That Match
With Christmas coming up, some people might want to write about the football in the trenches story – either for the first time, or again.
The story is in the archive section, if you are unacquainted with the tale/history.
That Match
They lay low in the mud
Dug in. Dog tired
Cold, wet, hungry and alone in their thousands
They listened to the thud, thud, thud
Of bullets biting, feasting
Each projectile
Stopping, only to top up the misery quotient.
Flesh, an easy target,
For it’s tunneling.
Blood, and mud, mixed evenly
Just ingredients
In this half baked notion of war.
The stench, from the trenches, rising
Up, through and beyond nostrils
Forming a celestial travelator
For the death march of dispirited souls, dipped,
In the anointment of inevitability.
The progeny, of those who had at least procreated
Should remember their forebears well.
Those, who had never tasted carnal knowledge,
Stiffened, all over,
In an orgy of tomb filling, womb emptying, carnage.
They were to leave no heirs, no one to grace the family name,
No one to visit their unmarked graves.
We, should remember them all.
We, should remember what man can do, to fellow man.
We, should remember too, what good mankind can do.
At Christmas, we celebrate the one day
When the body count resulted, in a nil-nil draw –
Save for those, mortally wounded, who could hold out no longer.
And on that day, goals were notched
And the only bullets fired, were those shots powered by limbs, stretched
In the middle ground, of No-Mans Land
A makeshift pitch
With no lines, no corner flags, no boundaries, no quarter given
With rifles for goalposts, triggering a target, for two teams,
Hell bent on killing each other, but on this day, peaceably so.
And the legacy lives on.
Armies now fill benches, instead of trenches
They bring every possible emotion, to a cauldron of ‘war’
And the manipulators, stir easily.
But the good in mankind, triumphs, even in defeat
And all winners poeticise, the right way to fight.
About This Site
Welcome to Football Poets -- a club for all football poets, lovers of football and lovers of (alternative) poetry. Discover poets in every league from respected internationals at the top of their game to young hopefuls in the school playground.
Publish your football poems here and then discuss them with your team mates and fans. We're archived by The British Library, so your masterpieces are in the safe hands of a world-class keeper. What a result!
My Account
Latest Poems
joe morris
28th April 2024
Richard Williams
26th April 2024
joe morris
25th April 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
25th April 2024
kevin halls
23rd April 2024
Alex Saynor
23rd April 2024
joe morris
23rd April 2024
Crispin Thomas
22nd April 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
21st April 2024
joe morris
20th April 2024
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
29th April 2024 at 2:47 pm
Hi Denys,
Yes Richard Williams you’re a brilliant wordsmith, my friend. When I first saw your football poetry I thought it was the superb Guardian sports and music writer. I once had the honour of sitting next to Richard Williams while at the Independent on the sports desk. He writes about music and sport with immense knowledge and authority. I’ve read a couple of Richard’s books recently. Great writer rather like you Richard Williams the Pompey fan. Congratulations on promotion.
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28th April 2024 at 5:59 pm
Thanks Denys. Yes your replay poem was superb.
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26th April 2024 at 4:46 pm
Nice work, Joe. You were quick off the mark with that! Good one from Richard Williams too I see.
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25th April 2024 at 7:33 pm
Hi Denys,
Thanks mate. I’ll do it now.
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25th April 2024 at 1:56 pm
Thanks Joe,
you might like to write a poem yourself on the same subject…
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23rd April 2024 at 4:03 pm
Hi Denys
With you all the way on the abolition of FA Cup replays. What are they doing to the game?
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23rd April 2024 at 3:59 pm
Hi Crispin,
Yes sorry mate. Villa are still in Europe. Mistake rectified.
Cheers
Joe
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20th April 2024 at 12:04 pm
Hi Joe
Shouldn’t your title read your poem Farewell Europe England to everyone exccept Aston Villa ?
I know you mention them in your poem , but I do feel sorry for Villa re the national press .
Largely ignored. the hype was was all about Man City & Arsenal with a bit of a nod to the Hammers..but hardly a mention of Villa..
So well done to them
C
.
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19th March 2024 at 8:00 am
Hi Crispin. Chris Sutton on the radio has gone for a Chelsea v Coventry final. As we know anything can happen in the Cup, and I reckon we can go to the final.
We’re still in with a chance of the play offs too, so lots to go for.
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19th March 2024 at 7:41 am
Hey Kev
Let the masses drool over their odds on City v Unted Final, but who knows how pressure can hit.
Cov and Chels will be rightly labelled as having no chance..but hey …stranger things have happened..
so Chelsea v Coventry…that’s the Final for us!
Best
C
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