If you had just scored the third goal for Liverpool and put your team in a strong position to secure the Premier League title, is it okay to declare who or what you belong to? Is it okay to say ‘I belong to Jesus’?
The answer is yes.
Cody Gakpo did just that last weekend with his celebration in Liverpool’s 5-1 win over Tottenham, and he was subsequently reminded of the English Football Association’s rules. After scoring, the 25-year-old Netherlands international took off his shirt to reveal a vest that bore the message “I belong to Jesus”.
He did it again at full-time as the Liverpool players celebrated.
Rachael Blackmore: ‘Winning the Grand National was never even a dream … I never thought any of this would be my life’
Leinster v Northampton: TV details, kick-off times, team news and more
Waterford’s Stephen Bennett embodies spirit of never-say-die golden generation
James Lowe in high spirits ahead of Northampton visit
Sport, politics and religion have always had a complex relationship and it seems certain that Gakpo will suffer only a “reprimand” by the Football Association, having been shown a yellow card by the match referee.
His gesture was reminiscent of what AC Milan and a World Player of the Year Kaka did, when he celebrated the Italian club’s triumph over Liverpool in the 2007 Champions League final. He too peeled off his shirt with the same logo underneath.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) laws of the game prohibit demonstrations of faith such as that of Gakpo. The law says: “Equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images.”
“Players must not reveal undergarments that show political, religious, personal slogans, statements or images, or advertising other than the manufacturer’s logo. For any offence the player and/or the team will be sanctioned by the competition organiser, national football association or by Fifa.”
Different sports have different relationships, and in Ireland the GAA have had a very close relationship with the Roman Catholic faith. For example,
last weekend a minute’s silence for Pope Francis took place before most intercounty matches and flags were lowered to half-mast.
Trophies in GAA are named after Archbishops. The Dr Croke Cup for the National Hurling League winners is named after a former Archbishop of Cashel, as is the Dr Harty Cup, the inter-schools hurling competition.
Members of the clergy have presented cups to players at both senior and minor levels in what is a fabulous nexus of church and sport. The two have always enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with Sundays, a kind of traditional flagship day for mass and matches.
And there is politics too, sometimes with fuzzy lines of separation.
In 2021, the Leitrim GAA Hurling team partnered with Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) and one of their senior players, Zak Moradi. The team displayed a “No to Racism” message on their jerseys, with the aim of raising awareness and showing solidarity. The initiative was a direct response to Moradi’s concerns about the rise of racism in Ireland.
The jersey was launched in Croke Park in May 2021 and the decision was subsequently questioned by some on the political right, on the grounds that rule 1.11 of the GAA constitution states that the GAA is a non-party political organisation.
It was claimed the MRCI engaged in political lobbying and advocacy. The MRCI is a non-governmental organisation and a registered charity.
The point is sport regularly aligns with various bodies, sometimes with consequences, sometimes not. Consequences for breaking the rules depend on what the prevailing mood is, and what the establishment will bear. And they shift position over time.
Back in April 2021 there was a planned break in the 35th minute of the English Premier League match between Leicester and Crystal Palace. It was scheduled for the moment the sun set and was done out of respect for the Leicester’s Wesley Fofana and Palace’s Cheikhou Kouyate, who were observing Ramadan. During the break they were able to take on some liquid and gels and break the fast they had kept since sun up.
The gesture represented a significant landmark in football, and has become a part of the Premier League, reflecting an industry that had begun to shift into an international market and into countries with a predominantly Muslim population.
Gakpo will not be punished for his slogan. And before him, neither was Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi, who wore an “I love Jesus” armband against Newcastle last December and a “Jesus loves you” armband against Ipswich shortly after. But there was no consequences for the rule breaking because culturally there was no willingness to do so.
But others have received punishments.
In 2018 Pep Guardiola was fined £20,000 (€23,530) and warned regarding his future conduct after accepting a Football Association charge of wearing a “political message”.
The count related to the Manchester City manager’s wearing a yellow ribbon in support of imprisoned Catalan politicians during his side’s FA Cup defeat at Wigan Athletic in February of that year.
Going further back to 28 years ago Robbie Fowler, the former Liverpool and England striker, was fined 2,000 Swiss Francs (€2,132) by European governing body Uefa in March 1997 for his show of support for locked out dock workers.
After scoring his second goal in Liverpool’s 3-0 Cup Winners’ Cup win over Brann Bergen of Norway, Fowler lifted up his red Liverpool shirt to display a T-shirt which read: “Support The 500 Sacked Dockers”.
The press release noted that while Uefa may sympathise with such support, it strictly rules that a football ground is not the right stage for political demonstrations.
It poses the question of what the consequences would have been if instead of “I belong to Jesus” Gakpo had worn a vest with a different sequence of words on more divisive issues. I belong to Catalonia? I belong to the striking dock workers? I belong to Gaza?
A gentle FA reprimand? Probably not.
Prevailing culture appears to be the real arbitrator in such matters and not sets of rules. The culture decides if there should be punishment or not. In that world belonging to Jesus is just fine.
