Glad All Over & rising up on wings like Eagles!

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Yesterday I had an incredible day that I will never forget. I was at Wembley stadium watching my team Crystal Palace win the FA Cup, the first major trophy the Eagles have ever won in their 120-year history.

We have been to an FA Cup final twice before, in 1990 and 2016, and both times lost to Manchester United.  But yesterday we held out for a 1-0 win against a Manchester City team who have won everything.

Singing Palaces’ anthem Glad All Over together never felt so good.

Extra special

And what made it the day extra special was experiencing it with all with my oldest mates. Some I have known since I was 6 years old and others since secondary school. We have stuck together for decades through thick and thin, shared many beer clubs and countless brilliant times, and some heart-breaking ones too.  And yesterday was an amazing addition to our collective memories.

If you want to understand what it meant to my mates (and their parents!), just watch this video I took when the final whistle blew after a nerve-wracking 10 minutes of added time (apologies for a bit of bad language):

Power of sport

The passion evoked from yesterday’s win is yet another example of the power of sport to bring people together and generate incredible joy.

As I have written before, in one way, sport is meaningless: 11 people against another 11 trying to kick an inflated object into a net.

But the qualities that sport demands and develops could not be more meaningful: teamwork, dedication, loyalty, resilience and restraint under pressure. Sport helps us deal with failure and accept defeat with grace. And what else can create such community spirit and local pride?

Overlap with faith

These good ‘sporting attitudes’ overlap with the qualities that faith generates. It’s not a coincidence that a huge number of the top football teams were originally started by churches.  Of course, faith and sport can be misused and manipulated, but both should make us better people.

And it’s particularly interesting how many of Palace’s top players speak openly about their Christian faith.

Long serving defender and Club Captain, Joel Ward prays on the pitch before each game and yesterday wore a wrist band inscribed with Ephesians 3:20 and a cross. He has said this about his faith:

“It’s given me a moral compass…the church has given me an anchor to hold on to, somewhere I can get away from things. It’s been a constant throughout my life and kept me steady and consistent.”

And yesterday’s skipper and England player, Marcus Guehi has also said:

“I’ve grown up loving God and when I have had the chance I still go to church with my family…faith is everything that I’m involved with, really; even in football, where I’m trying to be a role model and show God’s graciousness and God’s glory through my life.”

And yesterday’s goal scorer Eberechi Eze, who celebrated by making his trade-mark cross-shape with his fingers, runs a charitable foundation and recently donated £20m to establish a new centre to address homelessness in south London. He said:

“God is at the centre of my life: in everything I do, and everything I think about, I try to put God first. For me, that’s a huge anchor to have because it balances everything else in my life.”

Changing tide

What all these players are showing is that authentic faith is always personal, but it should never be private. All believers should be ready to give a reason for the hope they have.

And these top footballers speaking publicly about their Christian commitment is yet another indicator that faith-wise, we live in fascinating times. Churches are getting busier, more bibles are being sold and many young people are coming to church for the first time.

Perhaps there really is a surprising re-birth of belief in God? Maybe its more than just a footballing revival that we are witnessing…

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Premier Radio saw my film and invited me on their breakfast show to talk about Palace’s win, what it meant to the fans and the Christian faith of Palace players. Listen here: Miracle at Wembley