• No More Footie at Strawberry Field
    The Sally Gas are to close the home. The strip of grass where I played footie outside the Beaconsfield Road mansion beyond the red iron gates with leaves of strawberries and strawberry flowers, where me mates and I played footie, where Johnny played footie before us– Seven and a bit years before I saw the […]
  • A Cup Disgrace
    The proud history of the F.A. Cup’s besmirched when Premier League clubs put out their reserve side, –with results to match. . . now who’s surprised? Manchester United reserves Nil, Exeter amateurs Nil! Sir Alex apologizes and makes a vow, can’t let this ride: “This is Exeter’s day but I will play a much stronger […]
  • Direct Hit, Calderstones Park, 1967
    In the Quarry Bank lunch hour, I play footie with Andy, Garth, and Billy Lynch. We lay our blazers down for goalposts on the grass near Calderstones mansion. A mongrel runs up, pauses, and pees on a blazer. Everyone but Andy laughs. Christopher T. George
  • Prize Conker: Rose Lane School, Liverpool, 1963
    I exhibit the monster conker secretly in poetry class, and bets are laid for the lunch-time tournament, Toby Cash, in a reverie, oblivious to our whispers, paces the room, delivers an impassioned recitation of Alfred Noyes’ “The Highwayman,” spittle white at the corner of his mouth as he booms the verses. As Toby relates the […]
  • Playing Away, 1967
    An away match down south–follow the team everywhere. Sleep in your scarf the night before so they’ll win. We lose anyway. The train journey back at night. Boozy men stagger down moving corridors. Engaged: I wait for the toilet door to pull tongues at me. Please don’t flush while train is in a station. A […]