Religious Ritual in Sport

Religious rituals and superstitions permeate many sports. This article delineates how religion is apparent in sports and how the players and society surrounding said sport interact and react to the display of religious rituals and symbolism. Rituals are defined as any event or practice that is symbolically performed. Rituals are often prescribed by religion and this certainly holds true for the sports world. Religion serves to guide humans and is often associated with order and reason as opposed to chaos. Accordingly religious rituals are often employed in sports to guarantee a desired outcome or conclusion. By examining ritualistic behavior it becomes clear how each sport and its participants either embrace or reject religion and to what ends they attempt to utilize it.
Football
American football is a team sport that combines competitive strategy with physical play. Religious rituals are employed by participants at all levels of competition. Football is overwhelmingly an American sport and accordingly the vast majority of its religious symbolism or rituals pertain to some form of Christianity. For example, the tradition of saying the Lord’s Prayer, or some variation there of, is common throughout high school and college competition and is even present at the professional level. . Another common ritual associated with football is the kneeling of players in the end zone for a brief moment of introspective prayer either after scoring a touchdown or before the game. Religious rituals in football are by no means limited to the players, however. It is not uncommon to see football fans praying during the game or crossing themselves at a crucial moment of play.
Rituals are defined something that a person does continuously during a sporting event, religious event or other that has some significance to that person and their belief on how it may effect a certain outcome. Prayers, chants, and incantations are common forms of religious rituals and reciting the Lord’s Prayer before, during, or after a football game is a clearly identifiable form of ritualistic behavior. Likewise, the practice of crossing oneself during a game signifies the participant’s reliance upon a higher power, which is often interpreted as religion. The three stages of the cross are meant to signify what Christians commonly define as the Holy Trinity, composed of the “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”. While these previously mentioned rituals are overtly religious in nature their utilization can be brought about for any number of reasons. Desire for victory, superb performance, or even protection from injury can motivate a football player to engage in such rituals.
American society, as a whole, is tolerant of religious rituals in football. Football is, after all, a profoundly American sport and accordingly the permeation of Christian values is widely allowed, and in some cases even encouraged. Society often views the reasonable and respectful expression of religious beliefs within football as an acceptable and moreover ethically healthy facet of the sport.
Baseball did have an actual religious quality early in its history though. Actually, it was at once at odds and partners with religious authorities many times. The National League, created in 1876, forbade Baseball being played on Sunday. Yet only six years later when the American Association was founded the rule changed. As time went on Baseball was sometimes heralded as an incredibly evil sport that only supported being self-serving: Billy Sunday, originally a major league player, quit playing and became a full-time evangelist to decry the 'uselessness' of the sport in regards to the soul and life. Yet baseball also had an evangelist quality sometimes: the sport was viewed as 'Muscular Christianity' in that it extolled the values of physical fitness, teamwork, and preventing young men from engaging in the temptations associated with leisure urban living. YMCA is an excellent example of this, where the 'healing of the body could occur with the healing of the soul'. Arkan, a criminal to the secular world, is a symbol of the Red Star club in the soccer world because of his dedication to soccer’s greatest ritual, hooliganism.

Jewish soccer clubs are an interesting source for the incorporation of religious rituals into soccer because they were founded on a particular religious belief. In 1909, the Hakoah athletic club was created and only fielded Jewish players.. A few unique free throw rituals come from Richard Hamilton of the Detroit Pistons, also known as “Rip,” who takes a practice free throw while holding the ball in his left hand, then takes two bounces forward and then one to the side before shooting. Another unique free throw ritual would be Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks who blows a kiss to the basket before shooting his free throws. One last unique free throw ritual would be Alonzo Mourning, now retired. He would touch his chin then his forehead with his wristband on his left wrist before shooting.
These routines are all rituals mainly because they are performed day in and day out, or in this case, game after game. The two rituals that have drawn the most attention over the years, James' chalk toss and Jason Kidd’s kiss, are the most intriguing as well. James' chalk toss could possibly be related to religion in the sense that once he tosses the chalk into the air, he stands with his arms out stretched looking up to the ceiling, exactly like people of certain religions are known to do when they are asking for a miracle or to be saved by their God. Although the ritual seems religious, neither James' nor Kidd’s are religious. Jason Kidd’s kiss is a kiss to his wife Joumana; when pressed he said, “I do it not just because of habit but to let my wife know I’m thinking about her”. Both are religious in the sense that both these men perform the ritual constantly; however, there is no religious context to either.
Jason Kidd’s free throw ritual is related to society due to the fact that everybody can associate with a kiss. A kiss is warm and supposed to be meaningful and that is exactly what Kidd is trying to portray to his wife when he steps to the free throw line. LeBron’s ritual also relates to society because his ritual gives off a sense of unity. Whenever LeBron performs his chalk toss at home the entire crowd does it as well, this gives the crowd a sense of entitlement to LeBron, as well as the feeling of being a part of something special, even if it is for a brief moment.

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