News Archive

With champion athletes referred to as heroes or gods, sporting discussions often contain an almost religious fervour. The notion of whether sport can be a religion is just one of the topics students will be able to discuss in a new unit on "Sport and Spirituality".

The Reverend Canon Richard Pengelley, a dual Olympian and UWA alumnus, will teach the course, which will be offered as a third-year option by the School of Human Movement and Exercise Science from second semester, 2007.

The ordained Anglican priest stressed there was no faith requirement for students wanting to take the unit.

"I think it will be valuable for future teachers who may have to run religious education classes or health experts who want to learn what makes people tick," he said.

The unit will cover the history of sport in different cultures and how it links with religious expression, the sociology of sport (rituals), and people's belief systems.

"Australians are particularly fanatical about sport and we will discuss whether sport can be a substitute for religion and give people's lives meaning," Reverend Canon Pengelley said.

The lecturer said that in Ancient Greece sporting contests were a philosophical, ethical and theological gathering.

"That was at a time when life was religion, it was not an elective compartment of life as it is now," he said.

In more modern times, the Church became involved in sport through the creation of YMCAs.

"It was a good activity to attract people to the Church and they understood the importance of a healthy body, mind and soul – a life balance."

Sporting rituals also echo those that formerly related to religious activities – fans wear tribal colours and sing hymns to their heroes. "We will also look at the notions of heroes, myths and gods and the pressures that a 'hero' tag puts on young athletes," Reverend Canon Pengelley said.

The UWA lecturer said journalists used religious metaphors in sports writing more than any other genre.

"We see phrases such as 'baptisms of fire', 'our saviour' and eulogising soccer player Johnny Warren as 'smiling down from Heaven'," he explained.

Reverend Canon Pengelley said most sporting teams now employed a chaplain and there was always a church in Olympic villages. He said he attended church when he played water polo for Australia at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.

"We will also look at the idea of playing to win and whether Christian athletes can follow the idea of 'winning at all costs'.

Reverend Canon Pengelley suggested the unit in Sport and Spirituality and has been working to develop it with the Head of the School of Human Movement and Exercise Science, Professor Brian Blanksby.

He is also running the UWA water polo program and is the Chaplain at St Georges College, where he lives with his wife Jo and daughters, Rebecca and Lara.

"I am able to combine my work patterns at UWA," he said.

"I was a school chaplain before I was a parish priest (at St Nicholas Anglican Parish, Carine) and I was attracted to the notion of chaplaincy, working with young people and working in education."

The UWA lecturer finished his Bachelor of Physical Education and Dip Ed at UWA in 1981 then gained a Bachelor of Divinity at Murdoch University.

Photo credit: Paul Ricketts – DUIT multimedia