Gavin Peacock departs for religious journey
By Telegraph staff
Gavin Peacock will quit his role as a football pundit with the BBC to pursue a career in the church at the conclusion to this summer's Euro 2008 finals.
The former Chelsea and Newcastle midfielder is emigrating to Canada later this year to begin a three-year Masters course in Divinity at Ambrose Seminary.
The 40-year-old will then decide whether to become a pastor, vicar or minister at the end of his studies.
Since last September Peacock has been studying for a BA in Theology at a college in Cambridge.
The TV pundit, who is a regular on Football Focus and Match of the Day 2, has been a Christian since he was 19 and has combined his religious studies during his footballing career.
While at QPR, Peacock hosted a Bible study group for footballers. More recently he combined his punditry duties with hosting Songs of Praise.
advertisementPeacock, however, has decided to begin a new life away from football at the end of Euro 2008 to dedicate more of his time to the church.
After working on the championship in Austria and Switzerland, Peacock, his wife and two children will move to Calgary in July.
Peacock's dedication to his faith is nothing unusual in football. There are plenty of Premier League players who have said that faith has played a part in their careers, including Middlesbrough's George Boateng and Portsmouth's Jermain Defoe.
AC Milan playmaker Kaka, meanwhile, has openly admitted he wants to become a priest when he retires.
After Milan's Champions League final success over Liverpool last year, he unveiled a vest will the words "I belong to Jesus".
Kaka said he become deeply religious when he was 12 and it was strengthened in October 2000 when he slipped on a swimming pool slide and broke a vertebrae.
"The doctors said that I was lucky to be able to walk normally," he said.
"They were talking about luck and my family was talking about God. We knew that it was His hand that had saved me."
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