Recent statistics have shown a stark reversal in the religious and leisure habits of Europeans. They point to how the declining trend in Europe's church attendance over the last 50 years is in contrast to the growing attendance at soccer matches and growing support of soccer teams. This column tries to discover whether the trends are linked.
The column will now transfer the U.S. term "soccer," for the European term "football." Being English by birth, I'm far more comfortable with it this way round.
So lets start by comparing football to Christianity. We need to try and understand why football is growing and Christianity is shrinking in Europe. Let's look at the similarities first.
Both have a dedicated following, both involve the faithful traveling to a site of worship each week and both cause people to sing in support of their heroes, though louder with one than the other. Both compete for time on Sunday television, with the ballgame winning on viewing figures every time. Both have traditionally excluded women at the highest levels. Women's football in Europe is hardly ever shown on television and, unlike in the U.S., women's football receives little support. Football and Christianity both lead to battles between rival believers with different allegiances as the spark. Fanatics at weekly Italian football matches often end up rioting in a similar way to the clashes between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.
Both are governed by distinct calendars with significant dates. In the Christian year, Easter, Lent and Christmas feature prominently. In football the season generally starts in August, with important final matches in April and May. For many, June and July are empty and unsettling months. Both require special clothes. Bishops and priests have their ministerial robes and miters, with the congregation dressing up in its Sunday best. Footballers sport their colorful strips and fans wear outfits to match their heroes, even down to the club's underwear!
So if they are so similar, why are football game attendances now outstripping church attendance? The "beautiful game," as football is commonly known, engenders such extreme passion. I remember hugging strange, overweight men when my team scored a goal. I remember crying on the terraces when we lost in the semi-finals of the national tournament. I even remember sitting on a cold concrete step, in driving, freezing rain on a February evening in northern England, 300 miles from home, still cheering every positive move by my team, despite being 5-0 behind with three minutes remaining in the match.
Maybe at the stadium you might be lucky enough to see a miracle happen along with 50,000 of your obsessed colleagues. The church doesn't have an equivalent of a last second winning goal after your team was 3-0 down at halftime. Unless there is a particularly moving sermon, the service doesn't reduce thousands to tears or alter your mood for a week, at least not in Europe.
If only the three-pronged offense of God, Jesus and St. Peter could pull in as many worshippers as David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Raul. If only Europe's bishops could match the excitement of the ball bulleting into the top corner of the net from 30 yards in the naves of the continent's great cathedrals. And as a final note, Journalist Jim Johnson speculates: Is uncommonly high church attendance in the U.S. and general lack of interest in watching soccer just a coincidence?
Thomas Mitchell is a second-year graduate student studying geography. His column, "From Across the Pond," appears on alternate Thursdays.
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