|

When I was young, with a rattle, on the Popular Side.

dave farmer

Tuesday, May 1st, 2001

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 For the Stroud Football Poets

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 When I was young, with a rattle, on the Popular Side
(ie. the late 1950s in what is now the East Stand of Leicester City’s, all-seater, Filbert Street stadium!)

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Football rattle: would-be weapon at the modern ground.
An antique – but once a vibrant machine-gun sound
When I was young, with a rattle, on the Popular Side.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 There was a time: before the all-seater stadium and the Premier League,
A time before terrace violence and the end of the civilised game
When I was young, with a rattle, on the Popular Side.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Alternate Saturdays when the season was in play,
Past noon, past our terrace, many were all walking one way,
When I was young, with a rattle, on the Popular Side.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Past the railway, past the sidings, along by the stagnant canal,
Blue and white favours, chants and rattles a’stirring,
When I was young, with a rattle, on the Popular Side

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Through the gate marked for children into the forest of men,
They let us to the front for a worms eye view of the scene,
When I was young, with a rattle, on the Popular Side.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 2-4-6-8 we really did appreciate Rowley, Keyworth and Howard Riley,
Direct wingers’ crosses and centre forwards’ driven goals
When I was young, with a rattle, on the Popular Side.

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 When I was young, with a rattle, on the Popular Side.

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 Dave Farmer 22/1/96

Notes

After seeing the Football Poets in action in 1996, I was inspired to “create” three very modest pieces of my own whilst running over the lanes and commons around Stroud. Stuart still reminds me and encourages me to submit them to the Net – so here’s piece one of three …
I started going to see Leicester City play in the late fifties when I was about 10 years old; although I hardly see them live now, I’ve been a supporter ever since. I lived in a terraced house in Leicester until I was 18; it was fairly central, en route for many to & from Filbert Street, the Foxes ground, about a mile or so away. Sitting in our front room, you’d literally hear through the front wall & window the continuous footfall of many fans on their way to the ground on Saturdays from lunchtime and coming back at about 5.30pm. Now when I sit in the same place on occasional visits to Leicester, the sound has completely gone; those were the days before the car took over … when I was young, with a rattle, on the popular side!

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/when-i-was-young-with-a-rattle-on-the-popular-side/