Putting the Fun into Fundamental
Episode 3: Kicking the Devil's Balls
In the third programme in Channel 4's series, Putting the Fun into Fundamental, Elliott Gerner goes to Brazil where he discovers that all the country's three main religions – Voodoo, Roman Catholicism and Evangelism – use football to pull in their congregations. Indeed, Gerner remarks on the strong relationship between the beautiful game and religious belief; he notices how the rituals of the sport are reminiscent of religion and how footie fans worship the stars.
Gerner visits the Catholic shrine of Our Lady Aparacida, is a black Madonna housed in a massive church which attracts 10 million visitors a year. In 1717, the story goes, a group of fishermen were down on their luck until they pulled a statue of the black Madonna from the Paraiba river in São Paulo. As a result, their fishing catch improved miraculously – and now the shrine attracts pilgrims, the sick and those who wish for good fortune.
At the shrine, Gerner see the football shirt of Ronaldo, one of Brazil's most famous players, and, hoping to bring good fortune to the side, has his own England football shirt blessed in the church. He also visits the nearby religious theme park, with its tacky computerised nativity scene. As he reminds us, the religion of Catholicism and the excesses of carnival coexist in harmony in Brazil – carnival in all its sexual extravagance has its origins in a symbolic letting loose after traditional religious fasting.
A more austere approach to religion is exemplified by the evangelical churches. Over the past 30 years, they have grown from small beginnings and now number some 30 million believers. One such church, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, believes that carnival is a sin and that soccer is evil, with soccer balls being 'the devil's eggs'.
But evangelical enthusiasm also affects some of the country's top football players. Jorginho, a leading member of Brazil's 1994 World Cup-winning squad, has become one of the Athletes of Christ, overcoming the wildness of his youth by adopting a strict Christian lifestyle. He says that he used to be promiscuous but now is a faithful family man. And he still kicks a ball around a pitch – for fun and for charity.
