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Sports, Sunday Mornings, and the Meaning of ‘Neglect’

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From desiringgod.org

Sports, Sunday Mornings, and the Meaning of ‘Neglect’

A recent Lifeway survey found that 40 percent of evangelical pastors believe it’s never okay to miss church for sports. Only 25 percent of churchgoers agreed. Meanwhile, a study in Review of Religious Research found that among churches experiencing declining attendance, the most commonly cited reason was children’s sports on Sundays.

Sport is a wonderful joy. As Jeremy Treat puts it, “Sport is more than a game, less than a god, and when transformed by the gospel, can be received as a gift to be enjoyed forever.” So, what do we do about sports on Sunday mornings?

Each of us has a knee-jerk response to that question. It might be informed by your upbringing, your tradition, your community, or your past or present decisions. But all of life is to be arranged under Christ — including our sports. How can those of us who love sports — whether we’re pastors, parents, or athletes — consider carefully how to make faithful, godly, and wise decisions about sports on Sunday mornings?

We Need the Gathering

Christian athletes will rightly see their sport as an act of whole-life worship (Romans 12:1). But the question of whether we miss corporate worship in order to play can be harder to navigate.

The temptation to miss church is not a new one. Two thousand years ago, people were finding reasons to miss the gathering of God’s local community. Yet Hebrews 10:24–25 speaks with clarity and urgency:

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

One of the most important habits in the Christian life is the regular gathering of God’s people to sing, pray, sit under God’s word, and receive the Lord’s Supper. It is vital for our spiritual health. And God has designed this weekly gathering not only to sustain our faith but also to make us a means of encouragement to others.

Last year I ran a marathon. Though the race was long, the presence of others made all the difference. The cheers from the crowd, the shared pace, the grunts of encouragement from fellow runners — all of it helped me to press on. That’s what the weekly gathering is: an essential encouragement for weary saints, a mutual “Keep going!”

The gathering is also a guardrail. Elsewhere in Hebrews, the author issues a sobering warning: Isolation leaves us vulnerable to sin’s deceit (Hebrews 3:13). The local church is one of God’s primary means of preserving us week by week, keeping us anchored to the gospel as we await the coming Day. It’s like the marshals during the marathon: pointing the way, keeping me on course, reminding me how far I’ve come and how far I’ve yet to go.

The Sabbath law may be fulfilled in Christ, but the command to meet regularly as God’s people under God’s word still stands. This isn’t legalism. It’s a lifeline. Weekly worship is fuel for the journey and joy for the soul.

We Need All of the Body

Most Christian athletes I know agree that the Christian life isn’t meant to be lived alone. So, they find ways to engage with Christian community at other points in the week — through youth groups, perhaps, or a midweek huddle with fellow sportspeople. Christ, though, came so that all his people can be “one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

When our regular rhythms only include Christians who share our age, background, or calling, we miss out on something essential. The apostle Paul reminds us, “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. . . . As it is, there are many parts, yet one body” (1 Corinthians 12:18, 20). The church is not a social club of like-minded peers. It’s a spiritual body — diverse, interdependent, and designed by God for our good. As we gather, we encourage one another by being part of a body made up of different parts. Young and old. Rich and poor. Black and white. The fit and the less so.

We lose out on many blessings when we don’t meet week by week with those different from us. First, we do not learn how to love those different from us, as Paul urges us to (Colossians 3:11–14). Second, we miss an opportunity to display the unifying and reconciling power of the gospel to the watching world, as they see believers loving one another across divides of background and life situation. Caring for those we have little in common with shows God’s love most plainly (Matthew 5:43–48). Third, we miss the wisdom and perspective that come from others’ varied experiences. This includes the blessing of being with people who don’t treat you differently because you are an athlete.

“Neglect is measured not only in Sundays missed but in hearts drifting from Christ and his people.”

One former Premier League football player I spoke to reflected on this with joy: “When my family joined a new church for the first time, we met people who didn’t care about me because of football. They cared about my wife, my children, and me. For the first time in ten years, we felt like we belonged somewhere.”

