Words: Graham Boosey // @WITPFootball

It is early evening on Saturday 17th May 2025 at a sun bathed Wembley Stadium, and a genuinely speechless Eberechi Eze is being interviewed by the BBC. He had scored the winning goal that gave Crystal Palace their first major trophy in their history and, clearly overwhelmed, he struggles to put into words just what it means to him and his team. Having gathered himself he uttered “Thank God, only God can do this…..” Now, whilst the FA Cup’s prestige has dwindled a little over the years, it is without question still a huge competition and one that an overwhelming amount of clubs would give anything to win. It’s a massive stage and here was Eze, putting his faith front and centre.

In a game watched by millions across the world he celebrated his goal by dropping to his knees and clasping his hand together in prayer and looking to the heavens, expressing gratitude as his teammates joined him in similar gestures. Then came the aforementioned quote, right at the start of the interview. Not buried amongst the usual line of questioning, it was the first thing on his mind it would seem. Whilst the all-conquering trophy machine that is Manchester City (more on them later) displayed uncharacteristic vulnerability in the 2024/25 season, it shouldn’t take away from Palace’s achievement, and it could be argued that Palace’s and Eze’s timelines share a similar story arc. Palace experienced severe financial difficulties resulting in them being placed into administration twice in 1999 and 2010 until a consortium led by Steve Parish helped put them on a sure footing which saw them return to the top flight of English football, a position that has been firmly cemented. Quite the achievement for a club that was flirting with relegation to the third tier at one point!

Eze experienced difficulties initially in his career, suffering rejection as he cycled through various teams in his youth, having notably been at Arsenal before green shoots appeared as he progressed through the ranks at Millwall, only to be released in 2016. It would be very easy as a young man to be discouraged but possibly owing to a youth spent playing football in the cages of Greenwich, it instilled a passion and gritty determination to work his way to the top. As his actions demonstrated, his commitment to his faith is paramount and one wonders the impact this had during the challenging circumstances of his younger years. As Eze demonstrated, there is a belief that hard work and commitment is as integral to sporting excellence as the path that God has set out for them.

Some prominent players in that Palace team are also Christians, aptly demonstrated when long term player Joel Ward's last action as a player was to be given the honours of raising the trophy by captain Mark Guehi.

Crystal Palace celebrating during the 2024-25 FA Cup final.
Photo Credit: Getty Images

I’ll be honest, I was at pains to trot out the contrived comparisons between religion and football but in conversation with my local vicar Reverend Colin Baldwin I found myself drawing parallels between our experiences. He spoke of entering a church one day and being hit by a wall of emotion and atmosphere, thus sending him down the path to where he finds himself now. It was very similar to my first experience of watching a football match, Southend United v Luton Town on 8th May 1993, at the wonderful old Roots Hall.

I was a mere 8 years old at the time and my father decided on a whim to take me to the last game of the season. With excitement and trepidation in equal measure I entered through the turnstiles into the West Stand and experienced a bombardment on my senses. The buzz of excited supporters coursed through my veins, and at that moment I knew that this was to be my life's obsession. I was home. Every week I went to gather with like-minded folk to share in an experience bigger than us as individuals, and to give praise to the players, in my case raising them to an almost divine, hero like status. My idols in the early days featured some genuinely wonderful players on reflection; Andy Ansah, Ricky Otto (who, post football, studied Theology and is now the Pastor at ARC Birmingham) and my personal favourite Chris Powell, an enigmatic figure. I also loved Clive Mendonca for some reason, even though he never found himself in a Southend shirt.

Regardless of one's personal opinions about organised religion, it’s something that undeniably runs deeply through the modern game. It wasn’t always this way however. Football was viewed in a very different light by religious figures. Let's head all the way back to the 16th and 17th centuries. King Henry VIII was in the throes of desperation for a male heir, and was keen to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon which, much to his dismay, the Pope refused to sanction. He decided to go for the nuclear option, culminating in “The Act of Supremacy” in 1534 which placed him at the head of the Church of England, a somewhat extreme length to go to but one which shaped the Protestant movement and the church in the modern day. I’ll have to paraphrase here; I’m sure you didn’t come here for a high school history lesson, but essentially, a movement emerged referred to as the Puritans who felt that reformation of the church didn’t go far enough to move away from Roman Catholic practices and espoused greater piety and devotion to the scripture. These feelings were very much at odds with what they seemingly considered to be the genuine evils of football.

