On the up

Footballer GEORGE MONCUR talks about his goals on the pitch and in life

Interview by Andrew Stone

THIS has been an incredible season for Leyton Orient. Throughout the past eight months the side have been consistently at the top of their game and the league table. Last week they clinched promotion and the League Two title. That came as no surprise to midfielder George Moncur, who joined the club last summer.

‘I said to the lads when I got here that there are players in this team who would easily fit in at Championship level,’ he says. ‘Some of the team are still quite young, and they have some great talent.’

George was able to give that assessment of his team-mates through his own experiences in the game. He has played at Partick Thistle in Scotland as well as all levels of the English Football League, after turning professional at Premier League side West Ham United. While a schoolboy at Tottenham Hotspur he was in the same team as Harry Kane. The two became friends and are still in touch today –George messaged his congratulations to the forward when he became England’s record international goalscorer last month.

As a youngster, George dreamt of being ‘the best player in the world’, but he is also keen to point out how much he is enjoying his time with Leyton Orient and his excitement at playing in a promotion-winning season.

‘I’ve had one promotion before with Luton Town from League One to the Championship, and it was the best feeling in the world. You can’t describe it. It means everything to the players, the staff and the fans.

‘I wanted promotion,’ he says. ‘I prayed for promotion.’

When George says that he prayed for Leyton Orient to go up, he is not just using it as a flippant turn of phrase. Before every game this season he has prayed on the pitch with some of his team-mates –including striker Paul Smyth.

George first offered to pray with him when Paul returned from injury early in the season.

‘I didn’t know if he’d be up for it,’ George admits. ‘But he said it would be fine. He scored that game and now he’s had the best season ever, and I’ve prayed for him every single game he’s played.’

George has believed throughout the season that the team’s final outcome would be ‘in God’s hands’ – as is his own game week to week, even when he has put all his effort into training and playing.

‘I work hard every day,’ he says, ‘and I try to be my best. However, if I’ve got a game on Saturday, then Monday to Friday I could be the best example of a footballer – I could eat right, go to bed at seven o’clock and drink as much water back of the net, or if it flies over the bar, or goes out for a throw-in.’

Considering that belief and the success Leyton Orient have enjoyed this season, I wonder if it could be assumed that God is an Os fan – and what that would mean to any players or fans praying for a rival team who will miss out on promotion this year.

‘I wouldn’t say God favours us,’ George replies. ‘It’s a massive heartbreak for teams who have played 46 games and have got so close to achieving their goal. But it could be God’s way of showing them that it wasn’t their time yet. They might not be ready and God is building them so that when their time does come, it’s going to be even greater as possible – and I could plan everything right so I give myself the best chance to achieve what I want to achieve on a Saturday afternoon. But, when the whistle blows, and a situation arises in the game that I’ve been working on all week – maybe cutting in on my right foot and trying to bend the ball into the top corner of the goal – ultimately, God will be the one to decide if that ball hits the Turn to page 8 f

From page 7 than it would have been.’

George knows what it is like to encounter disappointments as a player. He spent last season at Hull City in the Championship, but he was not picked to play regularly. He describes that year as being time ‘in the wilderness’. However, his faith helped him through.

‘Sometimes you can get dealt tough situations and hardship,’ he says. ‘But through those hard times –when you’re not playing and the manager doesn’t fancy you – you build character. And I also know it’s in God’s plans, so I never get too down. If I didn’t have Christ, though, I would be a completely different bloke.

‘There is nothing in life that can break me or get me down. I don’t fear anything – except losing God, because if I did that, I don’t know where I’d be. I can’t achieve anything God wants me to achieve without him. I know my life would not be the same without Christ.’

George is not alone in his beliefs at Leyton Orient. Whereas he has been the only Christian at other clubs where he has played, the situation is very different at Brisbane Road.

‘There are seven players in the squad who are Christians,’ he reveals. ‘We have a prayer group on a Friday, and the joy of seeing other players following Christ is so important to me. In the group we’ve been praying for the squad.

‘Everyone at the club knows we have the prayer group and respects it a lot. There are young lads as well from the under-18s. It’s amazing to see us all come together to pray. I think faith is coming more and more forward in football. I think that’s because the more a Christian in sport goes deeper with God, the more they don’t care what people will think of them if they show their faith.’

George was introduced to Christianity as a teenager through his dad, John, who played in the Premier League for Swindon Town and West Ham. However, George admits that he ‘wasn’t really interested’ when he went to church with him. That changed in his early 20s when he came to ‘find Christ’ for himself.

‘The biggest difference since I became a Christian is that I am so happy all of the time,’ he says, ‘even if I have a bad game. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that I have realised that God is much more important than playing football. God is my everything. He has given me my family. So I smile and laugh and I enjoy life as much as I can.’

And, while promotion will bring extra joy for George, his team-mates and the fans of Leyton Orient, he wants to ensure that the ultimate source of the abilities that have led to on-field success is not forgotten in the celebrations.

‘I believe that God has given me the talent to be able to play football,’ he says. ‘And I want to elevate God’s name through all of it.’