To run the race well, we need the whole body. That requires deliberate rhythms, making time to gather, worship, and grow alongside brothers and sisters of every kind, not just the sporty ones.

Read the rest of the article here

The World Hates You

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If you love the Lord, then the world will hate you.

The Bible uses the word “world” in three different was, as we do in English:

  • the physical planet on which we live
  • humanity in general “God so loved the world…”
  • the system of culture, governance and business that operates independently of God, and often in opposition to Him.

It is that world as system which hates all Christians.

Andrew Thorburn was on Monday night announced as CEO of the Essendon AFL Club. By Tuesday he was fired.

His huge crime was that he is also Chairman of the Board of City On a Hill Church, a church which describes itself as being in the Anglican tradition.

Apparently back in 2013 somebody there preached a sermon that was against abortion and another person preached a sermon that said homosexuality is a sin. He was not the preacher of either message, but merely associating with such people is an unforgivable sin.

Dictator Dan Andrews, the Premier of Victoria, condemned him as “hateful” and a “bigot”, currently the worst judgement that can be bestowed on a person by the State of Woke.

So he resigned before he even started,

For the axe of Cancel Culture to have fallen so swiftly, it is clear that there was a “dirt file” already in existence. There are people who are so dedicated to destroying christians that they have already done the research on those whom they hate.

So the AFL, and organised sport more generally, justify their actions by wanting to make the sport inclusive and diverse. Their inclusion and diversity will come by excluding Christians.

The world really does hate you.

Any christian who works in an organisation big enough to have an HR Department now needs to have a Plan B.

Churches and other christian organisations, especially schools, also need to consider what might happen if the Government takes exception to their beliefs, which they will.

We live in a culture that has rejected God’s ways, and rather than seeing the church as a comfort and an ally, it sees the church as the enemy.

Eight things you need to know about the Israel Folau saga | Bernard Gaynor

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Eight things you need to know about the Israel Folau saga | Bernard Gaynor

This is Raelene Castle.

And even though she looks like she’s auditioning for the lead role in a Hollywood blockbuster in which a transgender woman and a radical lesbian feminist find common ground through gentle and tender comedy while raising awareness about the threat of climate change as they travel across America on a stolen electric scooter with an incel hitchhiker named Jason, she’s actually not.

Instead, she’s a great leader. See:

Like all great leaders, Raelene Castle has principles and she sticks to them. She says what she means. For instance, just a couple of days ago she said this:

Rugby is a sport that continuously works to unite people, regardless of their race, religion, gender or sexuality. All people are welcome to be part of the rugby family.

This great leader uttered these words at the end of a press conference in which she announced that Israel Folau would be sacked for his Christian views on sexuality. Also see:

Obviously, when the Great Leader Raelene Castle said that rugby welcomed all people, she did not mean Christians. Indeed, she probably doesn’t even think that Christians are human. So why would they be welcome in Raelene’s castle?

If you are a grown up and all of this is doing your head in, don’t worry, I’m here to help.

There are eight things you need to know about this Israel Folau kerfuffle.

Let me list all the other ways that Raelene Castle is a great leader and Rugby Australia is not imploding and taking down the last edifice of freedom in this nation with it.

1. Raelene Castle is destroying Australian rugby

Rugby Australia decided to axe the Western Force in 2017 to save $6 million a year. And this decision was made even after Andrew Forrest offered to stump up $50 million from his personal piggy bank to keep the team alive.

And now it seems highly likely that Rugby Australia will be forced to pay out Israel Folau’s $4 million contract (the ink on it is still wet), foot the bill for Raelene Castle’s extraordinary leadership at $815,255 per year and stump up for the legal costs of this saga as well. That’s likely to add up to a tad more than $6 million.

Guess what? It would have been cheaper for Rugby Australia to let Israel Folau have his say and keep the Western Force alive.

But that hasn’t happened.

So now guess what? On the eve of the Rugby World Cup, Rugby Australia has gone to war with its star player and sent a message to all the other Israel Folaus chasing the ball around that they are not wanted either.

