David Rushworth-Smith
Sports Chaplain & Friend of Immigrants
One wonders how David could find time, in a very busy life, to be a Sports Chaplain as well as everything else. Being with the players whilst training mid-week, at the matches, during the interval, and also when they have been in front of journalists afterwards, is a demanding task, even if you have nothing else to do. This is not a job that a busy person should seek! The book ‘Off the Ball’ vividly tells the story of David’s involvement with sport, and is necessary reading for those who did not know that sport can have a religious (and even a Christian) emphasis! John Motson’s ‘Foreword’ is an eye-opener. He obviously understood David better than many!
When David was still at school, and only just ten years of age, he was asked by his teacher to make a special friend of a lad who had just arrived. Why he was chosen, David never knew, but it led to a ministry which has helped very large numbers. The boy he was asked to befriend was the son of a family of Jews who had just escaped from Nazi Germany. This was David's first experience of helping an immigrant, but it was not to be the last.
For seventy years, David has been giving assistance to immigrants from many countries, including
David has tried not to get involved with the legal side of each case, and has so far succeeded in attending an immigration court only twice, but he has given a lot of personal assistance to many. David’s style of evangelism is very social-orientated, and so (as with others) he does not try to introduce the Christian Faith to people without first befriending them. This takes time, but – despite his schedule – David has made time for each one. Since the majority of the immigrants who have arrived in
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