Popular Puritan scripture.
Photo Credit: British Library

Puritan pamphleteer (what a job title) Phillip Stubbs fully disapproving of the pastime in his book Anatomy of Abuses in 1583. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when I suggest that Puritan Pamphleteer Phillip Stubbs wasn't the biggest fan of football, describing it as such:

"Football encourages envy and hatred... sometimes fighting, murder and a great loss of blood." and "football playing and other devilish pastimes.. withdraweth us from godliness, either upon the Sabbath or any other day”.

Indeed, that interference with the Sunday traditions as well as football being played on church grounds caused reports of young men receiving fines for doing so. I particularly enjoyed one report that two gentlemen received a fine of 2s each for playing football in a cemetery during the Vicars sermon. If true, I struggle to sympathise with them; given the dim view of football at the time it seems wilfully self-destructive to break two rules as once.

Over time the Puritan way of thinking slowly fell away, with many concerned that it created characters that were composed of virtues which where too passive or beliefs that saw the body as a tool for “holy suffering”. In many ways, faith was very much a practice that looked inward, but the world was changing with Britain experiencing seismic cultural shifts owing to the Industrial Revolution. A whole new way of life emerged as people packed into over-crowded cities, choked by the fumes of industry. The church began to see itself in a new light and firmly began to live out one of its most famous commandments, “Love thy Neighbour”, birthed by a new movement known as “Muscular Christianity”. The spiritual value of sports, as well as the physical benefits became paramount and a little sport known as Football became central to this development.

The Whitehouse Ground, former home of Oxford City, with St. Matthew’s Church close behind..
Photo Credit: South Oxford History

Clergy began to see the benefits football could have to the communities they served, viewing it as a way to bring hope and discipline to the most downtrodden of communities, often dumped into overcrowded slums. A healthy mind and body was not only of benefit to those serving their parishioners but also to those they sought to help. The irony perhaps was that the movement stemmed from the sports development in the privileged Public school system, as popularised in “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” by Thomas Hughes, stating:

"The Muscular Christians have hold of the old chivalrous and Christian belief, that a man's body is given to him to be trained and brought into subjection, and then used for the protection of the weak, the advancement of all righteous causes, and the subduing of the earth which God has given to the children of men."

As concern grew for wider society, an increased desire to implement these practices grew, with team sports offering those involved qualities such as fair play, strength, discipline and loyalty amongst others. Clergy observed the surroundings of their churches, riddled with disease, poverty and anti-social behaviour, an existence often consisting of brutal working conditions and poor housing with often the only escape being found in a bottle. They made it their mission to serve, seeing the birth of organisations such as the YMCA who provided gymnasium facilities and organised sport.

One quirk I must mention is another ethos which became popular around the same time, sparked by the moral panic of alcohol. This was the Temperance Movement, which birthed a couple of clubs in Scotland, Temperance Athletic FC and Universal Abstainers (what a name!). They sought to demonstrate that it was possible to show athletic prowess whilst remaining teetotal but that somewhat backfired as their first adventure in the Scottish Cup ended in an 18-2 defeat to Cowlairs.

In the mid-19th century the modern game started to take shape and resemble the game we know and love today. The widespread adoption of “Sheffield” rules codified by Sheffield FC in 1858 and the formation of the Football Association paved the way for churches to create their own teams. Indeed, Sheffield has a pretty good grounding to claim to be the birthplace of the modern game and last year Cemetery Road Church FC were honoured as the first church football team, with a blue plaque, the club formed in 1861 in what is now the corner of a car park for a gym.

The history of these teams is detailed in the excellent “Thank God for Football” by Peter Lupson, which chronicles the humble, faith based beginnings of some incredibly well established clubs. I have to admit, whilst not knowing the origin stories of many clubs, I was somewhat surprised that such clubs as Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Everton, Fulham, QPR and more found their start as church teams. Perhaps the most jarring in terms of origins to present day is Manchester City, the petrostate-owned, money-printing, trophy-consuming juggernaut that had its fortunes irreversibly changed following their acquisition by the Abu Dhabi group in 2008. Originally formed in 1880, their original aims were in line with the Temperance Movement. It was a mission by St Marks Church in West Gorton, with the desire to provide the young men in the local area an activity away from the violence, poverty and gang activity plaguing the local area.

St Marks (West Gorton), c. 1880s.
Photo Credit: NBC Sports

Lupson bemoaned just how far modern football has come from its origins in an interview with The Guardian in 2006:

“I do believe the clubs' relentless pursuit of profit is a betrayal of the founding spirit, which was about recreation and fellowship for the poor. It is a major betrayal that the clubs have priced out poorer and younger people from watching their games”, although he did hold out hope that supporters are increasingly keen to see their clubs go back to their roots in an increasingly hostile environment for the match going public.

