READING REPORT

4 Sports Chaplaincy Australia

Cameron Butler and Noel Mitaxa

Introduction

As Australian sports ministry has grown over the past 30 years, it has demon- strated God’s sovereignty in the linking of two unlikely partners, a national passion for sport and a cultural ambivalence towards religion and authority. Australia’s British heritage has been augmented by post-war mass migration on a similar scale to that witnessed in the US. With a landmass equivalent to North America’s mainland states, Australia hosts a population of 23 million, the majority inhabiting towns and cities on its eastern and south-eastern coastlines and remote south-west corner. While North America’s first European settlers eagerly sought a land of opportunity, Australia’s early European inhabitants were convicts with offences ranging from murder and treason to petty theft. Trans- ported from overcrowded English jails, they experienced a brutal penal regime to which the Church was seen to be intimately connected. Such associations were characterized by early expressions of Christian witness in Australia: for example, the First Fleet’s Revd Richard Johnston (Cable, 1967) and, later, Revd Samuel Marsden, described as ‘the flogging parson’. Recommended by William Wilberforce, both of these men originally served as chaplains with a genuine enthusiasm for the gospel, thereafter being appointed as magistrates and falling into the enticing trap of grace-giver and judgement-maker (Cronshaw, 2006). Hence, unlike US immigrant dreams surrounding freedom of religion, Aus- tralians have traditionally harboured a desire for freedom from religion, unless religion can prove its value or credibility.

Meanwhile, Australia’s love of sport has traditionally provided a strong social cohesion across ethnic and social class divides. Though this cohesion is tested by good-natured ‘tribal’ loyalties within and across competitive sports, an affection for sporting activity approaches religious proportion for many Australians (both as participants and spectators). Such trends, Clifford (1989) observes, place an obligation on the church to connect the gospel to sports in relevant ways.

In this chapter we consider the formation and history of sports chaplaincy in Australia. In so doing, we uncover when and where it began and how, in more recent years, it has re-formed and re-branded adopting a movement model in

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order to facilitate rapid growth and the empowerment of local sport and faith communities. We conclude by discussing the risks and opportunities which lay ahead for sport and chaplaincy in Australia.

Early beginnings

Formal sports chaplaincy in Australia was launched at the elite level in Decem- ber 1984 with the appointment of Revd Mark Tronson (a Baptist pastor and part-time industrial chaplain) as chaplain to Australia’s test cricket team. This appointment proved positive for it opened up the possibility of chaplaincy for other sports clubs and associations. During the 1960s and 1970s retired and current Christian athletes had begun to meet regularly in Sydney, forming the Christian Sports Fellowship to encourage one another in their faith and to sup- port each other in ministry. This group also developed links with high-profile evangelical US sportsmen and women. These links facilitated invitations for Tronson and his ministry colleagues to attend an International Sports Ministry conference in Hong Kong in August 1982, which attracted 186 delegates from 30 nations. Nine Australians attended this event, including Tronson and Revd David Tyndall, an international rugby union referee, who began to share their thoughts and visions for establishing an Australian sports ministry as they trav- elled home together. They knew that many churches had participated in their own sports competitions or competed in community associations for many years with some larger churches sponsoring visits by international sports out- reach groups like Venture for Victory basketball ministry, Sports Ambassadors Service and Christian Surfers. Tronson and Tyndall also recognized that pro- fessional sportsmen and women had little or no Christian ministry exposure. This led them through 18 months of networking with the Christian Sports Fellowship, the New South Wales Baptist Union and the Inter-church Trade and Industry Mission (ITIM), the latter of which was entrusted to oversee a fledgling ministry that would provide Christian pastoral care to professional sports figures (Tyndall, 2004).

In February 1984, under the auspices of ITIM, Mark Tronson and Delma Tronson stepped out in faith to launch Sports and Leisure Ministry (SLM), a name that avoided any negative preconceptions from sports agencies about the role or intentions of prospective chaplains. The success of this ministry came through establishing strong links with mainstream churches, rather than adopt- ing a para-church model, so that local churches could support those referred to them. The national board of SLM comprised representatives from the major denominations thereby providing some element of safeguarding around the credentials of prospective chaplains. In 1988, SLM’s stated goals were to place chaplains with sports clubs and associations, to provide discipleship for Chris- tian sportspeople, and to assist churches in developing authentic sports ministry. Progress towards these goals gave SLM sufficient credibility to change its name to Sports Chaplaincy Australia (SCA) in August 2005.

