THEME

Amanda Smith: Today, sport and religion: merging the physical with the spiritual.

Hi, I'm Amanda Smith and for Easter on The Sports Factor, we're considering the Christian message through sport.

FOOTBALL CROWD CHEERING

Peter Hollingworth: I wouldn't say that for example, AFL or any other sport is a religion, but I would say that it does have some religious elements. And I think one of the challenges for the churches today is to find the words and the experiences whereby we can help people use what they love and enjoy and are familiar with, and help them to understand some of the deeper existential meanings behind it.

FOOTBALL CROWD CHEERING

Amanda Smith: That's Peter Hollingworth, the Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, and the Number One ticket-holder of the Brisbane Lions Football Club. And I'll be speaking to Archbishop Hollingworth later in the program about his thoughts on footy and faith.

Before that though, to one of the major sporting events that's always run over the Easter period: the Bell's Beach surfing competition. Bell's Beach, on Victoria's west coast, was the first professional surfing contest to be held in Australia, and it's part of the World Championship Tour of men's and women's events held annually at surf beaches around the world. This is the 26th year of the Bell's Beach event, with the women's competition included along with the men's ten years ago.

The men's and women's competitions on the pro circuit are organised a bit differently. In the men's, the world's top ranked 44 surfers are sponsored on the tour, whereas in the women's it's the top 11.

For The Sports Factor, Michael Shireffs was at Bell's Beach this week where he spoke to Australia's top female surfer, Layne Beachley. She's currently ranked the world's number two behind the American, Lisa Anderson. Layne has been competing on the pro circuit for eight years now, and says that women's surfing has come a long way in that time.

Layne Beachley: Women's surfing has had such a bad label put to it, like we're either dykes or just completely unprofessional: the way we present ourselves, the way we're marketed, the way that we just perceive ourselves, and the lack of professionalism that we have within the tour. But now having Lisa at the forefront of women's surfing has broken down a lot of doors between the attitude or within the attitude of surfing, because it's such a male dominated world and we're always compared to men. I think now that we've broken away and we've created the top eleven and we're respected for what we do - because the more events that we have on our own the less we're compared to the men - the more we're respected for ourselves. So I think a lot has changed just within the structure, and within the attitude of the women on tour.

Michael Shireffs: Just as a side thing, has it been good for the sport to have this sort of king pin at the top that a few of you underneath just want to knock off?

Layne Beachley: Yes I think so, yes. Because they've got this little rivalry thing going between, firstly between America and Australia, and secondly between myself and Lisa, because I'm number two and she's number one. So it's a good media angle and it's created a lot of interest. But also it's been great for the sport having Lisa, I mean she's the glamour girl of surfing and she's a deserved world champion, but we're gaining on her and we will knock her off and it's going to be a huge hype when we do.

Michael Shireffs: What about on the level of sponsorship? I mean sponsorship's become a real fight to hold on to control of the product. What's the state of sponsorship now say within women's surfing? Do you feel like you are in control of the way it's marketed and the way it's underpinned?

Layne Beachley: I think to an extent, because it's so new for sponsors to get involved with women's surfing, and it's up to up to market ourselves. And so we have quite a strong say in how we want ourselves to be marketed and presented. Obviously it has been a battle and a really steep, uphill battle, to gain sponsorship and retain it. And now that Lisa's broken down so many doors as far as sponsorship's concerned, there's big bucks outside of the industry to be gained, especially for the women. As I said, we're such a tight group, there's such a limited number of us that compete, that it doesn't really cost that much to get involved. But Lisa, every time, every year she's won the world title, our price tag has gone up, because she gets paid more, we have to get paid more as well and it works for me. But it has sponsors, like the big three, that have held on to surfing for a long time - Quicksilver, Billabong and Rip Curl - and they're finally seeing the value in promoting women's lines and bringing out women's clothing. And what they eventually found out was 30% of their market is women, and it's obviously worked in their favour. Now they're supplying to women because women shop; women shop for the men and women shop for themselves. And now that they can shop for themselves in women's clothing, the industry's just getting bigger and bigger and it's all thanks to us.

Michael Shireffs: So things like the surfwear features in a lot of the magazines: is that something that you feel like you're in control of? Or do you think it's just a necessary evil?

Layne Beachley: It's definitely not an evil, it's a necessity as far as we're concerned, because any women in surfing magazines is a good thing to see, because it hasn't been a real predominant feature. It's been a problem but is now being confronted and supported by the editors of surfing magazines. The problem was what started out as women in magazines, they were either topless or nude completely or g-strings or whatever. And they still have those, but people are not really enjoying seeing that any more, people want to see the girls on good waves ripping it up, or the girls modelling their sponsor's wear, because we're all a real marketable bunch. So it's been a big turnaround as far as the image and the representation of women's surfing in surfing magazines.

