‘The guys that I play with are my really close friends whether they are Christian or not’
Jacob is a leader with the youth group at Banbridge Road Presbyterian Church in Co Down. “Growing up in a Christian family, it was something you always said - that you were Christian - it is part of your culture almost,” he said in a interview with the March issue of the Presbyterian Herald.
He was 14 when he realised that “Christianity was more than just going to church with my family on a Sunday - it was about having a relationship with God,” he said. He prays a lot when it comes to games. “I pray before the game; I pray after the game; I pray during the game sometimes. It’s great to be able to do that, especially when it’s a game where things aren’t going your way - to hand it over to God and allow him to deal with it for you.”But when it come to the rugby culture, he said “I’m a firm believer that you can’t completely detach yourself from that culture because it makes it hard to socialise, to interact with your teammates.
“At the end of the day, the guys that I play with are my really close friends whether they are Christian or not. When you have team socials where there is a lot of drinking involved, you have to balance it; go, maybe have a few drinks but know when to stop drinking and be smart about it in that sense.”
It was “detrimental not to go to team socials and to distance yourself from your teammates and colleagues - at the end of the day you’re here to be an evangelist and separating yourself from others doesn’t help,” he said.