‘Church stopped me playing on a Sunday’
Christianity has guided Joel Ward through the ups and downs of being a Premier League player ‘It’s important to me. To have an impact and be a role model and someone people look up to’
to play only once a month for Portsmouth, his first club, because the games took place on Sundays. For Ward, however, there have been no regrets.
“Without a doubt my faith has helped me,” Ward says. “From a young age, especially, I went about it [football] in an unconventional way. There was that big gap, three games a month for Portsmouth that I couldn’t play in because they were on Sunday mornings and there was church. So we agreed it would be once a month, but it’s not heard of now. It’s changed because churches have multiple services but, back then, it was different.”
Ward is, of course, far from alone in allowing his Christian faith to fuel his football. One of his closest friends in the game is his former team-mate at Portsmouth, Linvoy Primus, whose charity, Faith and Football, counts Ward as one of its most fervent supporters.
Even so, was there a fear that his faith might stop him being a footballer? “Of course that enters your mind,” he says. “But I think you’ve got to trust the process. If you apply yourself then the plan from God is already laid out. You don’t always know what that is and he gives you the free will to go for it yourself. At this stage of my life, football is my platform.”
It might be argued it is difficult to live in the environment of millionaire footballers and stay true to one’s faith, but Ward sees no contradictions. “Some lifestyles are different to others and some have their different ways of doing things, but I’ve always felt blessed and pinch myself at the opportunity I’ve been given to play football.
“People make mistakes and they inevitably get blown up. But as footballers we’ve got a responsibility because it is such a global thing and maybe without realising it you have such an impact on future generations. There is a sense of responsibility that, while enjoying yourself, you need to lead by example.
“I hope I do that. It’s something that’s important to me. To have an impact and be a role model and someone who people can kind of look up to.”
Ward warms to his theme. “When you walk out on to that pitch there are people who live for the weekend, live for that moment to go and watch the team they have supported and their family has supported for generations. Football goes a long way in helping form communities and society. There’s a lot of stuff happening in the world, a lot of uncertainty, and I think it’s the duty of clubs and people who have an impact on society to make sure they do.”
Ward has a greater sense of perspective than most. He is 29, and in his eighth season at Selhurst Park – a lifetime in an era when players and managers come and go with alarming alacrity.
During that time he has had eight bosses – a diverse bunch including Ian Holloway, Frank de Boer and Sam Allardyce – a promotion, an FA Cup final and a smattering of relegation battles.
He is – to use the footballing parlance – in a “good moment”, with the team fourth after an impressive start to the campaign which has included wins over Manchester United and Aston Villa.
Today’s trip to a faltering Tottenham Hotspur is being viewed as an opportunity, rather than something to fear.
Ward is Palace's longest-serving player following the summer departure of Julian Speroni, and has occasionally been undervalued by the club's supporters – particularly after he was displaced by the exuberantly talented Aaron Wan-bissaka. Yet Ward has proved the great survivor and is back as Roy Hodgson's first-choice right-back after Wan-bissaka was sold in June to Manchester United.
“I was here before [Wanbissaka] and I am here after, so it doesn’t really make too much of a difference to me,” Ward says. “Last season I didn’t play as much, but I have come back in and focused on the things that only I can focus on.
“Experience does play a part, but it’s my mindset as well. I’m pretty strong-minded in the way I handle things. Last season I kept myself ready and when I did play I played well. And what has always been invaluable with that is my faith – it’s the constant I can hold on to because in football it can be up and down, up and down.”
Life is about to get more complicated: Ward and his wife Jess are expecting their first child in March. “It’s the single best news I’ve ever had,” Ward says. “It’s daunting, but I am just treasuring it. We get to create a family and an environment to bring them up in and bring the best of our own upbringings together to give them the best start in life, regardless of finances or whatever. With football I am incredibly blessed to do what I love. I’m just really thankful.”
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