Michael Shireffs: The issue of payment with the competitions that will always be argued over: is equal payment with the men on the horizon?

Layne Beachley: To be completely honest and in defence of the men, obviously we surf the same way, we do the same travel, we have the same class, but there aren't 44 of us, there's only 11 of us and if we spread $100,000 between 11 of us, you'd end up with at least $10,000 a contest, and that's more than what half the top 44 earn. So to be completely honest, I think we're earning good money and we continue to be supported and we've upped the ante this year, asked for more prizemoney and they've given it to us, and we haven't lost any sponsors because of that. So as far as equal prizemoney is concerned, I'm not going to say that we deserve it, and I'm not going to say we don't deserve it, but I'm just going to say that we're happy with where we are now, and if it continues to grow, we'll continue to push it. But it's not an angle that the media need to harp on any more. The girls are earning good money, the top five in the world last year earned at least $US40,000 just from prizemoney, and I guess that's enough to live on isn't it? That's enough to do the world tour and it's good to see that once you qualify for that World Championship Tour you can earn a decent living.

MUSIC: Veruca Salt, 'The Sound of the Bell'

Amanda Smith: The 'Sound of the Bell'. And that's exactly what Layne Beachley will be hoping to hear at this weekend's finals in the women's surf classic at Bell's Beach. The winner's trophy is of course the Golden Bell.

Now an up and comer in men's surfing is Glyndon Ringrose. He's currently competing on the World Qualifying circuit. This is the tour that gets you into the World Championship circuit if you do well enough. Which is exactly what Glyndon is aiming to do this year. And Michael Shireffs caught up with him at Bell's Beach this week, because in the somewhat hedonistic world of surfing, Glyndon Ringrose is a bit unusual: he's a committed Christian, the son of Seventh Day Adventist missionaries.

Glyndon Ringrose: Well I was born in Vanuatu in the Pacific Islands, and my parents were missionaries, and we moved to Fiji when I was about three and we lived there for about seven years and then we moved to the Solomon Islands for a year. And Dad was like a practical missionary: he went overseas to help the locals to fix their machines and set up agricultural institutes and teach them how to milk, you know, dairy farms and all that sort of stuff. So I grew up in a very practical family and very, you know, Christian-like of course. And I moved to Australia at about the age of eight, and we moved to Port Macquarie which is up in New South Wales, and I started surfing then, at sort of age eight or nine. Not full-on at first, just on little foam boards and whatever else I could grab my hands onto. And slowly progressed into high school, and all my peers and everything, and we all just started surfing together and surfing just progressed stage by stage.

Michael Shireffs: So it was quite a late start for you, in a way?

Glyndon Ringrose: Yes well it was. Like lots of kids these days start at the age of five, or younger sometimes, their parents pushing them into it. But my parents were not for it, because they couldn't see where it would lead to. It's not a solid job, going surfing, is it? So they were a bit sort of against surfing as in like, I'd never stay home and mow the lawn, or go out and fix the car, or be practical. I was always just like after school straight down the surf. And because of Mum and Dad's and my religion at that stage, they didn't really believe that I could surf on Saturday, that is a day of rest. They're Seventh Day Adventists and I am as well, and they believe that you weren't allowed to surf on Saturday because it was a day of rest and it was sacred. But the boardriders' comps only ran on Sundays, so it was convenient for me. And as soon as I left Mum and Dad's, I started competing every day and just enjoying my life. I sort of went my own way for a little bit, you know, had a lot of fun.

Michael Shireffs: Do you believe your faith in God gives you an edge in the sport?

Glyndon Ringrose: Yes, totally.

Michael Shireffs: How?

Glyndon Ringrose: Well you know, say if I lose, I'm not going to get depressed about it because I leave it in God's hands. You know, He is the one who decides everything. I try my hardest and if I don't succeed, I'm not going to get depressed about it, I'm going to keep trying. Lots of guys, you know, they fail, fail, fail, fail, they just get so depressed and kind of don't seem to carry on, or you know, they've got all the ability to do it but just don't have the real mindpower I guess. But I believe for me, it's everything, it helps me get through my heats, it helps me day to day, helps me when I do good. If I do good, I'm stoked, you know, praise the Lord! He's helped me get there, you know, just everything.

Michael Shireffs: How does your belief affect the way you surf? Are you a soft touch out in the lineup? Are you likely to give way to somebody, or, does it make you more competitive?

