Spirit of Sportsmanship

Sport can bring out the best and the worst of us - love and respect, but also anger and antagonism.

In his book Eric Liddell: Pure Gold author David McCasland refers to an athletic story Liddell often used in an internment camp in China during World War II, as an illustration: 

"Several years ago I sat in the grand stand at a great sports meeting where the finest athletes of the U.S.A. and the British Empire met in competition. There was an Obstacle Race in which competitors had to run round the course many times, jumping hurdles as they went. After several rounds the competitors were fairly well separated, except for the first two who were running within ten yards of each other. As the first man took one of the hurdles his foot struck the top of it and knocked it over. The blow was not hard enough to affect him much, a slight stagger and on he went. The fallen hurdle left a gap. It gave the second man the chance to run through the gap instead of taking a jump and thus gain a slight advantage. Ten yards behind means less than two seconds. In the fraction of a second at his disposal a decision was made, he swerved to the side, jumped the hurdle next to the fallen one and then moved back in to the edge of the track again. I can remember the thrill that went through me, and the answering cheer that rose from the crowd. That was the finest thing done that day. He did not win; I have forgotten who did, but I can never forget that action. He could not act otherwise, he was led by the Spirit of Sportsmanship. It was ingrained in him, part of himself. Sport is wonderful. The most wonderful part of it is not the almost superhuman achievements but the spirit in which it is done. Take away that spirit and it is dead. The Holy Spirit is to the Christian Life what sportsmanship is to sport and more. Without Him in our lives, even at the best, we are little better than ... in terms of sport: - A marvellous player, beautiful strokes, magnificent timing, perfect style, but no sportsmanship about him, Dead perfection, no more. Breathe on me breath of God / Fill me with life anew / That I may love what Thou dost love / And do what Thou wouldst do."[1]

Following a stroke and seizure, which led to a coma, Liddell died, aged 43, in 1945. The cause of his death was found to be an inoperable brain tumour. Eight hundred attended the camp church for his memorial service, while others had to stand outside. A.P. Cullen, who presided at the service, said: 

"We are here, first and foremost, in this Memorial Service, to give thanks to God for the life so finely lived, the fight so nobly fought, the race so cleanly run, and to find renewed inspiration for ourselves in the example that Eric Liddell left us … let no one think that he did not have his temptations, just as we have, temptations to indolence, slackness, compromise, and what not. But he won his way through, by persistent study, regular times of devotion, constant meditation, insistent prayer, getting up early in the morning and spending one hour – two hours – in a concentrated search for God's will as revealed in the teaching of Jesus and the Bible generally."[2]

[1] David McCasland, Eric Liddell: Pure Gold (Michigan: Discovery House, 2001), p.272-273

[2] Ibid., p.282-284