Emily Graves spoke with author Peter Lupson about 12 Premier League football clubs that owe their existence to a church

Interestingly enough my wife and I were on holiday in the Wells area in the South West and we'd just been visiting Wells Cathedral and were making our way towards the ruins of the Bishop's Palace to enjoy the view from there and we came across a group of actors in mediaeval costume heading in the same direction. Intrigued by this, I asked one of the actors what they were performing and he told me that they were taking part in a TV documentary celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. They were about to film a scene on the palace walls. I mentioned to him my own interest in Church history, especially the link with football and I was then introduced to Malcolm Turner who is the executive director of the Christian Television Association who was making that film. Malcolm couldn't believe his eyes. He told me, "Peter I've been wanting to make a documentary based on your book Thank God for Football! ever since I read it two years ago and here you are". He said, "I regard this not as a coincidence, but as a God-incidence". That led to a series of meetings to discuss the content of the documentary and film locations. It was agreed that I would write the script, present the programme and we told the stories of all the 12 clubs that feature in the book.

We were made wholeheartedly welcome by all of the 12 clubs who gave us unlimited access to all parts of their stadiums and many even provided archive footage and images for inclusion in the documentary. As I said, the chairman of Bolton Wanderers featured in it: he spoke about his own reaction to the Fabrice Muamba situation. The chief executive of Swindon Town is in it and so is the chief executive of Everton. We've had amazing support from all of the clubs concerned.

The DVD was launched last year at the National Football Museum in Manchester and it was a wonderful occasion. It's for sale and it's also going out as a TV documentary worldwide: the DVD's already been released in the USA and it started its global orbit in the Netherlands. It's also gone out on UCB TV in the UK.

Emily: How do you feel looking at the final product?

Peter: I'm delighted. I think the DVD has brought the book to life in many ways, because we've been able to go to the very places where these stories happened. What's so lovely about it is we went to visit places that you would never associate with football, for example the White Cliffs of Dover, Cambridge University and the Pembrokeshire coast. The stories linked with those are fascinating. We think that it's a lovely DVD, not just for the content - and we hope it's inspiring - but also because of some of the places we went to.

Emily: What is your prayer for the world of football, when it comes to combining God and the game again?

Peter: I've been so encouraged by the way clubs have responded to my discoveries that it's given me great hope that the world of football is not actually lost. My prayer is that the Christian values will return to the game: something that, as I said, the chief executive of Swindon Town has appealed for. I'm hoping that recreation and good fellowship, in other words fun and friendship and those wonderful values of fair-play, courage, unselfishness and self-control will regain the status they had when the game first came out. I know players who have said they only enjoy a game when it's over because there is so much tension in their play that they daren't make mistakes; they don't want to get dropped and they can't enjoy the game. I feel that that really misses the whole point because it's all about fun and friendship as these early pioneers said.

Emily: What are some of your hopes for the future? What's next for Peter Lupson?

Peter: I always think it's gone as far as it can and then something else happens, so the answer is it's in God's hands. He's taken this from the humble start when those boys in my little humble church football league were being ridiculed, via a book; the book was then reissued, (it was an illustrative edition) and I've had hundreds of radio interviews and now we've gone to the worldwide documentary. You tend to think: Well, nothing more can happen, but you know God is a God of great surprises, so I wait just to be led onto the next step, which is always exciting.

Emily: If we want to find out more and also get a copy of either the book or even the DVD, how can we find out more?

Peter: If you want to get the DVD, in the first instance go to the Christian Television Association. The website is www.cta.uk.com. If you want to get either of my books, that's Thank God for Football!, which is the text-only edition which goes into detail, or if you want the one that's got many rare images, you can get that by simply Googling SPCK Publishing and it will have on there the instructions to follow, or the usual sorts of places: Christian bookshops, or bookshops such as Waterstones, Amazon etc.

You can buy Thank God For Football! from Cross Rhythms Direct for only £9.49.