Fan vs Player She eld Wednesday
Walsall’s club chaplain is none other than former hard nut Peter Hart. So does this mean the man upstairs is a Saddlers fan?
When it comes to careers after retirement from playing, Peter Hart’s road to Damascus (OK, the Bescot) is proof God works in mysterious ways.
An uncompromising defender who played for Huddersfield and Walsall in the 1970s and ’80s heyday of hatchet men, Hart looked beyond the common post-football ventures and instead became Walsall’s club chaplain. It’s safe to say he surprised a few people. As Hart’s former Huddersfield team-mate Steve Kindon put it: “My magnificent old captain has gone from kicking people to death on the field to saving souls off it.that beggars belief.”
The sentiment isn’t lost on Hart, the vicar of St Luke’s Church in Cannock, who found God around the time of his second daughter’s baptism while he was still playing for Walsall.
“Steve made me laugh, in his inimitable way, but he raised an interesting point,” Hart tells FFT. “I was a very competitive player in the most competitive areas of a competitive sport. I was aggressive and sometimes angry but I was always honest and committed to the cause.
“For some people, the two jobs couldn’t really be any further apart, but those qualities can be equated with the Christian faith.”
Accountant, 52
So, at the age of 33, the future Rev. Hart swapped his captain’s armband for a dog collar and headed off to theological college, to be ordained as a Church of England minister.
“I was using the gifts God gave me, so it seemed natural to be a footballer while being a Christian,” he says. “There was no question whatsoever of any kind of compromise. I decided to become
1935. We beat West Brom 4-2. I wasn’t there, obviously!
Geez, we’re going way back, aren’t we? We nearly won in 1993 but that’s not the question, is it? 19...33? Q: Who was the club’s top scorer in 2014-15?
We didn’t score many last season! It was either Chris Maguire or Atdhe Nuhiu. Nuhiu?
I can’t get this wrong – he’ll never forgive me... whoever he is. Was it Atdhe? a vicar because, in simple terms, I sensed God’s call to ordination.”
Now, as well as conducting church services, weddings and baptisms, he regularly rubs shoulders with Walsall’s players in a sport with a reputation for hedonism rather than restraint. “They’re sensible, thoughtful, intelligent and respectful lads, and – dog collar or not – they know I appreciate what they’re going through,” he smiles. “The best bit of the job is Friday afternoons, when I’m in the dressing room or canteen chatting with players and staff.”
Given he has a foot in each camp, does the 58-year-old ever ask the almighty Q: Who was manager when the Owls won the ’91 League Cup Final?
What a day for the club! Ron Atkinson.
I had high hopes for this quiz! Rapidly diminishing! There are pictures up everywhere of this. Trevor Francis? for help come Saturday? Shouldn’t he have sought divine intervention during the Saddlers’ defeat to Bristol City in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final last term?
“Not really,” laughs Hart, “because the players are big enough, strong enough and talented enough to stand on their own two feet. God has given them ability and what he asks them to do is use it without interference.
“I don’t pray for the team to win, but I may well pray for an individual if he’s going through a difficult time.
“What I never do is preach along the lines of what it was like ‘back in my day’.”
Amen to that, brother. Q: Who scored first in Wednesday’s 3-0 League Cup win over Arsenal in October?
I was there, so I’ve no excuse if I get it wrong. Ross Wallace?
I had a good view of it from the bench! Ross Wallace, definitely. Q: In what year were the club relegated from the Premier League?
2000, I think. That’s a bit of a depressing question to end on, isn’t it? It feels like a while ago. Err, I’ll go for the 1999-00 season?