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Sports Chaplaincy Australia

In 2005 the SLM National Board commissioned its first national director of SCA, Revd Cameron Butler, a long serving SLM chaplain to the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League. Prior to this appointment But- ler had trained and served as a local church pastor at Doncaster City Church in Melbourne and had founded and directed an internet-based software develop- ment company. Butler consolidated the fledgling ministry and implemented a number of key changes including strategic re-positioning, re-branding and, most critically, clearly articulating the ministry vision and mission to the remaining chaplains, devotees and groups across the existing network. At that stage, SLM had fewer than 45 active chaplains.

In September 2005 Sports Chaplaincy Australia was formally launched with a vision to have chaplains serving in every sports community in Australia. Two significant events led to the reinforcement of this vision. In 2006 Australian universities and sports organizations which were addressing the issue of mental health in sport brought together key representatives from across the nation to the Australian Sport and Mental Health Conference in Melbourne. During an open forum at the conference, a leading national sports administrator declared that Australian sport was in a state of crisis as ‘parent coaches’ were taking the decision to no longer be involved in sport due to the pressures of having to deal with not only the technical side of activities, but in helping young people with their personal problems (Gannon, 2006).

It was at this stage that the SCA network saw a significant opportunity for local club chaplains. Sports clubs had need for pastoral carers; something that the Christian community could provide and that elite sports would appreci- ate. This presented the local church with a significant opportunity to serve its community in a highly relevant way. But was this a wish or was it a reality? An impromptu telephone call in 2010 between Glenn Scott, then CEO of Aus- tralia’s largest sports league, the Victorian Country Football League, and Cam- eron Butler clarified this. The call led to a meeting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where Scott invited SCA to assist the League in appointing chaplains to all of their clubs, some 880 in total. Interestingly, most of these clubs were in partnership with netball clubs. The demand for over 1,700 chaplains in only two sports in a small region of Australia again reinforced the need to strategi- cally shift the local church mindset from pastoring a church to shepherding a sports club. The perceived demand for local club chaplains had materialized.

Strategic response

The need to clearly and concretely articulate a strategic response by SCA for both the Australian sports community and the Christian faith community was critical. How would SCA fulfil its vision to place a chaplain in every sports club and which model of growth would the organization adopt? What guiding principles and ideologies were critical for success? What usual dependencies

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or securities was SCA prepared to let go of for the sake of growing God’s Kingdom? Most importantly, the vision which SCA had articulated many years earlier – to see a chaplain serving in every sports club – was considered by those involved as being God’s vision more than that of SCA. SCA staff realized that with a chaplain in every club in Australia, or region, or city, the local church would be actively reaching 75 per cent of the country’s total population. On average, a sports chaplain in Australia has a pastoral care reach of approximately 500 people in their club and wider community. For every member of a sports club, pastoral care takes place both for the club member and for their extended family, thus providing substantial and strategic reach for God’s grace and mercy.

Official government research into sports participation in Australia reveals that over 30 per cent of the population takes part in organized sport each week, with most involved twice weekly (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003). Comparatively speaking, the most favourable church attendance figures in Aus- tralia (across all Christian denominations) currently sit at 8.8 per cent, which equates to attendance once per month (National Church Life Survey Research, 2001). Indeed, Australians are 40 times more likely to be involved in a sports club community than in a local church. In turn, the above figures indicate that church attendance is declining overall and that sports and recreational involve- ment is increasing marginally. Strategically, SCA has been challenging the Aus- tralian Church to reconsider what it means to shepherd a flock; to rediscover the notion that the flock is not simply made up of traditional church members but also includes the community or crowd which has no shepherd (Mark 6:34).