Glyndon Ringrose: Yes I'm a really relaxed guy. I hate hassling in a heat, I hate to see a fight, I hate to see aggression, I hate to see all those things. In a heat, I do tend to take a back seat and try and get my waves, try and be smart and be in the better position rather than be out there really aggressive and paddling around someone, thrashing it out. I'd much rather stand back and just find the better waves.

Michael Shireffs: When you're out in the water, when it's just you and the ocean, and you're really focused, do you feel closer to God when you're there?

Glyndon Ringrose: Yes, usually when I go surfing I go surfing with a bunch of mates too, which really amps you up, and it is good just to break away. And you know, like, amazingly you might be out there and your mates all caught a wave you're sitting there and a bunch of dolphins come through, and you just go, 'Oh wow! Thank you Lord,' it's fantastic. Or a beautiful sunset, you know you just sit and just meditate on the wonderful things of the world that we do live in. There is still some wonderful things out there.

Michael Sheriffs: How tolerant within the sport are other surfers of your beliefs?

Glyndon Ringrose: With a lot of surfers, like I travel with a lot of guys who say 'You're never going to convert me, you're never going to. Don't talk to me about that stuff'. I travel with a lot of guys who are anti, you know. But I find that they accept me as a person, like I'm just the same as them, and I'm not going out there bashing them with a Bible or anything you know, saying 'This is what you've got to believe in'. Amazingly, I've been accepted by virtually all of them, and the majority of them all know I'm a Christian. And some even come to me for information, just wanting to know what's going on. Or they're really depressed and just needing a little bit of a pick up. I guess they always know I'm a positive guy who's never going to be negative about anything. A lot of them come to me and do ask me quite a few questions about what I believe in, and what they should be doing. And you know, even the guys who say, 'No, no, no, no', even they start asking questions after time, because I guess the longer you are nicer, or they keep throwing you down and you keep bouncing back and not being anti or aggressive, they're going to ask 'Well what's this bloke on? How can he be like that - be so nice?' Well, I try to be anyway. So yes, a lot of them accept it, a lot of them do.

Amanda Smith: Glyndon Ringrose, who rips it up in the surf for God.

Someone who also acknowledges the connections between sport and religion is Peter Hollingworth, the Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane. Originally from Melbourne, Archbishop Hollingworth is now part of the great Aussie Rules diaspora. And one of the ways he spreads the word is as the Number One ticket holder, and spiritual leader, of the Brisbane Lions AFL team. How Archbishop Hollingworth got the gig with the Lions could be interpreted as a case of divine intervention.

Peter Hollingworth: Well that's an interesting story: at that stage they were on the bottom of the ladder and were playing at Carrara and a friend of mine, Professor Ross Fitzgerald, said to me, 'Would you like to come down and see a footy game?' And I said, 'I'd love to'. And what do you know, the Brisbane Bears, as then were, actually won. And they asked me a second time, and the won again. So the next thing that happened is they said, 'How about becoming the Number One ticket holder?' And I did.

Amanda Smith: Well I must say I've seen some marvellous photos of you, Archbishop, with your Brisbane footy scarf draped over the pulpit, or the same scarf around your shoulders and framing your shining silver cross: the twin icons of the AFL logo and the episcopal cross maybe. For you, is there a spiritual or a transcendental quality in football?

Peter Hollingworth: Leaving aside all the chiacking and the jokes, and of course there's lots and lots of that: you know, you arrive at the footy ground and they say, 'You got the telephone going Archbishop? Are you in tune with Him?' And we joke about all that, but in actual fact, underneath it all, I think there is, or there can be. It's really a question of - like in all of these things - an attitude of mind. And if people like to think about how religion relates to life, or sport, there's an answer there if you want to find out.

Amanda Smith: Now in a culture that portrays football as a religion, are there useful parallels that might be drawn between footy and religious faith?

Peter Hollingworth: Actually Elle McFeast asked me that question at the 'Gabba one night, when she was doing a whole thing on the footy game for ABC Television, and I said to her that I thought there were very real connections, and in fact the language is very similar. Words like 'dedication', 'commitment', 'team spirit' and all that sort of thing. And if there's a common language underneath all that, clearly there are some connections.

Amanda Smith: Well do sports-people embody a Christian message? And I'm thinking about a comment made by Father John Woods, who's the chaplain of the Canberra Raiders Rugby League Club; now I know he's a different denomination from you in both senses of the word: Catholic and Rugby League.

Peter Hollingworth: Different religion too, isn't it?

Amanda Smith: But he made the comment that sports people are implicit bearers of the Easter mystery of dying and rising. Does that hold anything for you?

