Sporting Spirituality

When I think about the transcendent states experienced by sports fans and players I think back to the spiritualistic component surrounding devotees of parkour training. When you get to the stage where you are training day in day out, at peak physical levels, you become so consumed in the concentration of the training that a sense of spiritual awakening is developed. Through this, a profane action such as running/jumping/flipping, becomes transformed into a meaningful, spiritual ritual. The training has evolved into more than its intended function, when the individual participates in the ritual (i.e. parkour) it is as though they have transferred the repetitive nature of a sporting practice into a rhythmic means of spiritual transcendence. Of course with parkour there are no fans in the sense that there are with major sports such as soccer and rugby league. A perfect example of a transcendent-like frenzy being incited within sports fans is seen pretty much at any soccer (football) match throughout England and the UK. We see the crowds divided based upon team, we see highs and lows of their worship states. Group chanting and singing, as well as the consumption of mind altering substances all in an attempt to show devotion to their respective team (God). You might think that all that is just a veiled way of depicting a drunken soccer lout and you would probably be right, but there is a degree of transcendence about attending an English soccer match. No doubt if you polled a group of individuals from the UK as to their religious commitments and football was an option there would be an over abundance of proclaimed belonging.