Football Poets

The State Of The Game

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 the sports pages read like the FT/ you see it’s no longer three
points for a win/ but the share price/ that shows what rude
health/ you’re in/ the club has more debt/ than the total
national wealth/ of Kenya/ yet we still look abroad every
chance we get/ for a decent bet/ to spend more on/ write a
cheque for 30 million/ give it to Peter Kenyon/ or some other
moron/ raise the offer or he stays put/ it’s a good deal/ ok he’s
only got a right foot/ and on the pitch he can’t keep his mouth
shut/ three sendings-off in five games/ but it just adds to the
fame/ you can’t tame him/ take that away/ he won’t be the
same/ really?/ he’s a thug/ and your employee/ educate him

¶ 2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 it’s hard to feel a sense of unity/ community/ that our local
teams represent you and me/ its owners residing mostly in the
States/ or an Arab country/ the team filled with South
Africans/ South Americans/ who come over here/ stay for a
year/ largely for the money/ kiss the badge pointedly/ then
piss off the following summer somewhere sunny/ our teams
known less as clubs for the working man/ more as a “brand”/ a
rich person’s plaything/ toys for tycoons and oligarchs/ used to
winning/ on and off the park/ paying to get their faces in the
papers/ their names praised in singing/ by gullible spectators

¶ 3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 how did we go from turns in goal/ jumpers for goalposts/ to
Ashley Cole/ fat contracts/ pampered summers on the Gold
Coast/ tinted windows/ over-inflated egos/ namby-pambies
who fall over when the wind blows/ there’s Rio Ferdinand
saying nurses and soldiers deserve the money footballers get/
come/ join our elite wage bracket/ and he’s right/ they do
deserve to earn such a packet/ but Rio footballers don’t/ asked
to play three games in a week- you shriek!/ four and a half
hours of proper work!/ a midweek game?/ away in Lancs?/ no
thanks!/ Emile Heskey’s out/ with a dry scalp/ and you know
I’m not being rude/ when I say the average premiership
footballer spends more on hair gel in a month than you do on
food/ but ultimately I don’t care what you do with all that freetime/
whose girlfriend you sleep with/ so long as it’s not mine/
just as long as you try your hardest on the pitch/ don’t cheat/
stay on your feet/ do something that gets me off my seat

¶ 4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 make a stand/ the average fan/ the common man/ an away
match takes your wages for a week/ how’s the view from the
corporate suite?/ woollen-necked sheep/ getting fleeced?/ keep
your prawn sandwiches/ we’ve got beef/ look across from the
rich seats to the loyal serfs/ to the quick feet on the hallowed
turf/ and tell me what’s a memory worth?/ I see a floated in
chip/ a Cruyff turn/ a flick of the hips/ a roar brought to a
thousand lips/ it’s not the same on TV/ price out the kids/ sell
them the big three/ or four/ or five/ you deprive them of a
sensation beyond money/ this simple game/ drip-sold/ we’ll
rename our grounds/ give up traditions/ if you’ve got the
pounds/ -but remember Webb Ellis/ picked the ball up/ from
the ground/ and ran with it/ let’s follow suit/ confiscate it so
no one can shoot/ only give it back when football remembers its
roots/ when top matches are accessible to all and not just the
suits/ when it considers the fans/ before it counts their loot/
when top players remember the faces on the terraces would give
anything to swap places and lace up those boots/ when it’s
reborn/ reformed/ back on track/ we’ll give it back- here/ have
a ball

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