When Healing Becomes Educating, Vol. 6 - Waldorf Research Institute

that pseudo-reli gious terminology is no accident but should be regarded as
a symptom and that it is essential for parents, teachers and sport teachers to
be aware of this.
A local Swabian newspaper ran a picture of football players carrying a
banner. The caption read: “Our [name of club] is our religion and [name of
trainer] is our god.” This was also the text on the banner. Lothar Matthaeus
[Matthew], a German national player, shot a goal from 25 meters over the
heads of 15 players. Prior to this, he had been having a personal crisis. A
reporter wrote: “First goal, and end of the Matthew Passion.” After several
faults by his team, a trainer raised his hands in prayer calling: “Deliver us
from evil.” When Juergen Klinsmann went to Tottenham, “It was Christmas
in Tottenham because football is the religion of Tottenham.” His Credo is
the role of the attacker, his Communion his relationship with the stadium
public (H. Blickensdoerfer’s biography of J. Klinsmann). These expressions
were not due to lack of imagination on the part of Blickensdoerfer, a
successful sports writer; they described the mood he had experienced
(Stuttgarter Zeitung, 12 December 1994).
That football could ever actually become a religion is, however, a false
assumption since it is practiced by the instinctive language of the body. But
it is important to recognize that it has become a surrogate religion. The
instinctive life of the body has taken the place of the soul, where religion
belongs and is practiced. So we are faced with a symptom rather than mere
metaphors. Since the body is divine in origin, extreme one-sidedness in its
use leads logically to a reversal of religious values. Religion and surrogate
religion have in common the fact that neither of them can exist without
continued practice. Training in football or any other competitive sport is
ongoing. Without similar devotion religion, too, loses its meaning.
As we have noticed, terms that apply to all the main religious exercises
were used. The mood of the stadium recalled the atmosphere in a cathedral.
The phrases used derived from Holy Mass, Christian prayer, seasonal
festivals and their music, all against the background of monotheism of the
body. Borussia Dortmund won a match, so now “God is a Borussia player”
(Stutt garter Zeitung). F. Beckenbauer was called a “figure of light in German
foot ball.” This is a reference to a central theme in religion which we won’t
go into.
A Roman newspaper, La Republica, spoke of the “sacred nature of these
religious wars” and went on to describe the teams as having been called out
on a “crusade” (Die Zeit, 7 June 1985).
Readers who want to understand this symptom of our time might be
interested in what Rudolf Steiner had to say on the subject, although he
54