Point of difference in the sports marketplace

The kinds of questions that face many in the Australian sports industry are: why do we need a chaplain? What does a chaplain do? What can a chaplain do that a sport psychologist or a sports welfare officer or ‘caring’ coach can- not? Understanding the point of difference of an Australian sports chaplain has become critical in SCA’s ability to present chaplaincy to enquiring club presidents, coaches and administrators. The point of difference is simply that sports chaplains provide volunteer pastoral care. When asked what pastoral care is, chaplains relay simple stories about meeting the basic needs of individuals amidst the turbulence of everyday life – divorce, bereavement, injury – issues which counsellors, sport psychologists and coaches do not always have the time, expertise or inclination to deal with (Sports Chaplaincy Australia, 2011). Such an approach is designed to avoid the risk of having to explain pastoral care in an academic, overly religious or philosophical way. Jesus adopted a simi- larly straightforward model of communication throughout his ministry (see e.g. Luke 10:30). Most sports clubs simply need help with caring for people. As mentioned earlier, many volunteers do not see this as part of their involvement in sport, accepting that it is a worthwhile venture but often not knowing how best to act. A very real risk which accompanies the framing of sports chaplaincy in this way is that it is tempting to professionalize and programmatize it for

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the sake of conformity or compromise or to generate income. SCA vigorously adheres to the crucial focus of its mission, which is equipping and sending pas- toral carers, not ‘running programmes’.

Growth: Centre Bounce Teams

Luke 10 has come to be the pre-eminent scripture for sports chaplains in Aus- tralia. Here Christ explains to those going into the community that they will see that the harvest is ‘plentiful’ and instructs them to ‘ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field’. With these verses in mind, in 2008 SCA began to focus on a strategic growth response to an ever- increasing appetite for chaplaincy from within the sports sector. Late that year US Fellow- ship of Christian Athletes sports chaplain Roger Lipe travelled to Australia to discuss with SCA the significance of a movement model based on Brafman and Beckstrom’s The Starfish and the Spider (2006). After much consultation with key operatives, in 2010 SCA launched its Centre Bounce Team strategy.

Put simply, the Centre Bounce Team strategy seeks to empower the SCA network to further growth. Leaning on the team-sport adage that ‘only a few people start the game then the rest of the team join in’, SCA sought to reinforce its mission by empowering church and missional networks, to grow the vision. This currently includes groups like Christian Surfers, Youth with a Mission and Youth for Christ. SCA continues to provide free and unfettered resources (and authority) to these pre-existing networks in order to establish a chaplain serving in every sports community. After some six years of implementation, over 100 Centre Bounce Teams operate around Australia in regions, denomina- tions and agencies, actively seeking to identify sports communities who require chaplains, identifying suitable Christians who can serve, and enlisting the help of these groups to appoint them.

Trusted people

Amidst the openness and freedom for growth which SCA engenders in rela- tion to its networks, two fundamental issues are observed: ‘trusted people’ and the ‘guiding principles of Australian sports chaplains’. In turn, SCA provides the Australian sports industry with three significant value propositions: SCA chaplains are very good at providing care, SCA chaplains are free, and SCA chaplains are trusted people. This latter concept is held without compromise. SCA demands that all chaplains are accredited and vetted as trusted people. Notably, the Australian sports industry also requires this. In 2001, after consult- ing with senior chaplains Peter Nelson – Australia Institute of Sport chaplain in Canberra and Gary Speckman – chaplain to New South Wales Waratah’s rugby union, SCA identified a definitive list of guiding principles to ensure the consistency, clarity and effectiveness of sports chaplaincy growth in Australia. These comprise the following: the chaplain’s relationship with Christ and oth- ers is their ministry; chaplains make time; chaplains build people; chaplains are authentic; chaplains are visible – for visibility is credibility; chaplains maintain

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confidentiality; chaplains are trustworthy – respecting the office’; chaplains serve without discrimination; chaplains are servant leaders; chaplains are always a guest; chaplains are volunteers; chaplains are discerning; chaplains do ministry ‘to’ and not ‘through’; chaplains keep it pure – no agendas; chaplains are comfortable inviting response; chaplains don’t go alone; chaplains are catalysts for growth.

