Football Poets

there in the trenches

a brief game between the lines

in nineteen fourteen

one Christmas in the trenches
they stood in mud and sand
their loved ones and their football
a distant far off land –
the snow lay thick as thick could be
a bitter chill did spread
behind the sand bags and the […]

another Christmas in Iraq
and how far have we come
the dead increase and hope and peace
are ever on the run

I’d love to think naively
that football might entwine
our soldiers and our battered hosts
as in another […]

who here will tire ?
those shots of yesterday
thrills spills tears and fears
cardboard silver paper cupfuls
of shocks and suprises
when favourites tumbled again and again and again
in the magic

cold December […]

when both teams stretch to win so much
when neither long to lose
when all lay hinged upon a touch
when Man U faced the Blues

when heavyweights lock hearts and horns
when stars must strive to shine
when men must […]

way up in the Nou Camp the night looked busy
some of those fans must have gone home dizzy
high as the level where the Chelsea fans sit
five tiers up as their hosts see fit
lofty as the hope in a Barca fan’s […]

to reach the top is very hard
you have to start in your backyard
or any spot of grass or land
that may arise or come to hand
for footballers come two a penny
and obstacles are large and many
and if by chance you […]

who’d be a goalie?
that’s what he said
lying there frozen
the man could be dead
heated responses
in the bar at The Shed
who’d be a goalie ?
that’s what he said

I recall Lofthouse
at Wembey one year
when barges […]

side by side on balls

black and white shapes together

so friend why not us?

we’ve come so far now that’s what they say
done so much now to drive it all away
but through my letter box a leaflet on the mat
it made me wanna make myself a smoothie with my hat

I read this article I couldn’t […]

Ashley Cole Thierry Henri
finally got the best of me
all my struggles all my my pain
all that money down the drain
they earn more in just one day
than I can get in a whole year’s pay
there’s no connection left […]

forever they search

football poets and players

for that perfect pitch

every year every week
thousands of people across this land
go to football to sit or stand
in grounds and parks in pubs and bars
to watch this game

sometimes I see you
flipping the pages of your programme
past […]

They’re Changing Sides At Arsenal and Chelsea
Maybe at last the future is healthy
A footballer’s life is terribly fraught
You can go for a meeting but mustn’t get caught
says Ashley

The midnight oil’s been […]

what is it ? taking us shaking us
pulling tugging here in our hearts
and though no one can say
one thing’s for sure
it’s up there this feeling

up there with you and me at six
sleepless on Christmas Eve […]

Shall I compare thee to a summer buy ?
Thou art more gifted and more rare.
Tough games do come so fast and seasons fly,
And summer’s break so short doth seem each year.

Sometimes so bright that long sought t […]

I could not sleep I could not think
I could not eat I could not drink
the sheer suspense was hard to bear
until the morning you were there
I’d check the radio and clocks
I’d sit beside my letterbox
and when I w […]

you can search for a lifetime to find it
a paradise untouched by time
you can dig out your big book of poems
but never do justice in rhyme
to the sparkles of sun on the ocean
or the waves lapping onto the […]

you can usually tell by the jewellery
with their shoes and their clothes and their bags
they stand out in a crowd and are often quite loud
when the action occasionally drags

you can spot them a mile off in […]

‘so this is it’ ‘ there’s danger here’ ‘the scene is surely set’
‘and this could be a tricky one’ ‘the biggest moment yet’
when Motty gives up commentating ‘who can they bring in’
for when you need a cliché fa […]