The Difference Between Hockey, Football, and Soccer is Catholicism

*Warning* I’m an unabashed fan of hockey. I am biased, and I do believe hockey is not only the best sport but the most analogous to Catholicism. Imagine my delight when I discovered Alyssa Bormes book, “The Catechism of Hockey,” which is published by The American Chesterton Society.

It’s a delightful book, but maybe more than anything, thought provoking. It manages to get you to think about how you live your faith life. Bormes points out the seriousness with which we treat sports, but the lack of seriousness with which we treat the Catholic faith. It challenges us to live our life with the same commitment we give to the sports we play.

I want to discuss in particular Bormes’ discussion on the “Sin Bin,” while comparing hockey’s treatment of penalties to other sports’ treatment of penalties, fouls, and other forms of rule-breaking.

Bormes points out that the hockey penalty is dealt to a skater following an offense that may be classified as major or minor depending on the intention and the flagrancy of the offense. He does his time immediately and individually, sitting alone in the Penalty Box (the “Sin Bin”)  for his allotted time. He serves his time, and then is allowed to continue in the game. While the skater is punished individually, the team also suffers for the duration of the penalty since no other skater is allowed to take the place of the offender. The actions of the single player affect the whole team while still the skater has an individual punishment.

It is in looking at other sports that the uniqueness of the hockey penalty and thus its similitude to the Catholic view of sin is emphasized. In football, when a player breaks the rules, the penalty is assessed to the entire team as a unit. A single player false-starts and the entire team must give up their hard-earned forward progress and retreat five yards. The intention of the player makes no difference and each offense has a predetermined penalty.

In soccer, a player is given a warning (yellow card) following an minor infraction, but neither he nor his team suffer any consequences; the yellow card is merely a warning and the player receives a “booking,” meaning his name has been recorded. If the player receives a second yellow card, he is also shown a red card and ejected from the game. He is not replaced by another player and the game continues with his team playing shorthanded. Only after a second warning is the individual penalized for minor infractions. If the player commits a flagrant penalty he his ejected immediately regardless of number of previous offenses.

In these differences lie the greatness of hockey as an analogy for the Catholic approach to sin and forgiveness. For a Catholic, an offense or sin, is his own. No one else is to blame when he breaks a rule. For this reason, the penalty is assessed to him individually. The player’s penalty requires a “penance” proportionate to the gravity and seriousness of his offense.

Likewise, sin may be major or minor (mortal or venial) depending on intention, means, and the moral object. The punishment is assessed taking these three aspects into consideration. While each man’s sin belongs to him alone, he is also part of a common human nature that he shares with all men, is part of the Body of Christ which he shares with all baptized Christians, is part of a country by birth or immigration, and is part of a family by birth, adoption, or choice.

His actions have an effect on all of the others who share in each of these relationships even if not a visible one. There is always, no matter how private a sin, some affect on the entirety of humanity and the other communities to which the person belongs on some mystical level. For the Catholic, each sin has a ripple effect into all of his relationships, from God all the way down to the stranger in a distant land.

A good analogy to understand this is the integrity of a puzzle. The entire cosmos is like a puzzle. If one piece is missing, the entire puzzle is incomplete. The entire puzzle is defective on account of one piece. Sin affects the entirety of creation. Now imagine that on the puzzle has among many images one of a person (representing for us humanity). Now, if the puzzle is missing one piece particularly in the image of the person, how much more is the image of the person defective within the entire puzzle which is also left defective.

Just as the penalty box corrects the penalty , in Catholicism there is a way to fix these relationships, to get back into the game. He needs to sit in the “Sin Bin,” do his penance, and then is allowed to continue in the game. He has the ability to be forgiven of his sin and atone for it. Hockey is merciful towards its skaters. His team is playing at full strength again. He may visit the penalty box numerous times, even for the same offense, and yet he is never given a red card and ejected unless he refuses to do his time in the box (which would be a “game misconduct”).  The most serious of penalties are treated harshly and like all analogies this is where it breaks away from Catholicism. There is no sin so great that it can’t be forgiven. Only the rejection of such forgiveness, which has its own similitude to hockey’s game misconduct for refusing to enter the penalty box.

Where (American) football penalizes the entire team for any offense and Association football (soccer) penalizes a player only with a warning or the Draconian red card with no option for forgiveness, hockey is merciful! Hockey is merciful and shows the mystical union of the individual to the greater community in more Catholic terms.

