I’d like to think I have a relatively broadminded attitude to religion. While I don’t personally do God, I am strongly supportive of those who do with the simple proviso that the belief systems of others in no way impact on my life and that everyone lives equally under one law, that law being the law of the land. I certainly don’t agree with the devout enjoying privileges denied to others. Is that what happened in some football matches yesterday?
During the Premier League match between Leeds United and Manchester City, play was paused briefly to enable Muslim players to break their fast in keeping with the “holy period of Ramadan”. I was going to say that I am in two minds about this, but I am not. I don’t think it should have happened. And it’s not the first time players of religion have been accorded special privileges.
In 2024, The Manchester United player Noussair Mazraoui refused point blank to wear a pro LGBTQ jacket due to his homophobia and bigotry brought about by his “faith”. The supposed Allah hates gays, so Mazraoui did his bit to hate them, too, and what’s worse is that his team mates who are not Muslims supported him by also refusing to wear the jackets. Well done Manchester United: that’s another reason to hate you.
Bigotry is not merely confined to Muslims. When fanatical Christian Marc Guehi worse the LGBT captain’s armband for his then club Crystal Palace he wrote “I love Jesus” and “Jesus loves you” all over it. This went against FA guidance but of course as Guehi is a man of “faith”, there was no comeback, sending out a clear signal that the alleged Jesus of Nazareth hates gays, too.
I know this is a sensitive area, especially when it comes to the macho Alpha Male world of football, but the truth is that there are bound to be a significant number of gay male players because there are a significant number of gay people in society. No one cares about the fact that many women players are “out” lesbians but somehow the illusion that male players cannot possibly be gay persists. These examples suggest to me at least that we need to keep religion out of football in all its forms, stopping for Ramadan included.
Surely if fasting for Ramadan, or engaging in Lent, renders someone incapable of playing football then they should consider taking unpaid annual leave for the duration of the tradition in order to carry on with their superstitious beliefs?
I read that some Leeds United fans booed when play was stopped to enable players to break their fast. Well, I didn’t hear it myself and I hope it was not abusive beyond a few boos, but I was interested in the comments of City’s manager Pep Guardiola:
“It is a modern world, right? You see what is happening in the world today. Respect religion, diversity, that is the point. The Premier League says you can have one or two minutes, you can have for the fasting players to do it [break their fast]. It is what it is, unfortunately.
“We took on a little bit of vitamins because [Rayan] Cherki, [Rayan] Aït-Nouri did not eat today. No more than that. The question is, can they do it or not? What is the problem?”
You might think I disagree with Guardiola and you’d be right. I have huge reservations about respecting religion and diversity per se. I have a very old fashioned outlook in that I was brought up to believe that respect is earned, not simply handed out without qualification. I do not agree with the Premier League allowing special privileges to people of any religion and if players choose not to eat, then I am tempted to say it’s a matter for them and not football.
As the great comedian Dave Allen, himself an atheist, said at the end of every show, may your God go with you. But, as I seem to say at the end of every blog on religion, you have your God, I don’t have one, you are free to worship in any way you see fit within the law of the land and you should gain no privileges as a result. That, I have to say, includes pausing football matches for religious reasons. That’s not too controversial, is it?
