Did God fix a football match? Welcome to the great divine intervention debate |
‘I don’t believe in an interventionist God,” sings Nick Cave in the opening line of his 1997 song, Into My Arms. But Jim Sharma, a football fan who is a devotee of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, very much does – and who can blame him?
For the detached, the uninformed and nonsports fans, the issue here is that Wolves had a terrible start to the season and, until the other day, looked set to beat Derby County’s unenviable record as the worst-performing team in Premier League history. Then they played my team, West Ham, and had their first taste of victory since April. Wolves 3 West Ham 0.
How did that happen? I was watching that game – with my Wolves-supporting father-in-law – and I think we were both equally shocked by the result. But maybe Wolves had help. Sharma believes that it happened because the pope himself had promised to pray for him – and his team – when he presented the pontiff with a special Wolves shirt (with “Pope” and the number one on the back) when they met in Turkey a few weeks previously.
It’s arguable. Wolves played another seven games (of which they lost six and drew one) between then and when they finally managed to win one. Why the delay? Surely the pope’s prayers would be answered quicker than that? On Saturday, when relegation threatened and........