I went to see Birmingham win away at Doncaster on Saturday.
Amazing experience.
All the times i feel cursed for being a Birmingham supporter paled to insignificance when i was able to stand there with the other travelling fans and sing our hearts out.
For most of the Blues fans seeing that match would have involved a good 2 hour journey and it was on sky so the easy option would definatley of been to stay at home or head to the local. but the few that made the effort put in an amazing shift, easliy out singing the home support.
Ritual, passion, singing and devotion are certainly all alive on the terraces.
how does this stack up to your experience of church? is there the same intense love? remember these guys were just singing their love of a football team…..even I’ll admit God is far more important than that!
Minister Me 
“mayb if we ad kebabs an stuff it wud elp…”
Oh yes indeediedoo!
wee think peepul in kareeokee barz mite be ontu summat. evry1 els offun sings along. an like church, nobody seems 2 no y but tis a form of xpreshun an wen i sing it feelz like my hart iz bein shared. innit. an i like 2 listen 2 coz it maykz my brayn walk alongside my hart an i share wiv ovvur peepuls hart thorts 2. i can heer Jesus innit.
i like showtin at footy matches. wee shud be allowd to cheer at church. innit. coz i like cheerin me teem on LEEDS LEEDS LEEDS an wee shud b abul to cheer God on cos ee iz massive innit.
but i avnt seen it much in church. mayb if we ad kebabs an stuff it wud elp…
😆
*hides under bed away from authorities*
there’s a quote i used in a changing worship essay about christians singing in the Bible which i think came from the Bolger book about emerging worship.
‘In the Bible Christians sing together only twice and on both occasions they are in prision’
Well I challenged a fellow ordinand when I said that communal singing was an alien concept to most people. He tried to trump it with “football matches” as a way of justifying not ever doing anything alternative.
The population of Teesside in 1971 numbered 396,205 (now much larger). On Saturday we mustered 24k on the terraces. Of those in the ground, about 20% go at it with some gusto. Most stick to watching the match and occasionally shouting when something happens. The closest we came to everyone singing symultaneously was “de de de der – de de der der” as the team came out. It is done *every* week. It doesn’t really convey any particularly special meaning other than “we have done this in this place every week”.
As for the commitment and intense love? I wish we could get people to show that!