As the football climate changed, so did the clubs in order to keep up, as detailed in the same article. As competition increased so did the money in the game, with wealthy local benefactors poisoning the well, leading to clubs making the first steps into professionalism by becoming limited companies as the 19th Century drew to a close. Subsequently, clubs sought to represent the local area more broadly, slowly dropping any association with the organisations that birthed them.

Nonetheless, Christianity has been at the core of the game since which can be seen in the role of club Chaplains, a role often believed to have been popularized following the appointment of Rev. John Boyers to the role by then Watford manager Graham Taylor. Chaplains aim to offer pastoral support and guidance to all within the organisation, as well as supporters. with many players and managers attributing their success to their faith.

Perhaps the most famous example of a player demonstrating their faith is Kaka, the Brazilian legend who, at the final of the Champions League in 2007, dropped to his knees at the final whistle, pointing to the skies and revealing a now iconic “I Belong to Jesus” t shirt, a symbol which has since been adopted by many players, perhaps most notably Cody Gakpo. His teammate Alisson Becker isn’t shy in wearing religious iconography when celebrating trophy wins, either.

Kaka’s famous ‘I Belong to Jesus’ shirt.
Photo Credit: Kai Pfaffenbach

With the waning influence of the church, as society became increasingly secular and changes occurred to leisure habits, it would set the scene for local church organisations to come together and organise leagues across the United Kingdom as the 20th Century drew to a close, alongside organisations such as Christians in Football who organise national cup competitions. Come Saturday morning, hundreds of people come together to play football in the name of their faith, (across 24 Leagues in the UK by my count) the timing of which so as to not interfere with their obligations on a Sunday.

I decided to delve a little deeper into the world of Church football leagues to see what their motivations are, whether their faith impacts how the game is played and how they view it in relation to the churches they represent. With this in mind I decided to go to the nearest league geographically to me, that being the Chelmsford and District Churches Football League and speak with Robert Goodwin, Chairman of the league and manager of Danbury Mission, Tim Mann, manager of Central Baptist Church and Joe Playle, the league secretary.

Robert explains that the league was formed in the mid-80s by a few churches in the Chelmsford area, the motivation initially being a means to offer social activities to church members and not necessarily be tied to the leadership of the churches they represented. I will forever be amazed at the human ability to include football in all areas of life. It has the power to bring people together and offers a sense of purpose and community which cannot be underestimated. It can however cause disagreement, regardless of the best intentions and this led Robert to push for the league to become affiliated to the English FA, thus providing them with referees and negating the possibly “interesting” decisions made by family members officiating the games.

“Occasionally with, say, relatives reffing the game, poor decisions were made and poor discipline was not addressed as some non-church guest players misbehaved. By joining the FA, we would have FA referees and discipline, and it would be fair, unbiased, professional and consistent.”

Robert Goodwin with his league winning Danbury Mission side in 2013.
Photo Credit: Robert Goodwin

With this shift, there were also moves to ensure that the integrity of the league with general rules put in place to ensure that church members were involved as Joe explains;

“A general “rule” of the league is that a teams’ starting XI should have 4 committed Christian’s from the church they represent, 4 associates to the church in some way, and 3 “friends” who maybe haven’t been involved in church life before. This guide is there for teams to ensure the clubs themselves do not lose focus on the reasons why we exist as a league and also ensure the teams do not become a “closed shop” and that we are trying to share our love for Jesus and football with those who love football, but don’t know Jesus”

The managers and captains of our teams are members of the churches they represent, and each team's aim is to play football in a way that honours Jesus and represent the church through the way they play. We aim to play football therefore in a way that is fair and respects teammates, the opposition and the officials. Each church uses their team as a ministry stream of the church's outreach, and therefore we encourage teams to have non-Christian’s in their teams”.

Football is a remarkable tool to break down barriers and has the ability to marry different cultures and ideologies. Its something that links players and supporters all over the world as Tim states:

“I see real value in breaking down stereotypes around Christians for those who are far away, or giving space for those on the periphery of the church to play and maintain relationships with men who are active Christians. I genuinely believe there are, at least, five or six examples of people who may well have fallen away from faith completely if it was not for this team and I am proud of that.”

