Do Sunday convictions make or break Christian athletes?

This summer’s Paris Olympic Games saw much made of Scottish runner Eric Liddell’s gold medal triumph in the 400-metre race in the same city 100 years ago.

There are many athletes who profess to having a Christian faith today, as was seen recently at the Olympics, as well as in some of England’s footballers, and perhaps most notably, the world’s best golfer, Scottie Scheffler.

However, I can’t help but feel that a crucial part of Liddell’s story is missing in many of today’s Christian athletes; Liddell’s simple, uncompromising statement that he was ‘no runnin’’ on Sundays was undoubtedly the most courageous and arguably the most important part of his story.

He risked throwing his running career away completely but was wonderfully rewarded by the Lord for standing up for His name when it would have been easier not to.

Today, most Christian athletes do not take the same stand as Liddell, and participate willingly on the Lord’s Day. Scheffler will be seen on the golf course on most weekends ever year, professing Christian Jurgen Klopp, has spoken of how he could not give up on his sporting aspirations because of traditional convictions about Sundays, and all the England players who profess faith all regularly play on the Lord’s Day. This begs the question: is it possible for Christians to be top-level sportspeople without compromising on convictions around Sundays?

It is a difficult issue to discuss, as so much about what these athletes are doing is often so good. Scheffler is viewed as different to his competitors on the golf course, and visually carries himself in a different way. Former Rangers defender Marvin Andrews was also known for his faith, and the Monkees song I’m a believer would play on the loudspeakers whenever he scored at Ibrox Stadium, and supporters still remember him fondly 20 years later.

These athletes should be commended for having the courage to speak publicly about their faith. However, they, and so many others, all compromise on the issue of Lord’s Day observance, which suggests that younger Christian athletes will also struggle to make the grade if they do not accept that they will also have to.

Should our current stars be commended, or should we be disappointed by their decision to compete on the Lord’s Day? The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.

On one hand, their public faith enables them to show why they are different through their actions and how they carry themselves, showing that Christianity can foster a better view of self and perspective of their career.

However, as I fear is forgotten in many Christian circles, observance of the Lord’s Day is not just a simple call, but is one of the 10 Commandments and so Christians should be slow to be flippant about its importance.

The Lord does not leave the issue as a vague choice, but as a clear command for us to follow, and so, while Christian sports stars undoubtedly do a lot of good through their witness, ultimately, they should not be competing on the Lord’s Day.

Former Scotland rugby international Euan Murray is one of the few high-profile recent examples of someone who refused to compromise on the Lord’s Day, and he did not lose his career at the top because of it.

A successful player during the 2000s, Murray announced he would stop playing on Sundays in 2009 because of his commitment to the Lord’s Day. Perhaps surprisingly, he did not fall into obscurity but continued to play for Scotland until 2015, showing Christian principles do not necessarily equate the end of a sporting career.

South-African hammer thrower Chris Harmse perhaps suffered more than Murray did for taking a similar stance, never getting the chance to compete for his country at the Olympics during his career because he would not compete on a Sunday. However, he still enjoyed a career which saw him win many medals at other major events, including the Commonwealth Games.

Like Liddell, lets decide that we are ‘no runnin,’ and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to worshipping God on Sundays. As the example of Euan Murray shows, it may even be that Christians can still make it to the top of the sporting tree, providing a better witness than those who have gone before them by sticking to Biblical principles when it comes to Sundays.