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Matthias Sindelar

Iain Maloney

Monday, April 18th, 2005

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 I made football warlike,
Taking a stand in our final game.
Two teams become one: anchluss.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 I am not a border to be roller over:
No salute like the Munich appeasers.
Play to the whistle, lads.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 A goal. A bloody nose.
Swastika arms flap at the leather globe,
It slips from their grasp. We won.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Later, stiff with death,
I became a trophy for my people.
Breathing gas, merely the first.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 This is more than life and death:
This is war, my Austria.
Play to the whistle, lads.

© Iain Maloney2005

Notes

After conquering Austria, Hitler combined the two nation’s football teams. Austria played one last game, against Germany, before succumbing. They won, Sindelar scoring the winning goal. He became a symbol of Austrian rebellion. Within a year he was found dead.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/matthias-sindelar/