Christmas Truce Poems
Your Christmas Truce 1914 Football Poems~ Selection 2000-2023
2023
19 Sep The Christmas Truce Phil Brennan
2021
19 Dec The First World War football truce joe morris
2018~ 100th Anniversary of WW1 End
27 Dec It Came Upon A Midnight Clear – Stuart Butler
05 Dec One Christmas in the Trenches ~ Centenary-Crispin Thomas
23 DecThe Truce traduced –Clik The Mouse
2014 ~ 100th Anniversary of WW1 Start
24 Dec Bydand Trent Morris
22 Dec The Great Christmas Truce of 1914 –Emdad Rahman
22 Dec Young Bertie Hislop (no man’s land hero) – John J O’Connor
19 Dec The Un-Final Count of Footballers Lost 1914-1918 –Crispin Thomas
18 Nov Football In The Trenches -Stuart Butler
02 Dec The Game – Christmas 1914 Jean Maskell
17 Nov The Sainsbury’s Advertisement Stuart Butler
14 Nov One Christmas Truce in the Supermaket Crispin Thomas
14 Nov The 1914 Truce in Context Stuart Butler
14 Nov Live and Let Live Stuart Butler
2013
30 Dec The other WW1 Christmas Football Matches Lou Butler
13 Dec Christmas 1914 –Stuart Butler
2012
1914, the game of truce Clik the mouse
2011
23 Dec Christmas Day Truce, 1914 – Clik The Mouse
16 Dec More Than a Game Ianthe Exall
11 Dec Forest Green Rovers and WW1 Stuart Butler
2009
01 Apr WW1 Poets fast forward to here and now –Eoin Brooke
2007
19 Dec xmas truce match haiku –Emdad Rahman
2006
27 Dec Long Time Ago at Christmas SB Ingle
27 Dec Christmas Truce 2006 – S B Ingle
24 Dec In The Trenches Crispin Thomas (haiku)
2005
21 Dec One Christmas Crispin Thomas (haiku)
2004
22 Dec Ceasefire Christmas 1914 Haiku Clik The Mouse
13 Oct The Christmas Truce 1914 Mark Thomas
2003
18 Dec Coached By Donkeys Verdun
15 Dec The World’s Greatest Tommy Atkins
2002
Dec 20 Play Football Not War Tony Lewis Jones
2000
23 Dec War & Christmas Stuart Butler
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
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
Steven Taylor
30th April 2025
kevin halls
30th April 2025
joe morris
28th April 2025
Mike Bartram
28th April 2025
Emdad Rahman
27th April 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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