Given only half the Australian side are Pacific Islanders and the kids of this community are basically keeping junior rugby alive, it’s a good thing that Raelene Castle is such a brilliant boss that she understands Pacific Islanders have a strongly held belief in the separation of church and the footy field.

2. Rugby union in general has gone nuts

Bear with me because this is so weird that you couldn’t make it up, even if you were partying with Karmichael Hunt (we’ll get to that later).

There’s a rugby team in New Zealand called the Canterbury Crusaders. And even though they had nothing to do with the Christchurch terrorist attack they’re considering a name change anyway because to keep it would be Islamophobic.

And on the other side of the world, there’s another rugby team based in London named the Saracens.

The saracens spread Islam at the point of a sword throughout the Middle East, across North Africa and into Europe, including the Sharia law bit justifying the execution of homosexuals. The crusaders attempted to free the Holy Land from saracen control and jihadis are still miffed about this, hence the umpteen thousand Islamic terrorist attacks across the globe.

But the Saracens rugby club are not changing their name again, presumably, because it would be Islamophobic to do so.

There’s a bloke who plays for the Saracens by the name of Billy Vuniploa. And he has earnt himself a formal warning for daring to agree with Israel Folau. He didn’t mention hell but he did state that men were meant for women.

So, in general terms, it’s ok for a rugby team to be named after the saracens who used force to spread the belief that homosexuals should be executed but it’s not ok for a person to play in this team if they believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And it’s definitely not ok for a rugby team to be named after the crusaders, who fought the saracens.

And somewhere in all of this is Sonny Bill Williams, the high profile Kiwi player who converted to Islam, quotes from the Koran on his Twitter page and who converses on social media with a mufti who once said:

“gays are worse than animals”

Like the Exalted One Raelene Castle said, rugby welcomes all people – even the ones who think the other ones are not human.

Perhaps if Israel Folau was Muslim, Raelene Castle would have gone with him to visit a mosque after he expressed his views. But he isn’t, so that didn’t happen.

Read the rest of the article here

Bill Muehlenberg: Israel Folau, the Apostle Paul, and the Gospel

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A great article here by Bill Muehlenberg about Rugby star Israel Folau’s uncompromising commitment to faith

So what does the Australian Rugby star and the great apostle of 2000 years ago have in common? Both are followers of Jesus Christ and both take their faith seriously. And they take sin seriously, speaking out on it when they can. Both have warned people that the consequences of sin is death and eternal judgment.

And both have been hated on for speaking the truth. Paul constantly got into trouble for sharing God’s truth with those who did not want to hear it, and so has Israel Folau. Indeed, I have written several pieces on the Australian sportsman already. See here: billmuehlenberg.com/2018/04/06/folau-and-unacceptable-truth/

And here: billmuehlenberg.com/2018/04/11/folau-hell-and-biblical-truth/

As to the Apostle Paul, let’s look at how he described his lot, as he spoke truth, shared the gospel, and warned sinners of their fate. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 we read:

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

Hmm, it seems most folks really did not like it when Paul shared biblical truth. Most folks hated it, and they reacted to his preaching accordingly. And nothing has changed. For two thousand years Christians have been hated on for preaching the gospel.

That is always the way it is. As Jesus forewarned, people love darkness rather than light, and they will hate his messengers just as they hated him. This is as basic as you can get. Sharing Christian truth WILL always offend people. And it is Folau who is again feeling the heat big time for daring to share biblical truth in public.

He had recently responded to the news that Tasmania has passed new legislation making gender optional on birth certificates. To this he replied: “The devil has blinded so many people in this world, REPENT and turn away from your evil ways. Turn to Jesus Christ who will set you free”.

He also posted an image on Instagram with these words: “Warning – drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolaters – hell awaits you. Repent! Only Jesus saves.” Next to this image were these biblical truths and passages:

Those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these , adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 KJV

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:38 KJV

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:
Acts 17:30 KJV

Needless to say all the usual suspects were livid because of his remarks: atheists, homosexuals, those in the lamestream media, and so on. And his own in the sporting world turned on him as well. As one article reports:

Rugby Australia released a statement shortly after saying the post was ‘unacceptable’. “Rugby Australia is aware of a post made by Israel Folau on his Instagram account this afternoon,” Rugby Australia said in a statement. “The content within the post is unacceptable. It does not represent the values of the sport and is disrespectful to members of the Rugby community.

