Fr Philips Wadakekalam

You have been a good basketball player and presently you are its international referee, why is sport important for you? 2018 FIFA World Cup is world event and the whole world is after it, why is this a world event and what significance has it for mankind?
Sport gives you easy access to the world irrespective of caste, creed, colour or sex. I am a Catholic priest, but I am better known to the people inside and outside Kerala not as a priest or as the former principal of SB College or as a holder of postdoctoral degree in English, but as a player and as an International Referee in basketball.

Moreover, I find sport as a chiselling and polishing force as far as character is concerned. Russia is hosting 2018 FIFA World Cup. The whole world comes to Moscow through the players, officials, volunteers and through the dignitaries representing the various countries. Sport has the mesmeric power of bringing the whole world under the banner of good friendship.

Why are some people mad after sport?
Sport helps you forget your age, prejudices, cares, concerns and the like. It helps you mix with the youth, keeps your spirits high, and brings you good friends from all over the world. National barriers break down before sport. Through it the world becomes smaller and smaller into a single family of goodwill.

Why do we like to play?
We like to play because it brings you good company, keeps your age intact. It gives exercise to your body and refreshes your mind. After a game and a bath, you feel fresh for serious work. You become self-confident, hopeful and optimistic. You need to distinguish between playing and the behaviour of the player. For the player, playing is not something serious and that is why he plays. We play for the sake of recreation or relaxation.

Why is there so much seriousness about an entertainment by sport?
Although sport in itself serious, it has a special relation to what is serious. Sport itself contains its own, even sacred, seriousness of purpose. A player may not intend or know this relation to seriousness. Sport fulfils its purpose only if the player loses himself in it. Someone who does not take the game seriously is only a spoilsport.

Sport is more than a mere physiological phenomenon or a psychological reflex, it is recreational, in the field of leisure. What is the relation of sport with life?
The ease of sport definitely provides relaxation. At the same time, sport involves risks as well. You are playing with possibilities. You may win or you may lose. Still you play. Same is the case with life. It involves risks as well. You may succeed or fail. Still you are eager to live the life you have. Sport helps you go on fighting forward in your life. Same is the case with life. It involves risks as well. You may succeed or fail. Still you are eager to live the life you have. Play helps you go on fighting forward in your life. You are not discouraged by the possibility of defeat. Instead, you are encouraged by the possibility of success. This is the hope that St Paul speaks of in his letters.

“As captain I spur you not to close yourselves on the defence: don’t lock yourselves into the defensive, but go on the offense, play together for our team, which is that of the Gospel.” … “Don’t devour the ball, be team players. To belong to a sports club means to reject every form of selfishness and isolation, it is an opportunity to encounter and be with others, to help one another, to compete in mutual esteem and to grow in brotherhood,” Pope Francis said. As a well known player and a priest, what does this mean to you?
In team sport, one has to recognize the merits and also the weaknesses of one’s team players. For example, if I am playing basketball, I should know what my team players are good at and accordingly I give the pass. One may be good at ball handling, one at long shots, one at jump shots, one at the pivot, and one at drive-in-shots. If I can recognize this and give passes at the opportune time, then the team wins. Or else, the team loses and I too lose. This is true of life as well. This shows the social dimension of life. I should know the merits and weaknesses of my fellow-beings, and cooperate with them towards social harmony. It is this brotherhood that will bring the gospel message to the four corners of the world.

“Now in myth and ritual the great instinctive forces of civilized life have their origin : law and order, commerce and profit, art and craft, poetry, wisdom and science. All are rooted in the primeval soil of play.” Why?
Look at Nature. The young bird learns to fly by dint of hard work. It subjects itself to strict discipline. There is a pattern in its repeated attempts. The planets in the universe move in a systematic way which prevents disaster. In the jungle the lion establishes its territory by mastering its rivals, applying craft or muscle power. The song of the bird is a beautiful piece of art that applies the rules of poetry or science. Thus we find that law and order, commerce and profit, art and craft, poetry, wisdom and science are rooted in Nature, the creation of God. And creation, as you know, can be seen as sport in its true sense.