A former moderator of the Presbyterian Church will not travel to support his beloved Ulster rugby team in the Heineken Cup as the game is being played on Easter Sunday.
The News Ltter reports: Rev Dr Stafford Carson says that he and a number of fellow Christian supporters of the high-flying Ulster team will attend their churches on the “most important day in the religious calendar” and miss the hotly anticipated clash with Munster in Limerick.
His comments come after a request from the Ulster Rugby Football Union to have the April 8 fixture moved to another date was turned down by the Dublin-based governing body of European Club Rugby (ERC).
In his online blog, the Portadown minister said he was “grieved” by the decision to schedule the game on Easter Sunday but stressed that his comments were not part of a more general campaign against sport on a Sunday.
Ulster Rugby’s press officer Lyndsey Irwin confirmed to the News Letter that the club had made a request to the ERC, which was rejected.
It was reported on the Irish Times website that “Ulster, conscious of the strong Christian commitments of players such as Irish international Andrew Trimble, captain Johann Muller, and scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar, had asked the ERC to have the game on a day other than a Sunday”.
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/minister_s_dismay_at_easter_sunday_rugby_1_3460638