A Welcome in December
In December 2008, we welcomed the following new contributors to this site :
Ron Keith Morrell
Chanelle
Abdi
And we welcome back, a blast from the past :
Tomas de Faoite who last posted two years ago.
Click on the names above to see that person’s poem(s), or browse some selected first efforts below :
the toon
blaydon races,
we sang the song ,
in many places
all day long.
but today the joy has gone,
my idols are no one.
to work i go, i toil and sweat,
fighting off the dreaded debt.
no longer can i subsidise,
the players prepared to take out my eyes.
© Ron Keith Morrell
Arsenal Are The Best!!!
Arsenal are the best,
From football they never want a rest.
It kick’s off at 7:30
Champions League tonight,
It’s going to be a fight.
The crowd holds their breath
As Fabregas strikes the ball
The goalie dives to the left,
And the ball hits the back of the net.
Arsenal win the cup
The crowd go cheering home
Arsenal are the best
From football they never want a rest
© Chanelle
Abdi Arsenal
Is Arsenal the best team in the world?
When Henry went to Spain and got sold
Then you see Adebayor from Togo
His country on his Adidas logo
Is Arsenal the best team on earth?
When they play at the Emirates turf
You see Walcott as fast as a cheetah
When you blink he runs a kilometer
Is Arsenal the best team in the league?
Because the others are drunk with fatigue
Fabregas the majestic midfielder
When he plays he has more power than Matilda!
© abdi
Null Null
‘What will you do when you leave football, Jack – will you stay in football?’
– Stuart Hall
Brooke in the brook, head in a book-
Robbie Keane scores twice for Liverpool FC.
We will never walk alone, but we do.
We run into no mans land like we used
To run down alleyways of our youth.
Captain Gerard leads the way into the plot
That will be forever home from home-
Everton FC.
Bully beef, beans, trench foot, foot rot
Fingers frost bit, no moons in our nails
On a full moon night,
Shells everywhere, red seas in our ears.
Even the odds, no man left alive. Null, null,
Says Stewart Hall, on Five Live at six-o-six
© Tomas de Faoite
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
Gacina Bozidar
20th May 2025
Denys E. W. Jones
19th May 2025
joe morris
18th May 2025
Mike Bartram
14th May 2025
joe morris
12th May 2025
Mike Bartram
8th May 2025
joe morris
8th May 2025
Mike Bartram
6th May 2025
Alex Saynor
4th May 2025
joe morris
4th May 2025
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
24th April 2025 at 1:05 pm
Hey Denys..love this
“You may be a miner working down a pit.
You may be a rock star playing sold out gigs.
You may be a fireman putting out a blaze.
You may be an inmate chalking off the days. ”
Not just Dylan but maybe an unintentional nod to and shades of Ian Dury’s enigmatic ‘What A Waste’ rhythmic scanning..eg:
I could be the driver in an articulated lorry
I could be a poet I wouldn’t need to worry
I could be a teacher in a classroom full of scholars
I could be the sergeant in a squadron full of wallahs
What a waste
What a waste
Was lucky enough to meet and interview him twice.
Best wishes from Forest Green to Genoa C
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8th March 2025 at 2:34 pm
Thanks Crispin
I’ve been to FGR a couple of times in the past – great food! Barnet look like they have the NL sewn up for this season, but I wish you well for promotion next season.
Regards, Beth
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11th January 2025 at 8:13 am
TO ADD THIS TO THIS POEM’S COMMENT:WELCOME BACK DAVID MOYES!!!
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27th November 2024 at 5:55 am
‘You’re Supposed To Be At Home’ is an excellent and moving poem Denys.
You start off thinking it’s just about another oft-sung chant, one we personally heard a lot last season throughout our second relegation in a row here at Forest Green(FGR) ! I always love poems where you think they are saying one thing and then they suddenly pull you deeper to somewhere or something else else.
I’m currently helping in a local school for FGR in a voluntary capacity using football to help young students with reading. At an upcoming session we will tackle racism, just like we did in workshops at football schools and grounds when we first started this site 24 years ago. I’m gonna try and weave your poem into a session.
We’ve added it to the Anti- Racism/Kick It Out section under Crispin’s Corner.
Best C
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26th November 2024 at 1:59 pm
Great poem and great to see you back Wyn.
Don’t leave it so long next time my friend!
More please.
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13th September 2024 at 6:14 pm
Welcome to Football Poets Beth
Great evocative poem Beth….
More please !
Haiku always welcome.
Hope we (FGR) get to play you again soon
Best
Crispin
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26th July 2024 at 6:25 pm
Great poem Mike Bartram. Eddie was a legend, affectionately known in Liverpool as, “the first hooligan.” Even the hoolies were well dressed in those days. The amazing thing was he was only 26 when that picture was taken. He’d played for Everton youth team and was well known to the players. He never got arrested. They threw him out and he climbed back in, just in time for Derek Temples winner.
I used the picture of him being tackled to the ground on the front cover of my book, “Once Upon a rhyme in Football.” It’s worth looking on youtube and finding the re-enactment of the Wembley scene. Frank Skinner and Baddiel went around to Eddies home in the 1990’s and acted it out on the green outside. It’s hilarious, especially all the effort they put in to get Eddie sober enough to shoot the scene.
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10th July 2024 at 6:07 pm
Hi Crispin,
I don’t know if you’ve see the picture in social media today…
a picture of a teenage Lionel Messi cradling a baby in Africa as part of a photoshoot…. the family had won a lottery to have their baby pictured with him….
the photographer has just revealed that the baby is actually in fact Lamine Yamal!!!!
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26th May 2024 at 2:30 pm
Hi Denys…
Re Man City:
OK it was 20 years ago but Criag Wilson did write this and a few others on them back in 04/05.
BTW I’m more Forest Green Rover since 2014 (and Chelsea) these days . I drum and am a standing season ticket holder.
Best
Crispin
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