Danny Blanchflower said football is about glory, it`s not it`s about money and yesterday (Thursday) Saudi Arabia who spend in trillions not billions took over Newcastle United. Some are saying this is sports` washing, that means a country with a bad human rights record tries to look better than it is through an involvement in sport.
I have been a Newcastle United supporter all my life and so have experienced much in the way of disappointment. It`s a big club , but it has been remarkably unsuccessful, the last time it won the league was somewhere round 1926. As a fan can I forget about the sports washing and pretend it`s all about glory, I`ll probably have a very good try.
If football is all about money today so is almost everything else. The gospel today is the rich young man who asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. It turns out that the young man does everything he should do, but Jesus tells him there`s one things he lacks, that is giving away his money to the poor and following Jesus. He goes away sad because he has a lot of money. I`ll probably feel a bit sad the first time we win the Premiership, but I`ll probably have got used to it the second and third time we win it.
Kind Regards.
Fr Maurice