At least that is the claim of one Arquimedes Nganga who’s filed a lawsuit against the Baptist Union of Great Britain.
According to Ngana, he would have “definitely have had a long career in the [Premier League]” if it were for meddling pastors who had the nerve to convert him to Christianity.
I guess somebody forgot to tell Tim Tebow, Jeremy Lin, Kurt Warner, Josh Hamilton, David Robinson, Albert Pujols, John Smoltz, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettite, A.C. Green, Orel Herschiser, Derek Fisher, Shaun Alexander, etc. that being a Christian would prevent them from becoming professional athletes.
Church ruined my chance to play for Man Utd
By Jack Rivlin, London Evening Standard
A retired semi-professional footballer who claims his faith ruined his chances of playing for Manchester United is suing the Baptist Church for £10?million.
In a case reminiscent of the 2001 Billy Connolly film The Man Who Sued God, Arquimedes Nganga accused religious leaders of deceiving him “into following false beliefs”.
Mr Nganga, 46, from Forest Hill, said he could have earned £20,000 a week, despite never making more than £200 a month in his home country Portugal’s Third Division. He quit the sport aged 25 when he converted to the Baptist faith.
He said: “I could definitely have had a long career in the Premiership. I see many players playing today who I am not inferior to – and perhaps even better than. Most midfielders are either defensive or attacking but I was both. I had something new.”
After converting in 1989, Mr Nganga spent 19 years as a “fervent evangelist”, devoting his life to the Bible and abstaining from sex. Now he is suing the leaders of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, who, he says, “conspired to defraud me of my finances, time and my life”.