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PA
UK News

One in seven church leaders have skipped services to watch football

Premier, the UK's largest Christian Media organisation, questioned leaders from across the denominations as the new Premier League season gets underway. 

The survey, which looked at the attitudes of church leaders to football also found one in five admitted to praying for their team to win.

PA

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger

Premier's chief executive Peter Kerridge said: "It's great to see so many church leaders engaging with football and we'd encourage them to use the new football season as a way to interact with their communities. 

Famous football fans

Lord Carey - Arsenal

Cardinal Vincent Nichols - Liverpool

Archbishop John Sentamu - York City and Manchester United

Pope Francis - San Lorenzo

"That being said, I'm sure there will many sitting in the pews on Sunday wondering where their vicar is. We may have just have blown their cover!" 

Those taking part were asked to give their favourite team with Arsenal being revealed to be the best supported top flight team. 

The North London club led the way with Liverpool coming in second and Manchester United third. 

Responding to the findings, Bishop of Willesden Rt Rev Pete Broadbent - a keen supporter of Arsenal's rivals Tottenham Hotspur said: "If they're all Gooners, it means the CofE is led by a bunch of dull serial under-achievers, who never see the incidents before their very eyes. Very worrying!"

Jonny Reid from Christians in Sport told Premier the findings on prayer aren't too surprising. 

He said: "We've probably all done it at some stage or another. 

"I love sports to bits and you love it when your team wins. 

"But the question I want to ask is 'does God really care if we win or lose?', I don't think he minds either way. 

"I don't think he has an issue with winning, I don't think he has an issue with losing - it can be a real good learning experience. 

"I think the challenge for Christians who love sport is maybe to not get the winning or losing out of focus." 

PA

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri

After a series of friendlies across the world, Arsenal along with another 19 teams will try to win the Premier League between now and May 2017.

Listen to Jonny Reid speaking to Premier's Marcus Jones talking about the idea of praying for our teams to win.

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