Football Poets

A March welcome ……

A warm welcome to all the new poets posting in the month of March.
They are, in chronological order ….

Harry Horsman
Robert Jenkins
Dan Hockaday
Campbell
Dean Learner
Noel McGrath
Jimmy Marklove
Hayley Bowman
David Foy
Kevin Raymond
Ron Fairweather

Plus the following, who are all part of the Celtic Writers group :

Lucian Burlingame
Karen McCafferty
Joanne Russell
Ryan JP McGuckin
Val McCafferty
Edwina Docherty
Michael O’Leary
Tracey Nisbett
Joseph Currie
Margaret Porter

The first two features this month are not newcomers, but their talent knocks me out :

Firstly, and I’ve said this before, I’m a sucker for a Dad / Mum slanted poem.

Here’s one from one of the very first poets on this site, Rosemary Dun, making a very welcome return.

Saturday League Football on Durdham Downs
We crunch through toasty autumn leaves.
My Mum and me.
I hold her hand, and we stamp our feet.
She laughs, pulls off my woolly gloves then rubs
my frozen ice-lolly cold fingers.
‘Here comes your Dad,’ she says.
And, with a clatter of studs across tarmac’d path
he’s on the grass;
runs a few steps backwards, waves
And I’m amazed he doesn’t fall over,
especially when Taff slaps him on the back.
‘C’mon Chas.’
Then he’s gone – running down the pitch,
leaving Mum and me to stand on the touchline.
The wind whips my legs red raw in their
long regulation grey socks.
And when I look up into Mum’s smile,
warm as Heinz tomato soup on a tray
with crusty bread roll,
I could forgive her anything.

© Rosemary Dun 2005

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Not a new face on the site I know, but time to acknowledge Llew Beaton, who usually posts under the pseudonym ‘Hugh Morris’. Llew is possibly our furthest flung poet. He lives in Cairns in Australia – yet was born in South Africa of Scottish descent.

Weeks later and I’m still giggling away at his following poem – and I thought I was all grown up now!

Wunderbarber
At ze German Football Quiz
In Stuttgart City Hall,
Heinrich B. von Schmellingfaart
Vas cleverest of all..ja!
He vas ze only vun to know
(Being ein University Professor)
Zat Beckenbauer’s barber’s name
Vas of course.. Herr Dresser…

© Llew Beaton 14 March 2005

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For your delight and delectation, I’m also highlighting four newcomers.

And also, to counter charges of pro-celtic bias, first up, I’m featuring a Glasgow Rangers fan :

Our Country, Our People

Out come our country
onto the national turf
set to play our biggest rivalry
we’re confident, although it will be tough

I sat next to a guy
who supported an opposing club side
but that night we were friends
because of national pride

Next week our teams meet
and we will be singing different songs
On that day we will not be friends, he’s on the other side
And those are the days, when we forget about national pride.

© Campbell

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Well, having won the Carling Cup, as a Chelsea fan myself, I have to include the following short but sweet effort :

Carling Cup

1-NIL DOWN
2-3 UP
WE’VE JUST WON, THE CARLING CUP

© Hayley Bowman

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Kevin Raymond, is a printer / writer who covers various topics, and who also occasionally contributes to the Chelsea official magazine – a man after me own heart! Of course, he buttered us up well, by adding about the Football Poets, that “It would be my pleasure to contribute to what is really a cracking site.”
Flattery will get you anywhere!

When Law Back-heeled It In
A deathly silence descended
You could have heard a pin
Drop there on the terraces
When Law back-heeled it in

His career had
Had its up and downs
From Scotland to Turin
All that was yesterdays fish’n’chips
When Law back-heeled it in

In a city so divided
It was City’s turn to win
The Reds were doomed to division two
When Law back-heeled it in

Law looked almost embarrased
He usually had a grin
This time he looked like a man condemned
When he back-heeled it in

He walked back to the centre circle
His heart bled deep within
Here was a man with divided loyalties
When he backed-heeled it in

The game came to its finish
The Reds were down so quickly
Blue Moon was rampant everywhere
In a divided Northern city

A blonde haired man of integrity
Stood silent, then bent down
Tears were held back with an iron will
For ex teams mates across town

He’d never be the same again
One arm aloft and a grin
This was a goal he didn’t want to achieve
When he back-heeled it in

© kjp raymond 2005
I’ve done my best to describe one of the most poignant scenes I’ve ever seen on a football pitch.

Denis Law was at the tail end of his fantastic career and Man Yoo let him join City, he came back to haunt them with a vengeance, one back heel and down they went to the old Division Two!

You couldn’t make it up if you tried!!

peace.

kev.

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I also enjoyed this one from Ron Fairweather :

Half time snacks?

Bovril and pies
Pizza and chips
Coffee and tea
Mars bars and crisps
Hotdogs with onions
Burgers with cheese
Fanta and coke
My stomach says PLEASE!!!

Do they really think we want to eat all this stuff ?
Full of sugar, full of fat, full of salt,
That’s Enough!!!!!

So bring your own sannies and bring your own drinks
And that way you’ll be sure, it’s just the football that stinks.

© Ron Fairweather

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