So very near…but not quite!

May 6th 2024. Time to indulge one of my non-spiritual passions – the football team I support…..

On 21st April, I was at Wembley for the 2nd Semi-final match of the FA CUP. Having travelled there with a couple of my Coventry City – supporting mates, and added a few more on the way, I joined members of my family at the stadium: 2 sons and 6 grandsons. (Not only have I encouraged them in The Faith over the years, I am delighted that they have embraced the faith of their Dad/Grandad). To fill in the picture for my non-football-supporting followers, Coventry City (where I was born) are currently members of the Championship (2nd tier of the English hierarchy), having dropped out 24 years ago from the Premier League (the top tier which they graced with their presence for more than 30 years, and now knocking on the door again having slumped all the way down to the 4th tier, for reasons you won’t want to know about).

The team (which won the FA Cup against Tottenham Hotspur in the most memorable Final of 1987) were now in their first semi-final game since that great occasion, and the only remaining team not from the top flight. We were to play Manchester United – the most successful team in the world for many, many years, but showing uncharacteristic vulnerability. So, for Coventry and their supporters, there was much hope, not least because they had knocked out Wolverhampton Wanderers of the Premier League on the way, and scored more goals than any other team in doing so. Sitting with my elder son, I watched United’s superior class show as we conceded 2 goals in the 1st half, followed by a 3rd early in the 2nd half. United’s beleagured manager decided to remove some of his stars from the fray. Bad move! He obviously had not followed what this Coventry side do in the closing stages of a game!

With 19 minutes of normal time remaining, seemingly from nowhere, Coventry scored, followed by a second, then by a third (we were on our feet throughout!). And if this was not exhilarating enough, in the remaining seconds of normal time, City scored a fourth. The team and supporters went wild, leaving the United stars with their faces on the grass!

Then, like some unwelcome intruder, a VAR examination ruled that a Coventry player had strayed into an offside position by a toenail’s length, and the winning goal was disallowed.

What followed was a drawn extra 30 minutes, before United won the dreaded Penalty goal shoot-out. Nobody would rob us of the glory our team achieved for all time by their heroics, in what will long be celebrated in the annals of the Cup competition as the greatest-ever Semi-Final match. And, to be honest, few fans would have fancied our chances in the Final against the other Manchester team. But, the scores will always show: 3-3 (United winning on penalties).

What spiritual point can I make after indulging one of my secular passions? I could make a positive one, such as: “fight on, no matter the odds”. But I will make a negative one. One of the defintions of Sin in the Bible, is “failing to hit the target”. Your arrow may hit just outside the ‘bull’s eye’, but it ranks as a failure just as if it fell well short of the target. A glorious attempt doesnt get you to the Wembley Final; neither do our best efforts to live the perfect life that God requires achieve our salvation. That is why God in his grace sent his Son Jesus to the Cross to take the punishment our sin deserved, granting us eternal life. Now, believing and preaching this is my Greatest Passion!