Keeping focus

With an overwhelming desire to respond to the many opportunities for chap- laincy, sports ministry distractions are commonplace. SCA has articulated its vision, mission and day-to-day activities by encouraging its networks to focus on four key activities under the acronym ITAG: Identify, Train, Appoint and Guide chaplains. Behind these activities are some unique ideologies. They include the fact that SCA does not see itself as a para-church organization ‘doing’ ministry but rather as an organization which empowers the local church to release its people to ‘do’ ministry. During the 2010 launch of SCA’s Cen- tre Bounce Team strategy, Cameron Butler coined the term ‘syncra-church’ whereby he described SCA’s aspiration to be the local church’s ‘best friend’ in mission by ‘working in-sync’ and not in competition with it. The SCA network assists the local church by providing local church people with the rudimentary skills and understanding necessary to function appropriately in community sec- tors such as sports. The approach is based on the biblical pattern in Luke 10:1–9. The network runs free, entry-level training for churches and mission agencies to assist with the identification and appointment of local club chaplains.

SCA also appreciates the role of the local church as the primary care-giver and best friend to sports chaplains. It often takes a relatively short period of time before a chaplain reaches his or her level of competency or capacity and needs to draw upon help from their faith community. More importantly, it is the indispensable role of the local church to care for the care-giver during times of tragedy, loss and hardship. The overwhelming difficulty and cost of provid- ing essential peer support for issues like vicarious trauma can be addressed by adopting a healthy New Testament approach to ministry and the care of chaplains as in Luke 10:17–24. Unlike military chaplains or hospital chaplains, sports chaplains in Australia are not recognized professionals who operate under the auspices of government or non-governmental organizations, nor are they employed or paid by their respective clubs. Instead, chaplaincy is provided on a voluntary basis although chaplains can receive support as missionaries if they choose. Their role is significantly more relational than positional whereby the success of their ministry almost entirely hinges on the effectiveness of their abil- ity to build and maintain relationships. They are almost always part-time, usually serving between 4 and 8 hours per week, and all SCA chaplains are governed by a professional code of conduct which includes a statement of faith. In turn, all SCA chaplains are commissioned by their local church and serve their sports community without discrimination. When asked about other faiths, SCA is quick to respond to the notion that its chaplains pastorally care for everyone in their community regardless of religion, belief (or non-belief), ethnicity, gender,

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age or lifestyle. Any requests by people of other faiths which chaplains are unable or ill-equipped to respond to are referred to the appropriate person, be it an Imam, Rabbi, Priest, psychologist or other faith specialist.

Serving sport

In line with the organizational development and remit of the SCA network, sports chaplaincy provision is expanding in a number of ways. At the time of writing there are over 400 chaplains serving across Australia with many thou- sands of requests for chaplains continually being received from sporting bodies. What follows is an overview of the key areas where SCA chaplaincy is cur- rently taking place.

Motor sports

As the work of SCA has developed, motor sport officials have been quick to embrace sports chaplaincy because of the inherent dangers of the sport and because many of them have become familiar with chaplaincy at American race- tracks and circuits. Over 50 chaplains now serve across the spectrum of Austral- ian motor sports from the annual Australian Grand Prix and the Bathurst 1000 races though drag racing, rallying, speedway and motorcycle racing. One of the central bodies in motorsports in Australia, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sports, has indicated that they would like to have chaplains serving at all events and racetracks around the country, which total more than 500. The opportunity and significance of chaplaincy in motorsport has long been a staple of sports chaplaincy in Australia.

Football

Football in Australia is a smorgasbord of codes: the home-grown Australian Rules, rugby union, rugby league and soccer. At the elite level of each code are many examples of long-serving chaplains, with deep appreciation for their work being shown in numerous formal and personal ways. Australian Rules predominates in the southern states, with ten teams in Victoria. Eight more, in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and south-east Queensland give the game the widest national exposure of all codes, with some matches attracting crowds in excess of 80,000 during the season and more for finals. Centred around Sydney, the National Rugby League is the predominant rugby code with ten New South Wales teams, three from Queensland and others from Canberra, Melbourne and Auckland, New Zealand.

The National Rugby League’s prevalence has undoubtedly come from the fierce rivalry between NSW (Blues) and Queensland (Maroons) in the State of Origin series. The Australian Rugby Union also prevails in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory with major representative teams in Melbourne and Perth. Though players mainly stem from Sydney’s pri- vate church schools, chaplaincy emerged largely through a Christian doctor’s

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(Wallabies’ John Best) concern for pastoral care for elite-level players with spinal injuries.

