Welcome to “Athlos” a weekly Wednesday blog which examines pillars of personal excellence and regularly brings together the worlds of spirituality and sport.
Cause and Effect
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows”-Galatians 6:7
Careful Choices
187 goals in two games! Are you serious?
The Sierra Leone Football Association recently had reason to examine two mind-boggling score lines that occurred in a couple of football matches. One game ended 95-0 and the other 91-1. Yes, you read that correctly and we are not talking about basketball.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Sport website reported earlier this week that, remarkably, the halftime scores were just 2-0 and 7-1 respectively. It means that, together, the winning teams in both games scored a total of 177 second half goals! In response, there have been expressions of shock, horror, denial and dismay.
With the expected investigation in its embryonic stages, it is still too early to know the full context of what happened. Not surprisingly, allegations of match-fixing are front and centre as part of the initial reaction to these incredible results. Match-fixing, by the way, is a form of manipulation of competition results, usually because persons have placed heavy monetary bets on the outcomes of the games in question.
Clearly, we are dealing with serious matters of integrity, both in terms of sport and internal character. Were all the teams complicit in securing the results of the two games? Were staff and match officials ignorant or knowledgeable of what was occurring? We simply do not know at this time.
What we can assert, though, is that any seeds of cheating, collusion or duplicity must be nipped in the bud, condemned and renounced. That is because the wider society is in desperate need of models of honesty, virtue and good character and the world of sport is privileged to have both a voice and an audience. Besides that, nothing is hidden from the Divine Majesty in heaven and, as cited above, the apostle Paul succinctly reminded his first century readers that God cannot be mocked. We actually do reap what we sow.
Calamitous Consequences
Refuse to cut corners in your daily life. Calamitous consequences are real.
If you were inspired by this blog, please consider sharing it with one other person today. To learn more about these and other related themes that promote the cultivation of an integrated inner self, read UNBEATABLE! which is available on Amazon in print and as an e-book.
This Post Has 5 Comments
Very interesting! We will be found out.
Indeed Allan. Light will always prevail.
History in the making. Maybe basketball was what was played and not football. Lol. Thank you for this.
History in the making. Maybe basketball was what was played and not football. Lol. Thank you for this.
No problem.