by Bijan Omrani, Telegraph
Immigration has had a profound impact on English Christianity, and this is reflected in the beautiful game
People often argue whether football or religion is more important. Everyone remembers Bill Shankly’s saying that football is “much, much more important” than “life and death.” Yet, the England-France World Cup match suggests that the division between football and faith is beginning to break down.
Many were moved by the sight at the end of the match of a small huddle of English and French players linking hands in a ring and bowing their heads to pray. It was a striking contrast to the normal post-match shirt-waving antics.
It strangely evoked a lost age of dignified 19th-century English sportsmanship, where the playing of games in a courageous but chivalrous spirit was promoted by the churches as a means of bringing faith to the masses – and spreading comradeship, resilience and ethical behaviour. This was the original idea of “muscular Christianity”.
But it was striking that the participants in a scene which illuminated the very English, Christian past of organised sport – Upamecano, Saka, Lacroix, Eze, Guehi, Mateta and Chalobah – were all of immigrant backgrounds. It is a vivid illustration of a developing trend: that migrants are playing an ever greater role in shaping English Christianity.
The number of white English people professing Christianity has dropped precipitately in the last 20 years, falling from 82 per cent in 2001 to 49 per cent in 2021.
Yet, over the same period, over three million Christians have migrated to the UK. Many have come from Eastern Europe, but large numbers have also come from Asia and Africa, particularly Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Ghana.