Posted on 02/20/2007 10:41:44 AM PST by Alex Murphy
ROME – It is sometimes said that Italy has two main religions – Catholicism and football. Now the two will come together when the country, the current holder of the World Cup, hosts the first international championship for student priests.
'Clericus Cup' will see teams from Rome's many seminaries battling it out with amateur soccer players from 50 nations taking part.
The tournament kicks off on Saturday with a team mostly made up of Brazilians taking on a largely Mexican side. The final is scheduled for the end of June.
'We want to raise the awareness of current and future leaders of parishes and Church communities of the educational and pastoral importance of sport,' said Edio Costantini, head of the Italian Sporting Centre which is organising the event.
The priestly scholars will be expected to apply the usual levels of soccer fair play, but, for those who don't, a Catholic level of forgiveness may be allowed.
The tournament will use a 'blue card' to send off players who foul. They can return to the field after a five minutes cooling off period when they can reflect on what they have done.
I see that my secret admirer has been here already :D
I've played in a friendly game with priests and brothers before and they get just as competitive and hot under the collar (no pun intended) as any other player. Would be interesting to watch.
It's nice that they're getting some exercise. We don't want our priests keeling over from heart attacks when they're 42.
And keep them away from Southern barbecue!
Only so that there's more for us!
And beer. We want them to live to be 80 :-).
I LOVE that clip.
It helps that I had to read all those guys in school.
penalty purgatory?
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