Football Poets

The voice of the FA Cup

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 The voice of the FA Cup
Here it is again
The voice of the FA Cup
Baritone, shrill
Perhaps, resonant
As the tinkle
Of that long ago
Rossi ice cream van
That once sated
Our children’s
Tea time appetites
But the FA Cup
In all of its multi
Flavoured layers
Cuts across the
Classes, from factory
Floor to high tech
Office in the city
Football still has
A soft spot
For the muddied
Heroes of Hereford
Now exactly
50 years ago
When Ronny
Radford and
Ricky George
In a sudden ambush
On Geordie pride
Newcastle crushed
And trodden on
Severely
The Fourth Round
Holds another
Treasure trove
Of images,
Headline makers
Glory seekers,
Diamonds of hope
Gingerly and neatly
Edging a step
Closer to that
Elusive date
In May,
That magical
Page in our
Minds, inscribed
For posterity
Climbing the steps
To lift the FA Cup
Perhaps for the
First time
Or maybe again
This year
Kidderminster
Harriers are
Hoping to be
The carpetbaggers
Who steal the limelight
Against the bravura
Hammers,
Thames Ironworks
In another age of
Industrial might
Kidderminster
Against your claret
And blue warriors
Surely not Kidderminster
The carpet men, will
Hand out
A carpeting to
Their foppish London
Aristocrats who trip
The East End light
Fantastic in
Premier League
Gentlemen’s clubs
Where the Garrick
Cigar elite
Quietly shuffle
The Times
But the FA Cup
Will land on our
Shores,
Through murky
Early evening light
Floodlights ready
To meet the darkness
Of four in the afternoon
February gala
Evenings,
Where inquisitive souls
Seek solutions
To the riddles
Of the day
Such as
The winners of the
First FA Cup
Insignificant perhaps
In the bigger picture
For today is the day
When the Cup
Brings everybody
Together, over
Hedges, distant forests
And hundreds of miles
Of clogged
Motorways
Coaches ablaze with scarves,
Rosettes again
Marching over
The electricity pylons
Man United, Liverpool,
Chelsea, Spurs, Leicester
Oh and don’t forget
Boreham Wood
From Hertfordshire
Heartlands,
Non- League
In smartest
Uniform
Always humble
Never ever
Likely to take
Anything for
Granted
Just delighted
To be among
Those who
Were accustomed
To the Wembley
Way and
Who made frequent
Pilgrimages to the
Shrine of the
1966
Spiritual home
Best wishes to the
Dreamers, the idealists,
The wishful thinkers
Once Chesterfield and
Plymouth were one
Match away
From the
Ultimate engagement
Of the FA Cup Final
Still,
The patricians and magicians
Will shake hands for the cameras
And swop
Pennants of their glorious
Day in the sun
The FA Cup it never
Fails to enchant
Again and again.

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