“The Rugby Australia Integrity Unit has been engaged on the matter tonight.” Sydney Morning Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons wrote that Folau’s latest post should see Rugby Australia cut their ties with the 73-test Wallaby. “Israel Folau has to go, and will go,” the former Australian test player wrote. “Quick. Clean. Gone. At least until such times as he repents.”

“Rugby Australia simply has no choice. They cannot go through one more time the agony of last year when Folau’s social media comments trumpeting that gays would go to hell, saw rugby lose sponsors, fans and support,” FitzSimons said in the Sydney Morning Herald.

According to rugby.com.au, there was a reported clause in Folau’s contract negotiations last year that was specific to his use of social media. The tweet has been widely shared and commented on, with most people responding having a negative view of his comments.
www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12221212&fbclid=IwAR3Q-ryvFJSTXo7SIbD_1JiiXjNRVbwnlv4KMkO9gr5a6UA1dTrfOaTLEt8

So here we have the world turning on him – once again. He is not being a good boy. He refuses just to be a star athlete. When he just did sport, everyone loved him. But he also takes his faith seriously – much more seriously than his own career. And for that everyone hates him.

But as is usually the case, it is not just the God-haters who went ballistic at Folau. We also had plenty of trendy lefty Christians and members of the religious left strongly condemning him. ‘Oh but Jesus would never speak to people this way.’ ‘You need to be more loving and less intolerant and judgmental.’

Um, actually no one warned more about hell and judgment to come than Jesus Christ. And given that Folau did basically nothing but quote from Peter and Paul who were inspired by God to say and write what they did, these critics are simply out to lunch.

The truth is Folau may not always be as tactful or delicate as some of these craven Christians and men-pleasing believers want him to be, but he has courage and conviction. I will take that any day of the week over these milquetoast pansies who likely have never shared the gospel with anyone all their lives.

These armchair critics are a dime a dozen. They love to condemn bold and courageous Christians, while they grovel before the world, seeking to befriend it and get along with it. The Bible is quite clear about the sin of trying to please men while displeasing God. Consider just a few passages:

-Luke 6:26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their father to the false prophets.

-John 12:42-43 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

-Galatians 1:10. Do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Sure, we all want to be tactful and careful as we share biblical truth in public. But we also need some Holy Ghost boldness here. If you see a little girl playing on the street and a big truck hurtling her way, if you cared at all, you would yell, scream, jump up and down and do all you can to save her.

You would NOT try to be polite, respectful and calm, making sure no one gets offended. You would act quickly and sound the alarm because a life is at risk. Folau gets it: all people are sinners and they are all heading to a lost eternity unless they repent.

They must be warned. They must be told. Sure, it is always nice if this can be done over a period of time with a nice relationship established. But we do not always have that luxury. Some of the people who read Folau’s warnings today may well be dead tomorrow.

In the same way hoping to build a relationship with the little girl first would be madness. Whether she is a friend, relative, or a complete stranger, she NEEDS that warning or she will die. All unbelievers need such warnings too. Yet most Christians have never shared their faith even once.

They are far too cowardly and too spineless. They would rather keep people happy, even if it means watching them slide into a lost eternity. I may not always do things as Folau does them, but I will give him credit. He has more guts than most believers.

And he seems to care about the lost a whole lot more than most believers. If these spineless wonders want to sit on the sidelines and criticise him, well, I am not really interested in what they have to say. They remind me of the woman who went up to the great evangelist D. L. Moody and complained about the way he evangelised. As the story goes:

The woman said to him, “Mr. Moody, I don’t like the way you do evangelism!” “Well, ma’am, let me ask you, how do you do it?” Moody asked. She replied, “I don’t!” Moody responded, “Well, I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it!”

