Saturday Fun: Who Would The Reformers Support?

As many of you know I am a huge Soccer fan. So I have decided to see if the Reformers lived today which European Football Club would they support? Feel Free to Disagree.

Martin Luther

The German Reformer was born in Eislaben, Germany and lived for nearly his entire life within the confines of the German State of Saxony-Anhalt, which includes Wittenberg. The main city of the state is Magdeberg. While the team in Magdeberg, 1 FC Magdeberg, is currently in the third tier of German Football (for a description of how this works look here) Luther was a fierce supporter of his local state and his prince. So it is very doubtful Luther would have been a glory hound and sought a team outside the Wittenberg, Eislaben, and Madgeberg area. So congrats to 1 FC Magdeberg supporters because I am quite sure you would have a fine hooligan in Martin Luther.

John Calvin

The French Reformer hailed from the city of Noyon, in the state of Oise about 60 miles north of Paris. Calvin was educated in Paris and Orleans. He also spent most of his life in Geneva, Switzerland with a time living in exile in Strasbourg, France. So Calvin is a tad bit more complicated to locate. We could see him supporting FC Strasbourg with his good friend William Farel or going for his boyhood home team of Clermont. Calvin's affinity for Paris may have also led him to see Paris Saint-Germaine as the club he follows. However I think his final love, the Swiss city of Geneva is where his heart truly lies. So this is why Calvin would have been a season-ticket holder at the Stade de Genève wearing the colors of Servette FC.

John Knox

As for John Knox it is a tad bit more complicated. The Lion of Scotland was born in the countryside east of Edinburgh in the little town of Giffordgate, East Lothian. Due to the fact that there are no league clubs near his birth and John Knox spent very little time in this area we can move on to his education in Glasgow. He graduated from the University of Glasgow in (we think) but then soon moved. Since Knox was still fervently Catholic he may have attended some matches at Celtic Park but it is hard to imagine he would have stayed a Celtic supporter. So then we move to his next locale, back to East Lothian. Knox was appointed a priest in the area and as we noted before there is no league team in the area so it is quite possible John Knox was still sporting the green and white hoops of Celtic prior to his conversion. Now after his conversion and exile to the French galleys Knox returned to England was appointed as a Minister in the English town of Berwick which is home to a team in the Scottish League 3 or 4th Tier of Scottish Football, Berwick Rangers. Could Knox stayed a fan of this club? Well his stay in Berwick was short and he soon moved to the Southeast of England until the Death of Edward the VI when he moved to Geneva where he would stay for 5 years. Surely Calvin took him to Servette FC matches but I cannot see Knox supporting anyone but Scotsmen. So now we see Knox return to Edinburgh to help establish the Scottish Church and we still do not have colors for Knox to sport. Well ,unfortunately, we know Knox would not have supported Hibernian since its roots are in Irish catholic refugees and Knox would not have been dumb enough to wear the maroon of Hearts so who else is there in Edinburgh? We have two choices:

Non-League member Edinbugh City
Former Edinburgh team Meadowbank Thistle FC (now Livingston FC)

So since I cannot objectively pick an Edinburgh side for Knox I'll make him a supporter of SFL League 1 side Livingston F.C.

William Tyndale

Finally we come to the English Reformer William Tyndale the writer of the first English Bible. He was born near the small village of Dursley, Gloucestershire near the English border with Wales. He spent all his life here until moving to study at Oxford. After finishing his education at Oxford and then was appointed Chaplain of Sir John Walsh in Little Sodbury, Gloucestershire. Then Tyndale spent some time in London and then was chased all over Europe until he was finally apprehended in Antwerp and then strangled and burnt at the stake in London. So given all of this it would be safe to say Tyndale supported none of the London area clubs and was never in a place in Europe long enough to attend matches. This brings us to whether or not he supported a local Gloucestershire club or became a fan of the Oxford team? Well after a little reading on the history of the local clubs it would be safe to say he did not support Oxford United and would have stayed away from the town of Gloucester. So that leaves us with Cheltenham Town F.C. who currently play in the Football League One (Third Tier of English Football) as the team for Tyndale.