Photo was taken at Turner’s Cross, Cork (Irl)

The World Cup began in style yesterday with a colourful opening and a colourful opening goal! As much as I would like to be there with a camera our photo today has to stay local. It is of a school football final between Col√°iste Choilm and Deer Park, but appropriately picks up on the impact the game of football has all over the world. The game is played in every country, city, town and village. It’s impact and influence particualry with young people is so positive. Let’s hope the spin off from this world cup will equally be as good and positive.

Thought on Saturday – June – 12/06/2010

‘At the end of the day it is only a game of football.’ ~England midfielder Joe Cole.

The World Cup began in earnest yesterday and fittingly South Africa set the standard high with a superb first goal of the tournament. While it may only be a game of football the world cup is huge and is one of the greatest sporting events in the world. Over 200 countries wanted to play in the tournament and this was narrowed down to 32. Nearly 1 billion people will watch the final in a months time. The world cup is deeply symbolic too. It brings together and unites people from every corner of the world. Despite different languages, cultures and traditions the world cup is all about unity. Differences are put aside and sport is allowed to unite and celebrate the gifts that each team can bring. Samuel Eto who plays for Cameroon, hopes that this world cup can change attitudes particularly in the whole area of racism. Spiritually the world cup reminds us in a lovely way how we are all part of God’s family. We are always called to respect and honour our differences and yet we all follow the same journey, looking for deeper meaning and fulfillment in life. There may be as many religions as there are teams in the world cup, yet at the end of the day we all follow the same God but we just do it in different ways.