Peter Hollingworth: Absolutely. I think that if you can unpackage that statement, it carries a huge meaning, and I think that's what happens just about every time a player goes onto the football field, or any other sporting field, where you have to give yourself totally to the cause, to the game, to your fellow players, and to empty yourself until you've got nothing left. And anyone who's played sport like that knows that there's always something that happens to them that gives them that extra transcending something to enable them to do better than they ever could have dreamt of. And that is like death and resurrection.

Amanda Smith: For spectators, Archbishop, is there do in any way a kind of existential element to football that can really be a sort of substitute religion?

Peter Hollingworth: John Northey, our coach, says 'You know, the crowds are just as important as the players. It's a total event'. And I think that's right. And if you go back to the thing in the Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament - 'Seeing that we are compassed about with so great a crowd of witnesses' - and this is the whole idea of the sports field. And I suppose there's an analogy there about what happens in the end in the heavenly places, the great 'crowd of witnesses' who make up the heavenly host. I'm not suggesting for a minute that a contemporary AFL football crowd is anything like the heavenly host, but the witnesses are there and they are participants, and they generate something of the chemistry and the excitement in the shouting and the barracking.

Amanda Smith: Well Australia is often claimed to be the most secular society in the world, since European settlement through to the present day, which might leave a spiritual vacuum that's met by sport, especially the big football codes. But what's your view on sport, on football, standing in as a civil religion, or as a folk religion?

Peter Hollingworth: I haven't worked that one out yet, Amanda. I think what you say is true, that there's been right from the beginning a deep sense of cynicism about many aspects of organised religion. And I think it goes right back to the earliest days of settlement when people came here determined to break the nexus with the old world and to build something new for themselves. That's one of the things about Australian Rules, they didn't take the old code or the old game from the old world, they developed something new. And it does have some religious elements and chemistry in it, there's no doubt about it. I wouldn't say that, say for example AFL or any other sport is a religion, but I would say that it does have some religious elements and I think one of the challenges for the churches today is to find the words and the experiences whereby we can help people use what they love and enjoy and are familiar with, and help them to understand some of the deeper existential meanings behind it.

Amanda Smith: So does your association with the Brisbane Lions help you as Archbishop connect better with people?

Peter Hollingworth: Oh look, undoubtedly. And that's the really great pleasure. To be able to be with ordinary people in crowd situations, barracking with them alongside them, is something that you don't often get a chance to do. I think you need to be with people and you need to be right across all the spectrums of faith and denomination. And when we're all there together we're just all there, human beings, barracking for the one cause. I always make a point of wearing my Archbishop's shirt, I think it's important to be identified. The great thing is of course, it matches the Brisbane Lions' colours, which pleases me!

Amanda Smith: So football in a sense, gives you street cred?

Peter Hollingworth: Well, yes, street cred. Well maybe it does. That's not why I do it, but if that happens well I think it's helpful because I think that we've got a lot of work to do in breaking down some of these negative images about the clergy as being wowsers and unconnected. I don't think it's true, but if people feel that well I think we've got to demonstrate that that's not the case.

Amanda Smith: Archbishop Peter Hollingworth, on football and faith.

And now to the oldest of the traditional Easter sporting fixtures in Australia: the Stawell Gift, the professional foot race that's been run in the Victorian town of Stawell, in the Wimmera district, since 1878.

Commentator: On their blocks, they're set, and away, McGill got away quickly from Gulliver, Simpson is going quickly from O'Brien and Perry, Gulliver's in front --

Amanda Smith: This year it's the 120th anniversary of the running of the first Stawell Gift, which makes it one of the world's oldest professional foot races that's still being run. It now attracts not only runners from all over Australia, but also overseas athletes. But according to Robert Irvine, who's the Secretary of the Stawell Athletics Club, the organisers of the event, 120 years ago the Stawell Gift was just a local affair in a small country town.

Robert Irvine: It was the townspeople putting together an entertainment package to happen over Easter, and from then it's snowballed into what it is today.

Amanda Smith: Stawell was established as a goldmining town in the 19th century gold boom; were there originally miners who ran in the race?

Robert Irvine: There were, although the Gift itself was set up by the townspeople in opposition I think to the miners running their own Gift, but it's the Stawell Gift itself that's survived over those years.

Amanda Smith: And what did you get in prizemoney back in 1878?

Robert Irvine: I think it was about 10-pounds, and today the prizemoney this year, first prize, is $31,000.

Amanda Smith: Well I understand that, not in the Gift itself but in other events run over the weekend of that very first event in 1878, there were some prizes given in livestock?

