Religion in the Ring
The big question: Am I British or am I a Muslim?
An identity crisis exists at the heart of modern sport. Many athletes find themselves torn between ties to their religion and loyalty to their nation. In some cases, sportsmen and women find themselves rejected by a nation intolerant of their beliefs.
Background
Cassius Clay became heavyweight champion of the world but then rejected his American religious and cultural heritage. Reinventing himself as Muhammad Ali, he became the world's most famous man, an iconic Muslim who refused to go to Vietnam on religious grounds and threw his Olympic medal in a river.
Rejected by his countrymen, Ali had to literally fight his way back into his own nation's affections, while never compromising his religious convictions. His status as the greatest sportsman of the twentieth century is now unquestioned.
In the middle of a summer awash with Islamic paranoia, a Bolton teenager called Amir Khan found himself in the glare of the media spotlight. British, and a Muslim, Khan united the nation as his brilliant boxing performances swept him to an Olympic final.
Sectarianism has blighted football in Glasgow for decades. When Mo Johnston became the first Catholic to sign for Protestant Rangers, he instantly became a hate figure for fans on both sides of the religious divide. Why does religious identity play such a huge role in sport?
Benjamin Zephaniah talks to Barry McGuigan and Nasser Hussain
Barry McGuigan is Ireland's greatest ever boxer. A Catholic who married a Protestant, McGuigan refused to wear colours or have any national anthem played at his fights. Instead his father sang 'Danny Boy' in an attempt to allow Catholics and Protestants to unite in support of an Irish World Champion for both communities.
Nasser Hussain is the captain who dragged English cricket out of the doldrums. Born in Madras of an Indian father and an English mother, he was educated in Britain and became the first Asian to captain England. In doing so, he avoided the perennial conflict between largely Islamic Pakistan and his native, and predominantly Hindu, India. Religion takes the field in cricket too.
