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Cup Stride In Our Step

Crispin Thomas

Monday, November 30th, 2009

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 there’s something that marks you
aside from the rest
though the nerves may resemble
that first driving test
and there’s something that sets you
apart from the others
like bored looking children
in stores with their mothers
or vacant eyed husbands
in bland shopping malls
with heavy-hung hearts
as they envy their pals
but not so for us guys
we cherish the schlepp
as we walk to the ground
with Cup stride in our step

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 and it’s welcome to Bath
with it’s Roman facade
it’s yellow stone buildings
by history scarred
and it’s welcome to Twerton
a throw back in grounds
with old fashioned floodlights
and those non league sounds
the surface lies zippy
and ready for rain
we’re dreaming of Forest
Green glory again

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 there must a thousand
who’ve made it down here
from Stroud and from Nailsworth
all nervous i fear
it’s all about passion
it’s all in the mind
and the errors and nerves
get the better at times
but somehow we hang on
as that whistle blows
and just like the last time
the fantasy grows
and we’ll take on the big boys
whoever we get
so we leave with a song
and Cup stride in our step
dreaming as one we all feel
come what may
so what’s our reward then..
Notts County away!

Notes

Oh no I’m becoming a two team man..despite being a lifelong Blues fan . I’m just getting more and more involved in Forest Green and in a strange way it reminds me of when i was a kid and Chelsea were always unpredictable, not taken seriously and often a joke . I’d often travel with a school mate who I met again very recently after 40 years – when a picture of me at a workshop appeared in the Chelsea programme! We were a small but loyal bunch of travelling young fans with our ballooons, striped scarves and rattles and now very dated songs (“Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner” etc; (ouch) way back in the early 60s.

Watching those around me today shuffling along expectantly through the rainy streets of Bath, I guess I was also thinking of how blokes all over the world (not women necessarily) walk along in that ‘shoulders-hunched hands-in-pockets’ purposeful way to games. Meeting their mates, the cameraderie and the banter each week. But even more so with the Cup Draw where I also found myself for the first time listening for Rovers name first !

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/cup-stride-in-our-step/