If you found this comparison of soccer, football, and hockey interesting, pick up a copy of Alyssa Bormes book, “The Catechism of Hockey.”

 

Abram Muenzberg

Abram Muenzberg

Abram Muenzberg is a 28-year-old husband and father. He holds a M.A. in Theology and a B.A. in Philosophy. His passion for the Catholic faith, vocations, and liturgy is the inspiration behind much of his writing. His background as a Lay Campus Minister and former Director of Liturgy for a parish in the Benedictine tradition influences his writing. His website is Men Like Wine.

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22 thoughts on “The Difference Between Hockey, Football, and Soccer is Catholicism”

  1. Great post! as a soccer player who has been sent off a few times, i know what its like to be put out of the rest of the game. you get a lot of time to think about what you’ve done.

  2. Rugby has a Sin Bin. In fact, Rugby invented the term “sin bin.” When the ref pulls out the yellow card, you get ten minutes (out of 80) off the pitch.

    Hockey has a culture of brutality that is unbecoming a Christian. Rugby is a physical game, and sometimes punches get thrown, but when the whistle blows, the Rugby code of hospitality means that you quaff beers and sing really rude songs with the guys you were beating up just hours before.

  3. Only a guy from Minnesota, Dale Ahlquist, could publish a book like this! Minnesota is the world center of hockey frenzy at all levels of schooling and the pros. I agree that professional hockey has become almost solely about gratuitous violence(not that pro football and other sports are far behind it!); however, the high school and college versions are completely entertaining and filled with heroics worthy of strong faith. I will buy the book because 1.) I love anything Chesterton’s name is associated with and The American Chesterton Society is a cool bunch 2.) 17 years in Minnesota infected me badly with ‘hockey mania’ 3.) Abram’s endorsement has to be good as a follower of St. Benedict. I am an Oblate of St. Benedict at the monastery where I live.

  4. Francis Choudhury

    This is precisely why there is confession to a priest in the Catholic tradition. Our personal sins not only offend God, they also hurt the mission of the Church. So we need to ask pardon for them not only of God but also of the other members of the Body of Christ – the whole Church, Christ and His people, who the priest represents in the confessional. This is why Jesus decreed, “Whose sins YOU (the Church) shall forgive, they are forgiven them…” Pope Francis confirmed exactly this the other day.

  5. That is a great analogy, but competive sports by their very nature include strife and contention and we, as Christians, are supposed to avoid those things. Read The Sin of Sports by MD Shamburger (yes, my book–shameless self promotion) for a more full exploration. (It is available on Createspace.com or amazon)
    As HV Observer mentioned, “Hockey has a culture of brutality that is unbecoming a Christian.” So do all sports.

  6. Baseball has no fouls. If you break a rule, you’re out. You hardly ever see that and it’s usually for arguing with a call. Now, they have video reviews of iffy calls. Isn’t baseball a more behaved game?

  7. The analogy falls flat. In hockey, there are game misconducts I.e. Players are ejected from the game. Then, the league suspends those players for a number of games. I suppose that’s akin to excommunication.

    1. The analogy holds. Misconducts have penalty minutes and maybe a fine. There’s an end to a suspension and fines are commensurate with seriousness. Players serve the time and pay the fines themselves.

      1. Hockey is the only pro sport that ‘allows’ fighting, what’s Catholic about that? Game misconducts eject players from games, which blows to bits the argument produced by the author of this article.

      2. Catholics who won’t take up the battle either don’t realize there’s a battle going on, they’re not committed to the cause or they’re afraid to defend the defenseless. Good or evil, choose your side, Catholicism is in a battle. Woe to those who abandon their posts, shirk their duties and leave the fighting to a few.

      3. So punching people senseless is Catholic dogma? Tell my in what papal encyclical can I find that? What happened to turning the other cheek? Isn’t that was Jesus said? I don’t see that in your hockey analogy.

  8. Agreed. One on one combat like boxing strengthens a person in many ways. If you get knocked down, you have to get up and resume the battle. Nobody else can substitute for you. Realization that pain from blows passes quickly reduces fear of physical attack and threats. Defense and attack are employed concurrently, while feints and blows are interspersed with bobbing and weaving to blur the target. Many good lessons here for kids of today, over-protected as routine, raised like cottonballs.

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