The Empty Stadium- What's Missing?

Underwhelming.  That would be a fair assessment of Republic of Ireland’s visit to Wembley at the beginning of November.  I’m not even thinking of the scoreline or the performance, but the experience.  “Magic of a visit to Wembley becomes empty experience in the time of Covid” was how Patrick Madden captured it.  The pageantry and prestige of visiting the home of football was lacking.  It was “eerily silent and devoid of a sense of occasion.”  Empty. 

Empty stadiums are something we’ve been getting acclimatised to in these Covid times. Piping in the noise of the crowd to the ground or on the TV doesn’t seem to cover the awkward silence.  The seats are empty, devoid of the colour the fans bring.  It just doesn’t feel right.  Bob Bradley the American football coach has said, “a game without fans has no soul”.  Kyah Symon who plays football professionally in Australia and America says, “It’s like listening to music with no bass.”  There’s something missing.  

What part do the crowd play in the drama that is sport? Does the motivation and encouragement that comes from the stands really affect things on the pitch?  Symon certainly thinks so,

”So many sports are about momentum and momentum shifts. It could be something like a big tackle, a goal-saving challenge or a goal; it shifts the momentum in the crowd which then shifts the players’ mentality and the confidence from having the crowd on your side. It’s definitely that 12th-woman feeling when you’ve got that home-field advantage: you’ve got the crowd there backing you, giving you that extra push to get across the line, to make that extra run, to make that last-ditch tackle.” 

In the theatre of sport, fans are more than the captive audience they are a player in the drama.  They are often described, as Symon does here, as a player on the pitch.  They have an active role in the outcome.  

The stadium in Covid times, however, is no longer the theatre and now only the film studio.  The event is watched at a distance.  The happy marriage of mutual admiration and affirmation of a team and their loyal supporters has been socially distanced.  Their date night has become a zoom call rather than the cosy restaurant meal!  Their relationship is now long distance.  

Before you get uncomfortable with where this is headed, let’s move beyond the sentiment to the science! Research from the Bundesliga, among the first professional sports to return to empty stadiums, helps us understand just what is missing.  The fans directly impact results, “Fans are the home advantage…The number of home victories slipped by 10 percentage points, to 33 percent of matches in empty stadiums from 43 percent in full ones.” Another interesting suggestion was that the game’s entertainment decreased. There were less shots and dribbles, as instead there were more passes to retain possession.    

 
Whilst the loss of fans means a loss of revenue I’d argue that football is more than business to the supporters.   It’s more than money that is missing.  It’s also more than results that really matter  or even the entertainment that is provided.  It’s the loss of relationship.  The fans miss seeing their beloved team and cheering them on.  The players lose the joy of being seen and bringing pleasure to others. When performance and results are affected it suggests being seen and bringing pleasure to others bring the best out of us.  We are made for relationships.  This is where we flourish. 

To be seen and appreciated.  To put a smile on the face of those who love us.  These things matter to us in the ordinary everyday on the pitch of life.  To be cheered on by those who are on our side.  To make them proud.  None of us want to be playing to an empty stadium.  Even when our lives might be peopled aplenty we can still feel lonely. Even those nearest and dearest,whose understanding we desire most, may at times seem not seem to appreciate who we truly are.  Relationships can be complicated.  

Maybe the lack of fans can remove the complications? For some players and teams the absence of fans can be freeing. What about those who feel the crowd is on their back? The groans when they receive the ball do nothing for their confidence.  The Kerry GAA team, prior to exiting to Cork, were developing a leaner and meaner style- perhaps free from the crowd’s expectations of a certain flare and creativity in their play.  Fans may feel entitled to unwavering success or entertainment- they deserve as much.  The seemingly innocuous, but toxic question of, “What’s in it for me?” undermines and destroys the best of relationships.  
 
Today in Ireland an increasing number of people don’t believe God exists or think He is largely absent from their lives. “God is missing” and so we are playing to an empty stadium.  Our lives lack any meaning or significance beyond what we are biologically and chemically constitued to be.  The bible presents a very different picture of a God who sees all that we do and who understands. This gives dignity to even the smallest things we do in private.  We live before His face.  He sees and understands us.  

How does He see us?  Maybe you consider God to be a disapproving and disappointed spectator on our lives.  He sighs whenever the ball comes our way on the pitch.  Could we ever dare to believe He is cheering us on from the stands?  Maybe even bolder still that we could bring Him pleasure?  This is just what the prophet Zephaniah describes as God sings over His people.  He delights in them.  They are quieted by His love. This is beyond what any of us deserve. 

God’s love, however, is far from being blind.  He is only too aware that our treatment of Him is the ultimate example of being entitled.  We ignore Him and are happy with the space He gives us in life and then dare to ask, “What’s He ever done for me?” This has distanced us from Him. How is it possible then that rather than face a disciplinary we receive HIs delight?

The good news is that Jesus has taken our condemnation on Himself.  He faced the disciplinary for our entitled attitude towards God on the cross. Paul the early Christian leader and apostle could encourage Christians living in Rome- they were no longer condemned because of their faith in Jesus- 

If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8.31-32)

So the God who see us and understands us is also on our side.  He is for us.  When you consider your life do you think you are playing to an empty stadium?  Or do you know that even when others mightn’t seem to understand you there is One who sees and who understands? One who is on your side because of your faith in Jesus. What a difference to take to the pitch hearing His song from the stands.