Pommies

My good friend Sam gave me a fascinating book called Pommies - England Cricket though an Australian Lens.

It is an analysis of why the English game continues to fail at the elite level despite its massive player pool and the ardent following of millions of fans. And the author lays the blame squarely at the feet of the 18 counties who engineer the administration of the game for their own interest. They run the game not in the interest of the public, but as a private members club. So, they sold the TV rights to a pay-TV operator for a truckload of money that was then siphoned off to the counties (who cannot pay their own way because no-one wants to watch them play). They continue to play international matches in venues that seat less that 25,000 people, driving ticket prices up and thereby excluding ethnic minorities - who LOVE their cricket - from the game. Whenever change is mooted, 'tradition' is cited as a counter-argument. What the book makes apparent is that 'tradition' is really only code for 'self-interest'. The huge number of cricket fans who are not members of the MCC cannot get in to the ground to see a Test Match and now cannot see the game on TV either. And the national team continues to falter in performance.

Of course, I was fascinated to compare the C of E, with which there are many parallels. The C of E is theoretically run for the benefit of the entire nation. But because in fact it is run as a private members club, the property and resources of the church in fact are being used for the benefit of those who are members. And the fewer of those there are, the nicer it is for those who remain. And a far amount of theological reasoning and invented traditionalism is produced to bolster this special interest. 'The parish system' is one such tradition, whereby the boundaries of the parish are seen as sacrosanct and unviolable borders on the basis of some reference to the incarnation (John Milbank keeps saying this for some weird reason). Parishes which ARE doing a good job at connecting to the community are penalised and the funds distributed to failing parishes with incomptent and disinterested clergy (Granted, some of this is funding parishes in poorer areas: but certainly not all). Bishops aren't interested in changing a system that serves their interests very well - after all, it elected them! And the people of England continue to be completely alienated from the church whose mission it is to serve them.

But the C of E is an easy target... I think all church institutions - even Australian ones! - could ask the questions - 'is tradition really just being used to mask self-interest?' 'whose interest is actually being served by the status quo?' 'how much subsidy is being given to bolster, not the needy, but the mediocre (whose mediocrity is actually a spiritual disease)?' 'Is this institution being run for the benefit of members, or for the benefit of the community'?