ABSTRACT
Religion uncharacteristically became the dominant issue in public and media discourse in much of England in early 2012. The discourse, also uncharacteristically, did not conform to the tone and focus of the usual media scrutiny of religion. There was none of the well-worn rhetoric about abortion, terrorism, same-sex marriage or euthanasia. The discourse was not initiated by the clergy or religious leaders but it emanated from an incident that happened during a football match between two English Premiership clubs – Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. During a televised Football Association (FA) Cup game on 17 March 2012, Fabrice Muamba collapsed whilst playing for Wanderers. Newspaper reports, quoting medical sources, later confirmed that he had suffered a cardiac arrest. The heart of the Bolton player stopped beating for 78 minutes, but he survived after many months in hospital. The incident led to the end of his footballing career, as he has since documented in I'm Still Standing.
