Part 7 – Integrity related to Coaches’ and Athletes’ Contracts
“This is just the way business in sport works now.” “I owed it to my family to pursue the best opportunity.” “The club’s management was not negotiating in good faith.” “There were a lot of problems with this contract as it was written.” “That contract was full of loopholes.” “God would want me to be in the best position to be successful.” “We have no real security outside of what we can negotiate.” The mind justifies.
The headlines of the sports pages of newspapers around the world are cluttered daily with stories about coaches and athletes who choose to leave one club for another and thereby violate the terms of their contracts. Coaches in the USA, some Christians, often bail out on long-term contracts when a more lucrative offer appears and seemingly do it without a single pang of conscience. Club management will sometimes slander a coach or a player in the media in order to create public pressure for resignation or renegotiation of a contract when he or she has “underperformed.” Some players have publically demanded renegotiation of their contracts shortly after signing one, especially if they’re suddenly more productive. Some coaches and competitors will negotiate in the media for a new contract, when they are in fact being carried by the success achieved by their teammates. The will chooses.
We see the headlines and hear the reports over the radio, but what is at the heart of this issue? I believe it is a heart which loves security. Sometimes it looks like greed to us who earn much less in a year than the player may earn in a week. Sometimes it looks like control to we who work without a contract and the coach’s agent works on the details of a contract for six months only to have the coach violate the contract after the next successful season leads to offers of more money and prestige. However, underneath all those impressions is often a heart which feels terribly vulnerable and desperately needs security. Coaches and competitors are painfully aware, though seldom speaking of it, how brief and insecure their careers are. Further, when most of their self-worth is tied up in the success or failure of their efforts, they are even more insecure and searching for stability. The heart loves.
A Biblical example of two men who were deceitful in making contracts is found in Genesis chapter 29 and verses 18-27. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
19 Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." 20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."
22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. 24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.
25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?"
26 Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27 Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."
“This is just the way business in sport works now.” “I owed it to my family to pursue the best opportunity.” “The club’s management was not negotiating in good faith.” “There were a lot of problems with this contract as it was written.” “That contract was full of loopholes.” “God would want me to be in the best position to be successful.” “We have no real security outside of what we can negotiate.” The mind justifies.
The headlines of the sports pages of newspapers around the world are cluttered daily with stories about coaches and athletes who choose to leave one club for another and thereby violate the terms of their contracts. Coaches in the USA, some Christians, often bail out on long-term contracts when a more lucrative offer appears and seemingly do it without a single pang of conscience. Club management will sometimes slander a coach or a player in the media in order to create public pressure for resignation or renegotiation of a contract when he or she has “underperformed.” Some players have publically demanded renegotiation of their contracts shortly after signing one, especially if they’re suddenly more productive. Some coaches and competitors will negotiate in the media for a new contract, when they are in fact being carried by the success achieved by their teammates. The will chooses.
We see the headlines and hear the reports over the radio, but what is at the heart of this issue? I believe it is a heart which loves security. Sometimes it looks like greed to us who earn much less in a year than the player may earn in a week. Sometimes it looks like control to we who work without a contract and the coach’s agent works on the details of a contract for six months only to have the coach violate the contract after the next successful season leads to offers of more money and prestige. However, underneath all those impressions is often a heart which feels terribly vulnerable and desperately needs security. Coaches and competitors are painfully aware, though seldom speaking of it, how brief and insecure their careers are. Further, when most of their self-worth is tied up in the success or failure of their efforts, they are even more insecure and searching for stability. The heart loves.
A Biblical example of two men who were deceitful in making contracts is found in Genesis chapter 29 and verses 18-27. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
19 Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." 20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."
22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. 24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.
25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?"
26 Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27 Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."
Jacob had been deceitful for most of his lifetime, but his father-in-law, Laban, beat him at his own game. Suddenly the deceiver is deceived. Laban violates his contract with Jacob and justifies himself by appealing to local customs, disguising his heart’s love for security. He needed both of his daughters to have a strong provider for a husband, thus providing him security in his advancing years. Ultimately everyone loses in such negotiations and violation of agreements. Trust is broken and relationships are strained.
The Proverbs are full of simple instruction regarding God’s view of business ethics and even principles which can guide our approach to contracts. Three such proverbs are below.
Proverbs 21:2
All a man's ways seem right to him,
but the LORD weighs the heart.
No matter how we try to justify our actions by rationalization, the Lord knows our hearts.
No matter how we try to justify our actions by rationalization, the Lord knows our hearts.
Proverbs 20:10
Differing weights and differing measures—
the LORD detests them both.
Duplicity in our standards for business practices is detestable to God.
Duplicity in our standards for business practices is detestable to God.
Proverbs 16:11
Honest scales and balances are from the LORD;
all the weights in the bag are of his making.
The Lord is concerned with how we conduct business and how we negotiate contracts and fulfill them. The ethics for God-honoring business are items of His making.
If we are to be Christ’s representatives in the world of sport, we must go against the current of business practices which violate God’s way. We must be willing to honor contracts, even when they are not in our best interest. The call to love our neighbor as ourselves includes the club manager, the team president, the player and the coach. Let’s honor our Lord by seeking security in Him, rather than in the lines of a contract. Let’s trust Him with our future, rather than the legal acumen of our lawyers and agents.
“What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies.” This statement was spoken by my friend and colleague in sports chaplaincy, John Ashley Null, in summary of the 16th century Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer's writings. Dr. Null has been translating Cranmer’s work from Medieval Latin shorthand into contemporary English.
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