The world game of soccer has more junior participants than any other team sport in Australia, yet its senior-level competition has the lowest media profile of the four football codes. In the past, chaplains have served at the elite level but with the demise of the National Soccer League and recent re-engineering of the National A-League chaplaincy has been more readily adopted by the national youth, women’s and local-church based leagues in Victoria, Newcastle and Queensland.

Basketball and Netball

Exported around the world from the US, basketball has deep historic roots in Australian sport. School and community-based basketball and netball centres are as commonplace as any sport nationally. Like soccer, basketball has under- gone numerous identity changes and continues to find its place at the national level. Nonetheless, chaplains have, for some time, served in the national compe- tition. Unlike in the US where chaplains serve through college teams, Austral- ian basketball chaplains are increasingly invited to serve in regional sports and basketball centres.

The late John Van Groningen had a significant impact on the Australian bas- ketball fraternity over a 15-year period serving as chaplain to the national bas- ketball team, the ‘Boomers’, at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Van Groningen also recruited many of the current serving national basketball chap- lains and invited dozens of national players, like former Boomers captain Jason Smith, to tour outback Australia with him. They participated in ‘role model’ clinics to encourage and esteem godly and healthy values amongst young, iso- lated indigenous peoples in the Northern Territory. Such events and experiences proved as life-changing for the athletes as they did for young people involved.

A commonwealth favourite, netball has long been the sleeping giant of Austral- ian sports chaplaincy. Like many other female sports, netball in Australia does not boast a long association with sports chaplaincy though the call for female chaplains in Australia’s pre-eminent women’s sports is rapidly increasing. The trans-Tasman competition (Australia and New Zealand), known as the ANZ Championship Cup, is leading this call, and local clubs are increasingly seeing the benefit.

Winter sports

With such a short snow season, skiing in Australia is largely recreational. How- ever, a small band of chaplains minister to several snowfields and the New South Wales Institute of Sport high-performance winter sports academy at Jindabyne. Apart from the conventional pastoral care required in the academy, critical inci- dents are commonplace in the snowfields with major injury trauma and death a prominent part of any winter sports chaplains’ ministry. Road trauma and staff relationship issues also feature highly for winter sports ministry. Local snowfield churches continue to be the best conduit for emerging chaplains.

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Tennis

Australia has a strong track-record in tennis at the elite level and historically the sport has been well resourced as a recreational pursuit with many churches hav- ing their own courts. However, since 1977 only two Australians have won Wim- bledon, and Australia has only won the Davis Cup five times. Chaplaincy has had a small but important role to play on the Satellite Tour supporting players who are away from home for long periods of time. In recent years, the Australian Tennis Academy and senior coaches have further explored the idea of chaplaincy and have begun to consider the provision of wider pastoral care for players.

Baseball

Baseball has never had a high profile in Australia, despite being introduced by American prospectors during the 1850s gold rush. After decades of being the chosen winter sport of State and Test cricketers, baseball became a summer sport in 1989 when the Australian Baseball League was formed to attract more national interest. Chaplains were quickly appointed because officials were aware of the role of chaplaincy in US baseball and little groundwork had to be done to establish access and to initiate systems of pastoral provision.

Cricket

Cricket and Christianity have been closely linked in England for over 150 years, with many clergy playing at county level as well as serving as public school headmasters. The NSW Churches Cricket Union (originally known as the Western Suburbs Cricket Union) was formed in 1902, and Canon E.S. Hughes was president of the Victorian Cricket Association from 1932 to 1942.

After the appointment of a Test cricket chaplain in 1984, every state cricket association was prompted to make similar appointments. One important initia- tive, in conjunction with international umpire Tony Crafter, has been the Life after Cricket programme, which prepares elite cricketers for their exit from the game.

Surfing and Life Saving

In the late 2000s surfing’s leading national body the Association of Surfing Pro- fessionals approached Brett Davis, chairman and founder of Christian Surfers International, to trial chaplaincy to the men’s world tour. With support from SCA, the 12-month trial was successful and led to the Association welcoming chaplains to serve the women’s and junior tours. Not long after the appoint- ment of Davis, Abe Andrews served the Pro Tour following the sudden death of three-time Men’s World Champion Andy Irons. Many Association of Surfing Professionals chaplains today are being trained by SCA and Christian Surfers International to serve in surfing regions all around the world.

