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On The Death Of An Old Football Ground

Crispin Thomas

Monday, January 1st, 2007

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 when they switch off the lights here forever
there are moments galore to remind
there are un-ashamed tears mixed with strange distant fears
and the words become harder to find
when you leave for the very last time

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 there are those who wove spells on this carpet
as we stood on this concrete and stone
there were those who would flap and a few who were crap
in a thousand odd games you have known
right here in this old football home

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 it was heaven and home in a nutshell
it was crumbling and almost worn through
our eyes become misted it should have been listed
like some other buildings we knew
but it’s not and what else can we do?

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 and we find ourselves blindly nostalgic
for coverless hills in the rain
when the steps were all cracked and the terraces packed
and the crowds they would bellow and strain
but we’d never go back there again

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 there is history etched in each corner
there are memories carved in the grass
there’s a long echoed roar for each goal we would score
that would tremble for miles and resound
like a cannon from this football ground

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 and we’ll miss it like mad for a long time
and we’ll bang on and on about games
of the legends and teams that were part of our dreams
who would lift us through joy and through pain
but whose like we will ne’er see again

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 they can switch off the lights here forever
they can wrap us in plastic and steel
with their big superstores that span two or three floors
and whatever they choose to reveal
but they can’t change the way that we feel

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 when we stream from this ground for the last time
with its’ paintwork its’ shapes and its sounds
we’ll be saddened I know we’ll be lost we’ll be low
as we take in one last glance around
on the death of an old football ground

© CT07

Notes

Old well- worn Football poets argument and chestnut here..but hey
what’s so wrong about a few old football buildings? I know we live in health and safety overload but couldn’t we occasionally keep just a few tiny remnants bits of the old..signs…a crush barrier..a seat or two etc… safely preserved for all to see in situu inside the ground itself,.as opposed to making us fork out to see them under plastic in overpriced club museums .Ebay and Sotheby’s i hear you cry As i go around the grounds doing workshops i am totally abhored by the similarity (apart from seat and stand colour). Allen Ginsburg wrote in the 50s how the then first supermakets of the day would grow to swamp our cities and towns..did that include our football (soccer!) grounds ?
What happened to that classic old clock at Highbury? It always reminded me of railway stations in black and white Falcon movies.. .where is the old wooden scoreboard and the disapearing weather vane at the Bridge..
this then for all fans currently swapping or in the process of being about to swap their lovely old long outgrown decrepid crumbling ground for new ‘homes’ in white ,silver, red, blue, black, orange, gold, yellow, claret or green plastic aluminium and glass lookalike shopping centre stadiums…thanks goodness for the listed cottage and main stand seats at Fulham…and for lower league grounds with terraces…and anywhere with a tiny remnant of character and history..

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/on-the-death-of-an-old-football-ground/