Eastern Football League

Sports Chaplaincy Australia is urging churches around Australia to love their local sports club, by raising up and offering a chaplain on a voluntary basis.

Head of Sports Chaplaincy Australia, Cameron Butler, says the demand for chaplains in sports clubs is huge: over 4,000 clubs around the country have indicated a desire to have a chaplain as part of their team. Mr Butler is determined to make that happen.

“Those 4,000 positions could be filled really quickly, if we can show the local church that this is a great opportunity for them.”

“We’re saying to churches: if you trust somebody to run a Bible study, a life group, a home group—if you trust them as a capable spiritual mentor and pastoral carer in your church, we’d trust them to be a local sports chaplain.”

A sports chaplain in a local club volunteers a few hours a week (usually between 3-5 hours), time that’s often spent at the club anyway, with children’s or personal sporting commitments.

That was the case for David Burt, the chaplain for Eastern Rangers AFL Club in Box Hill, Victoria. When his son made a team in the Eastern Rangers, part of the TAC Cup, the premier AFL league for under 19’s, it looked like David would be spending a lot of time there too.

“I was having a coffee with the Talent ID Manager—sort of the CEO of the club—and asked if he’d like to have a chaplain. I knew the club had had chaplains before, and I knew the guys who’d been those chaplains, and that it was a good relationship. So I asked, and he said yes.”

While the minimum requirement for sports chaplains is to attend one team training session and all home games, David chooses to spend much more time in his role. “The team has two training nights and a recovery session, and I’m usually at two of these sessions, and then I go to all the games.” He’s passionate about what he does, and loves the sport.

Three years in to the role, David’s built lasting friendships, and says he feels he’s made a good contribution to the club. But starting out was tough.

“You start slowly. When you arrive, you feel like there’s a bit of suspicion about who you are and why you’re there. And I asked myself a few times, ‘Why am I here? Is this a good use of my time?’”

David says he’d often be standing around, trying to remember names. But it’s all about building trust, and developing relationships, which can only happen over time.

“You have a lot of shallow conversations. And then I’d disappear into my car, and write down the names and what we’d spoken about, and next time I’d try and pick up that conversation, or follow up on what they were telling me.”

Now, David is bursting with stories about how his relationships in the club have allowed him to share his faith with others, and offer support in times of trouble.

“There’s always that tension about how to represent Christ to players and allowing people to ask questions or talk about spiritual matters.”

David has been tasked with getting a chaplain into each of the 43 clubs in the Eastern Football League in Victoria in the next two years. It’s the biggest local football league in Australia and spreads the size of Adelaide. The management of the League has asked Sports Chaplaincy Australia to provide a chaplain for each club, to assist the welfare and spiritual health of their players and officials. Since February, David’s helped place 10 chaplains in clubs, and another four are almost ready to go.

Sports chaplains are all voluntary positions, something that Cameron Butler feels sets them apart and has worked in their favour in the 30 years of Sports Chaplaincy Australia’s history.

“We’re there to serve in the way the club wants. We’re genuine and authentic in our desire to care for our communities in local sport,” he says.

But the 43 positions in the Eastern Football League, and the 4,000 plus spots around Australia, will only be filled with the support of churches.

“We want churches to adopt their local sports club,” says David. He says he’s focusing on the AFL clubs first because they tend to be hubs in the Victorian community.

“People can be there all day on Saturdays, and it attracts a lot of people. And we’re telling footy clubs that they’re not just getting a chaplain—they’re getting a whole church that wants to support them too.”

Cameron wants to see churches get out of their building and into their communities, and thinks this is a great way to do it. Across the road or around the corner from almost every suburban church, you’ll find a footy club, a cricket club, a tennis club.

“And our kids are already there, you’ve already got connections in that club,” says Cameron. “But we don’t often put sport and faith in the same sentence.”

In fact, sport is often a competitor for churches, running up against them on a Sunday morning. But Cameron doesn’t see sport as a hindrance or a threat. “It’s an opportunity!”

Sports Chaplaincy Australia are looking for Christians and churches willing to get involved in their ‘Love Your Club’ campaign.

“We’re looking for people who love Jesus, who have a genuine, authentic relationship with him, who love sport and who feel they’ve got time to invest in people,” says David.

He’s encouraging people to contact him if they’re interested in being a sports chaplain or want to find out more.