi writes, 'Winning changes nothing. A win doesn't feel as good as a loss feels bad'^[1] - an insight that resonates powerfully in professional sport.

Luke Randall

We were on a family holiday in Newcastle years ago, and this of course meant we had to visit St James’ Park. We didn’t manage to watch a match or do the stadium tour, but upon visiting the club shop, we came across some thought-provoking memorabilia in the form of a t-shirt which featured the phrase, ‘Newcastle United is my religion. St James’ Park is my church'.

Now, you could tell by looking at my dad, who is a church minister, that he had already come up with a sermon illustration for his return to the pulpit. And who could blame him, as this sentiment reveals more about our human condition than the designers of the t-shirt could possibly have imagined.

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Graham Daniels

Last weekend marked the FA Cup First Round Proper - a significant event as professional teams from Leagues One and Two enter the fray, often facing non-league and semi-professional squads that have battled through the qualifying rounds. For football fans, it can be both thrilling and nerve-wracking.

I was delighted when my team, Cambridge United, secured a close 1-0 victory against Woking. Sunday evening found me in my favourite armchair with a comforting cup of tea, eagerly tuned in to the BBC highlights programme. I looked forward to that forty-five-second recap of my club's hard-fought win. However, as the highlights dragged on - 90 minutes covering 40 matches - boredom overtook me. I fell asleep, blissfully unaware that my team had been drawn against Wigan at home in the second round.

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Jonny Reid

Is there a problem with playing for an audience of one?

Scroll through any Christian sports players’ social media and you’ll likely see #ao1 in their posts. It stands for ‘Audience of One’ and is a phrase that has been around for a few decades. It started in America with the organisation Athletes in Action saying:

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Luke Randall

This summer’s Paris Olympic Games saw much made of Scottish runner Eric Liddell’s gold medal triumph in the 400-metre race in the same city 100 years ago.

There are many athletes who profess to having a Christian faith today, as was seen recently at the Olympics, as well as in some of England’s footballers, and perhaps most notably, the world’s best golfer, Scottie Scheffler.

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Rosie Woodbridge

The fate of football managers has filled our sports news feeds in recent days.

Taking the headlines, of course, is the appointment of new England manager Thomas Tuchel. Many will be pleased with the selection given his experience and success, being the man who brought Chelsea to Champions League victory in 2021. Some, however, will feel that there has been a sacrifice of principle; choosing success at the expense of homegrown English managerial talent. The hope is victory at the 2026 World Cup, finally ending England’s 60 year drought.

Graham Daniels

When Erik ten Hag became the manager of Manchester United in April 2022, it must have felt like the high point in an already impressive playing and managing career. How differently must he feel today?

It must be tough enough looking into the stands and seeing the three 'Sirs' - Alex Ferguson, Jim Radcliffe, and David Brailsford - keeping a watchful eye on his match-day performances. Then there are the TV pundits, the mainstream media and millions on social media who assess his results daily. Who can imagine receiving the criticism he has to endure?

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Jonny Reid

Manchester City star Rodri recently said that football players are close to calling a strike in opposition to an increase in the amount of games they are being asked to play. Footballers are not the only ones asking questions about workload.

Cricketer and England Test captain Ben Stokes retired from playing One Day Internationals saying: 'I feel that my body is letting me down because of the schedule and what is expected of us.' World number three tennis player Carlos Alcaraz also claimed the administrators are 'trying to kill us' with injuries mounting up due to a compressed calendar.

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Rosie Woodbridge

Something has happened to the Nike swoosh.

One of the world’s most recognisable and iconic logos has undergone its biggest revolution so far. On football clubs’ third kits, the swoosh will now be vertical. Why?

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Luke Randall

If you watched any of the football over the last weekend of August before the international break, then like me, you might have been invested in the Britain’s two biggest rivalries.

North of the border, Celtic hosted Rangers in the season’s first Old Firm clash at Celtic Park. Later, it was red against red and Dutchman against Dutchman in the dugout, as Liverpool travelled to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United.

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Graham Daniels

'We don't do God,' Alastair Campbell famously interjected when Tony Blair, as prime minister, was once asked about his faith. British sport has never really done God, either.

Historically, many British players and coaches have lacked the confidence of, say, their Brazilian peers to openly wear their faith on their T-shirts or even talk about Jesus Christ.

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Jonny Reid

How should sportspeople pray? Can they pray to win? 

A wealthy widow called Proba asked a similar question to one of the greatest theologians of the first millennium, Augustine. Augustine majored on one main theme in his advice around prayer: 

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Rosie Woodbridge

This was the moment. Expectation was high. Matt Hudson-Smith was about to be the first Briton to win 400m sprinting gold since Eric Liddell exactly 100 years ago.

Oh, how he deserves this. After the dark years of 'absolute hell', where he struggled with debt, loss of sponsors, injuries and even attempted suicide.

Graham Daniels

Last month, one of my grandchildren participated in an end-of-term preschool egg and spoon race. I observed three types of competitors among the four-year-olds:

1. The child who ran as fast as possible, not caring about keeping the egg on the spoon and dropping the egg multiple times.
2. The diligent, rule-abiding child who walked quickly while ensuring the egg stayed on the spoon.
3. The risk-taker who sprinted while quietly holding the spoon in a way that allowed them to rest a thumb on the egg.

If you're wondering, 'thumb girl' won the race. There was no VAR.

Luke Randall

It is August once again and if you are anything like me then that means one thing: football is back. It is a time of year which brings with it optimism and pessimism, hope and dread, as we get ready to ride the 38-game rollercoaster again.

The break has refreshed us enough only to once again succumb to both the joyous highs, and crushing lows our teams put us through between now and May.

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Jonny Reid

One of my favourite things to do during the Olympics is to watch brands put out inspiring adverts, and sell to us during the games.

Most offer copy-and-paste commercials about how hard it is to make it to the highest stage, but American broadcaster NBC's Olympic advert differs. Its tagline is: 'A little bit of joy goes a long way.'

Luke Randall

Summer 2024 has featured action from many different sports. One jewel in Britain’s sporting crown comes in the shape of The Open - the final major in the golfing calendar.

This year’s 152nd Open Championship took place at Royal Troon, on Scotland’s west coast, and golf’s biggest names competed once again to become the ‘Champion Golfer of the Year,’ and win the famous Claret Jug trophy.