Robert Irvine: Yes there's the Veteran's Prize was a live pig, which we've always said to the veterans, we should bring that back.

Amanda Smith: Well that would be a great idea, and it's a nice rural touch I guess. Is the Stawell Gift as popularly supported now as it has been in the past?

Robert Irvine: Probably not in terms of people attending, because in those days they had special trains, and today there are no trains. But as far as interest around the world, I think it is more popular now than it was then. We were told that there's coverage goes into something like 14 countries and the fellow who was telling us told us they talked in terms of millions of people.

Amanda Smith: Now Robert, can you explain the handicap system for the race?

Robert Irvine: I can try! The idea of the handicap system is that all runners would pass the finishing post exactly equal, and the handicapper works out what mark or handicap the runner will have according to their previous performances. This year I think he's handicapping to a time of 12.2 seconds, so he works out how long it would take a person to run 12.2 seconds and allocates a handicap for that person to get them across the line at that point of time.

Amanda Smith: Do you think that the popularity of handicap events in Australia is, in a way, an expression of our fair-go ideal? It seems very egalitarian to run a race set up so that theoretically at least, every competitor should cross the line at the same time.

Robert Irvine: Exactly. I think it follows our love of horse racing, our love of dog racing, of trotting, anything that moves, Australian people will gamble on, and that's the other feature of foot running, that there is gambling allowed on it. But it's also that fair-go, and it means that a runner like myself with very little talent can run against the best in the world.

Amanda Smith: And how often do people who have no great reputation as runners win the Gift?

Robert Irvine: It's probably very seldom, because it's an elite event, and we have a handicap limit of 11 metres this year. And so I guess it's very unusual for a runner of no talent to win, just because of that handicap event, but also because of the fact that they have to run three races over the weekend, and you can be lucky once I guess but you can't be lucky two or three times in a row.

Amanda Smith: How important is the betting side of the Stawell Gift?

Robert Irvine: Well I think it's part of the atmosphere, and there's certainly a lot of money that changes hands. We run a Calcutta on Good Friday night when official betting actually starts.

Amanda Smith: What's a Calcutta?

Robert Irvine: A Calcutta is like a raffle. You buy a ticket and you may well win a heat in a raffle, but that heat is then auctioned off to the highest bidder, and the person who holds that heat money, or that heat, gets half the proceeds of the auction. The other half goes into a pool and the person who holds the winning ticket at the end of Monday, that is, the person who's got the heat with the Gift winner in, gets a fairly substantial amount of money. Last year it was over $2,000. In years gone by we weren't allowed to bet on Good Friday night, in fact the police used to come and raid the venue, but they changed the legislation in Victoria to allow us to have legal pre-post betting.

Amanda Smith: And is it true that the running track for the Stawell Gift has the ashes of deceased runners in it?

Robert Irvine: It certainly is true.

Amanda Smith: Tell me about that, and how that came about?

Robert Irvine: Well the Stawell Gift, once it gets into your blood, it appears that it's with you for life. And people dedicate themselves to the Stawell Gift whether it be on our committee, whether it be as an athlete, or whether it be as a bookmaker or just a person who goes for a long, long time. And from time to time when those people die, they've requested that their ashes be spread on the running track. And I certainly know of at least three or four occasions when that's occurred.

Amanda Smith: So who are the people whose ashes are sprinkled on the running track at Stawell?

Robert Irvine: One that comes to mind is a fellow who had a long association with the Gift, not necessarily as a committee member but as a spectator, and he requested that that be done. We have pictures and the wording that goes with it at our museum.

Amanda Smith: And I presume that's a fairly solemn and ceremonial event?

Robert Irvine: I would think so, and it looks very solemn and ceremonial, the pictures that we have of it. But it does say something about people's attachment to it.

Amanda Smith: Well what's the field looking like for this weekend's race?

Robert Irvine: Very, very strong. We've been lucky enough to attract four overseas runners as well as some of the best runners in Australia. We have number four in the world, Jon Drummond coming, and he's not only an exceptional athlete but a real showman so he'll add something different to it; as well as some of our best Australian athletes who get the opportunity to run against the best in the world.

Amanda Smith: Robert Irvine, Secretary of the Stawell Athletics Club, the organisers of the Stawell Easter Gift, this year being the 120th anniversary of its first running. And that's The Sports Factor for now. I'm Amanda Smith and I'll be back with you again next week. Hope you'll join me then. See you.

THEME

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The Sports Factor can be heard on Radio National, 8.30am Fridays (Repeated Friday evenings at 8.00pm).