I was interested in the potential clashes between the cultures of football and faith. Sometimes they can be seen as at odds with one another, Jose Mourinho may be a committed Catholic off the pitch but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any doctrine that would encourage some of his antics over the years. Tim expands further on this:

“Regarding the intersection between faith and football, my faith and understanding of who Jesus is drives every decision I make. That includes on the football pitch. Getting that right is a constant balance but one that I deeply value doing in this league. Knowing the other captains and managers feel similarly is massive and allows us to have deeper conversations about how to structure the league and support one another. We certainly do not always get that right but I do think there is something different and special about our league”

I think in the simplest of terms, the purpose of these teams is best described by Robert, who puts down the purpose of his Danbury Mission team in a collection of acronyms he introduced:

“FO/FE/FU. We are focussed primarily on FO Football Outreach , then FE Football Excellence, then FU Football Fun, in that order. My team talks are based on that – a Bible verse – an application, an anecdote from Brian Clough on how to play excellent football and then from me, how to enjoy the challenge and have fun.”

I have to admit to being quite intrigued as to how much faith changed the standard grassroots team talk. Contrary to popular belief, Prayer isn’t merely a shopping list where you ask for everything your heart could possibly desire, so no, you can't pray that your team suddenly becomes Barca circa 2008/9.

Example of a Danbury Mission team talk.
Photo Credit: Robert Goodwin

There is a belief in Christian circles that people are increasingly coming back to the church, possibly spurred on by modern day role models but it would be fair to say we still exist in a pretty divided and secular society. Long term this can create issues with the survival of some of the leagues, as a combination of dwindling numbers across the board in grassroots football, as well of some of the requirements placed to play in Church Leagues have seen leagues such as the Yorkshire Christian League morphing into the Yorkshire and District Fair Play League owing to a lack of church leaders. There is a conflict in some cases between keeping these leagues alive whilst also maintaining their core ethos and beliefs, as Robert Explains:

“My mantra is strong, clear, transparent leadership, with clear rules (eg min 4 church players, captain a Christian, and other league rules, home captain says prayers in centre circle before game ) – and that fact we are FA regulated means we are attractive to non church players, but also clear definition for church teams that the league ethos is certain and clear”

In spite of COVID being the end for some leagues and teams, as was the case in my hometown of Southend, Joe is optimistic nonetheless:

“If football can be a tool to reaching people with the gospel, then we hope that the league can grow so that more churches who are keen to do some sports ministry could engage with us”.

Ministry is an important part of many organisations’ work, whether it be the community outreach of Ambassadors Football, with a mantra of Football, Faith, Future or even further afield where in Norway the Salvation Army (Frelsesarmeen) offer “Gatefotball” or street football, which aims to provide a football program to various marginalised communities, be they the homeless, ex addicts, prisoners or other vulnerable groups. In fact, as I type this, the Homeless World Cup, of which they are a partner, is just drawing to a close.

A quick side note but the YMCA (KFUM in Norway) in Oslo is in the unique position of having a team, KFUM-Kameratene Oslo formed in 1939, in the top flight of the Norwegian game, the Eliteserien.

I will leave the last word with Tim though, who shared with me a poignant story that I felt summed up the community and togetherness that both football and faith can bring:

“Sadly one of our player's fathers passed away (who was a member of Central). He was our biggest and, to be honest, only fan. He came to every game whether his son was playing or not. I was so proud that, at his funeral, unprompted, twelve of our players were there. That was huge for me and shows the environment that I like to think has been created and the legacy that was left behind by those guys who set up the team in 2011.”

As Eze demonstrated, there is a belief that hard work and commitment is as integral to sporting excellence as the path that God has set out for them. Parallels can perhaps be drawn between the two. Being an elite athlete requires extremely high levels of commitment and dedication, forgoing and sacrificing themselves toward a common goal. It is not beyond the realms of belief that their faith serves as a provider of confidence and reason, and even when things aren't going well, there is a belief that redemption is possible so long as you put in the work. Parallels can perhaps be drawn between the ideology of the two as both share a sense of oneness and community similarities can perhaps be drawn between the player huddles, the motivational speeches of a manager and the belief and commitment in a common goal.

Humans naturally seek the collective and desire a sense of belonging. Could it perhaps be argued that faith is the final piece in the puzzle for those who hold spiritual beliefs and seek to achieve great things?

I’ll leave you with the words of John Motson in the foreword to Lupson’s “Thank God for Football!” when recognising the pioneering work of those church leaders in the 19th Century;

“Their remarkable contribution to our great national game is at last given the recognition it deserves. We have good reason to thank God for them”

Thank you to Robert Goodwin, Joe Playle and Tim Mann for being so kind as to answer my questions and share their experiences, alongside the Football Heritage family, all of whom have shown me extraordinary patience, kindness and encouragement.