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Since 1998 surf lifesaver Terry Legg has served life saving in Australia as sen- ior chaplain and devoted himself to growing credibility in his sport where now over 30 chaplains serve clubs around the nation’s dangerous shores. Terry has represented the international sports chaplaincy community at life-saving carni- vals around the globe and in 2002 handed his national leadership role to rugby league chaplain Russ Harmon and the newly formed Life Saving Chaplaincy Australia National Committee. Dozens of Surf Life Saving Australia clubs have shown interest in having chaplains and appointments are well underway.

Institutes of sport

Australia’s failure to win Olympic gold medals at Montreal in 1976 prompted the establishment of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra in 1981. In seven subsequent Olympic Games, AIS athletes won 142 Olympic med- als, including 33 gold. AIS chaplaincy began in 1989 and was well received by athletes, coaches and staff. Now, many of the State Institutes of Sport have chaplains working closely with Athlete Career and Education coordinators pro- viding pastoral care to high performance athletes and to AIS staff.

Women’s sports chaplaincy

For many years sports chaplaincy mirrored elite sport in Australia. Predomi- nately male and typically professional, chaplains were mainly ordained men. There were very few female chaplains, and there was a reluctance in the chap- laincy network to appoint women chaplains simply to accommodate the nuances of political correctness. However in the late 1990s women became more involved, firstly in yachting, netball, cricket, swimming and to the wives of speedway drivers and then among State Institutes of Sport.

National athletics competitor Nett Knox returned to her sport as chaplain after retiring from competition in 1998 and in 2006 became a full-time chap- lain serving across a range of women’s sports and to several Olympic and Com- monwealth Games. In 2006 a unique opportunity arose when Karen Moreton, a local church youth leader and mother with children at a local pony club, was invited by the Dubbo Pony Club Committee to serve as their chaplain. The initiative shown by Moreton led to an endorsement by the NSW Pony Club Association for chaplains to over 250 clubs.

Conclusion: the future of sports chaplaincy in Australia

This chapter has sought to provide an overview of the emergence of sports chaplaincy in Australia during the past 30 years. Similarly, it has sketched a brief overview of the unique style and development of SCA’s urban chaplaincy model working closely with the local church and sports community to provide a timely response to community need. However successful the history of SCA has proved, future challenges remain.

54 Cameron Butler and Noel Mitaxa

Until the mid-2000s sports chaplaincy in Australia was largely focused on high-performance sports. In the coming decades the need to respond to local sports communities will be central to SCA’s focus. It is likely that opportu- nities will emerge in fringe and extreme sports. At this level, similar open- ings will probably materialize in sports management and amongst indigenous communities.

One concern will be the push by some to license the role of the chaplain. Governments and stakeholder organizations, including some religious denomi- nations, may seek to institutionalize chaplaincy in sport. However, the power of a servant-leadership model (unpaid, non-commercial, volunteer) and the vigorous attention to keeping Jesus Christ and his grace and mercy at the cen- tre of the mission (not the institutional, political, secular or religious agendas of various stakeholders) will lessen the opportunity for these groups to control outcomes.

More exciting will be the complementary opportunities which are likely to emerge from the proliferation of sports chaplains in the areas of training, con- sultancy and professional services to sports bodies and communities in Australia. To date, many chaplains have served at numerous major sporting events like the Sydney Olympics, the 2001 World Masters Games, the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and regional carnivals and regattas are sectors that are also set to grow. However, the greatest potential outcome in the growth of SCA still remains the countless lives and communities who will tangibly come to know the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ through ordinary people serving as chaplains.

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Cable, K.J. (1967). Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 2, London: Melbourne University Press.

Clifford, D.R. (1989). Chairman’s Report: SLM Conference, Adelaide, SA: Specialised Life- Orientated Ministries.

Cronshaw, D. (2006). Credible Witness, Springvale, Vic.: Urban Neighbours of Hope. Gannon, K. (2006). ‘Open Forum’. Paper presented to Sport and Mental Health Conference,

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