Three cheers for Israel Folau.

Israel Folau: Faith Is Greater Than Sport

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Increasingly, Christians are having to make hard decisions about standing firm in their faith or kowtowing to the secular religion. Israel Folau is stating that his faith is more important than his sport. Notice how the ABC verbals him in the article while showing his actual tweets way down the article.

From the ABC:

Israel Folau is prepared to ‘walk away’ from rugby union over beliefs

Updated 

Wallabies' Israel Folau tackled by All Blacks' Rieko Ioane and Beauden Barrett

Wallabies star Israel Folau has said he is prepared to walk away from rugby if his situation becomes untenable due to his Christian beliefs.

Folau was heavily criticised for a post on Instagram two weeks ago in which he said God’s plan for gay people was “HELL”.

The 29-year-old said he was disappointed in the way Monday’s meeting with ARU chief executive Raelene Castle and NSW Rugby chief Andrew Hore to discuss his social media use was portrayed to the media by Castle.

“After the meeting I went home, turned on the TV and was really disappointed with some of the things that were said in the press conference,” Folau wrote in a column on PlayersVoice.

“I felt Raelene misrepresented my position and my comments, and did so to appease other people, which is an issue I need to discuss with her and others at Rugby Australia.”

Folau said he has “no phobia towards anyone” but refused to back down on his beliefs, revealing he told Castle he would quit rugby if those beliefs were harming the game.

“I didn’t agree with Bill Pulver taking a stance on the same-sex marriage vote on behalf of the whole organisation, but I understand the reasons behind why he did,” he wrote.

“After we’d all talked, I told Raelene if she felt the situation had become untenable — that I was hurting Rugby Australia, its sponsors and the Australian rugby community to such a degree that things couldn’t be worked through — I would walk away from my contract, immediately.”

Castle called Folau a “strong role model” after Monday’s meeting.

“We are in a negotiation with Israel to extend [his contract] and we would really like him to stay in rugby, that’s hugely important to us, he is a great player, he has delivered some great outcomes for us and has been a really strong role model in the Pacific Islander community and we would like to see he stays in rugby,” she said.

When asked if Folau understood the pain his comments could cause, Castle replied: “Yes, and I think Israel has acknowledged that maybe he could have put a positive spin on that same message and done it in a more respectful way.”

‘My faith is more important than my career’

Folau said he “could never shy away from who I am or what I believe”, and speculation he was looking for a way out of his ARU contract to take up big offers elsewhere was false.

“There have been things written about me angling to get a release from my Rugby Australia deal to pursue an NRL contract. That simply isn’t true,” he said.

An Instagram comment that reads "HELL. Unless they repent of their sins and turn to God." and a man looking at the camera.PHOTO: Israel Folau’s Instagram comment has landed him in hot water. (AAP: Paul Miller)

“There have been rugby offers from the UK, Europe and Japan that are way above anything I could earn in Australia.

“This is not about money or bargaining power or contracts. It’s about what I believe in and never compromising that, because my faith is far more important to me than my career and always will be.”

The rugby league and AFL convert said his Instagram comment was to give someone “guidance”, not to cause offence.

“Since my social media posts were publicised, it has been suggested that I am homophobic and bigoted and that I have a problem with gay people,” he wrote.

“This could not be further from the truth.

“I fronted the cover of the Star Observer magazine to show my support for the Bingham Cup, which is an international gay rugby competition for both men and women.

“I believe in inclusion. In my heart, I know I do not have any phobia towards anyone.”

Folau has previously spoken out against same-sex marriage, after the Wallabies expressed support for the Yes campaign last year.

In a tweet posted on September 13 last year, Folau said: “I love and respect all people for who they are and their opinions but personally, I will not support gay marriage.”

Israel Folau, heaven and free speech

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From The Centre For Independent Studies, a defence of free speech in Australia.

Right to speak threatened

Peter Kurti

13 APRIL 2018 | IDEAS@THECENTRE

Enjoy speaking your mind and sharing your views while you can. The rights to freedom of speech, conscience, and religious belief look set to disappear very soon from Australia.

And it will certainly happen if the corporate guardians of public morality have their way following the grilling given to Wallabies superstar Israel Folau who is a devout, conservative Christian.

Falou holds some very traditional Christian beliefs about sin, heaven and hell, and homosexuality. He expressed his view that gay people should repent in this life to avoid being sent to hell.

You can agree or disagree with Izzy. But either way, if Australia is a genuinely free country, he should be free to express his genuinely held religious beliefs.

And if we are a genuinely tolerant country, we will let Izzy say what he thinks even though many of us may strongly disagree with what he says. Remember: tolerating views you agree with is easy.

We often confuse tolerance with ‘respect’. But real tolerance means putting up with the opinions of others that you think are simply wrong — or even abhorrent and repellent.

After all, we clearly expect Izzy to tolerate all the views bluntly expressed by his many critics, including corporate sponsors such as Qantas and ASICS, who accuse him of homophobia, and worse.

Obviously, when he answered the Instagram question, Izzy wasn’t representing the views of Rugby Australia, or ASIC, or Qantas. Only a fool would have failed to see they were his personal views.

Yet now there appears to be a concerted push to silence Izzy and force him to keep his religious beliefs to himself. But why should he keep quiet?

Freedom of speech means sometimes people will say things that others find disagreeable. And if we truly value such freedom, we will stop trying to silence those who offend us.

We are gradually, but inexorably, tipping towards a new kind of totalitarianism where any controversial or awkward opinion is silenced, and all dissent is crushed into submission.

Now is the time to stop this dangerous slide towards tyranny and intolerance. If we delay too long, it will be too late for us, and we will all be muzzled for good.

This is an edited extract of a piece written for the Daily Telegraph.

Government and Sport

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What is it with politicians sponsoring sporting events at the expense of the tax payers? 

If all of these people who are outraged about a $5000 helicopter trip actually looked at the big money being wasted by the millions to wealthy sporting organisations like Liverpool FC, the AFL, the  NRL, IOC and FIFA maybe we could start reducing taxes instead of trying to find ways of increasing them.

From Freedom Watch:

Big Government in bed with Big Soccer

by  on July 21, 2015 in Economic freedom

 

Ball_in_net

Earlier this month I wrote on FreedomWatch about the absurdity of State and Territory governments subsidising AFL matches. Equally absurd is the government funding of friendly soccer matches involving the big European clubs currently touring Australia.

Real Madrid, AS Roma and Manchester City are currently playing in a pre-season tournament in Melbourne. Liverpool played Australian team Brisbane Roar on Friday night and Adelaide United last night. Manchester City played Melbourne City on Saturday night on the Gold Coast whilst Sydney FC played Chelsea in June and Tottenham in May.

According to the Australian Financial Review the Queensland and South Australian governments are understood to be paying Liverpool $10 million in appearance fees. Whilst the organisers of the tournament in Melbourne have received upwards of $8 million from the Victorian government.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews demonstrated the real reason why politicians are prepared to spend public cash on elite sport when he was front and centre at Real Madrid training on Friday. It is because elite sport is popular with voters.

As I wrote in The Spectator last year, governments pretty much always overstate the economic benefits of major sporting events when justifying spending their taxpayers’ hard-earned money. Indeed, Victorian Minister for Sport John Eren made the audacious claim that the series would generate between $50 million $80 million for the Victorian economy.

The reason these clubs are in Australia for glorified pre-season training (apart from picking up some free money from our governments) is to build their already enormous global fan bases. Liverpool claims to have almost 600 million fans worldwide. 10,000 people paid $15 each to watch Real Madrid train at the MCG last week.

Clearly, the organisers of these games don’t need government money to make them profitable, it’s just that it makes the undertaking a little bit more profitable, and a little less work. They have identified an opportunity to play state governments off against each other, and state governments have shamefully played ball.

If governments really think they can attract and hold major sporting events more efficiently than the private sector, they should introduce a voluntary major events tax whereby citizens can decide whether they want to contribute to what is essentially a luxury.