Football Poets

what calls us here is simple

the need to feel the same

but in our hearts such fear is felt

as we survey the game

the ‘spotters’ strain upon the rooves

they gaze upon the stand

a whistle ever close to lip […]

champion captain
still gently reminding all
mighty Roy Bentley

agile and so strong
in those Cudicini hands
this goal a fortress

reliable as this breath
un-passable like mountains
the great Petr Cech

cool as […]

haiku works like this
five in the first and the last
seven the middle

I always wanted to be Jimmy Greaves
it wasn’t the pace the shimmy or the flair
or even those baggy shorts to die for
it was the goals
and in my scrapbook with flour for glue
all those first cuttings were of ‘ […]

a girl commentates
women’s football on TV
welcome to the new

Carney proves the game’s
not over til it’s over
or to the Finnish

like all great matches
Bryant & May or Carney
one sweet strike enough

such crowds to watch girls
if Lily Parr* was here now
how proud she would be

England at sixteen
the States to the silver screen
dream it like Kelly

when the season opened
all the fans were quietly hoping
and though success was vital
we never thought we’d win the title
when José started with Chelsea

sha la la -la la- la la la
sha la la- lala – la la la […]

so how did it end up this season

how was the season for you

all of that hope and euphoria

what were the things that came through?

did you go higher and higher

was it a case of exist?

all of those moments now […]

t’was no-one quite like Lily Parr
up North in rugby land
when footie was a cissie game
but fans still crammed the stand
and crowds of fifty thousand
were more than common-place
they came in curiosity
but […]

How good to see those wobbly knees
Like Grobbelaar in the eighties
those flayling windmill arms aloft
when heads sunk low and hopes were lost

as dancing on that goalie line
brave Dudek swayed in perfect time
and […]

how good was that what sweet surprise
what feast for unsuspecting eyes?
a travelling city on its knees
three nil three- three three then penalties
how great for all who loathe or love
this crazy game to rise […]

Like Pegasus before him
or long gone fairy tales
the images and memories
to this day still prevails
the twenty eighth of April
in nineteen twenty three
mid scenes of pandemonium
they opened Wembley

the crowds […]

now you know what i love about going on-line
is just staying on there all of the time
but the thing I love best about every single day
is looking at the stuff on the old e-bay
but the best thing I reckon an’ the […]

I’m sometimes quite illogical
I’ve been called mythological
I’ve got more geological
through playing distant teams
I’m getting technological
perhaps its psychological
but as for ecological
I’m not sure what that […]

upon this mighty sea I sail

so young and wild and free

in endless waves like goalie saves

these arms stretch out for me

no child on Earth could ere describe

this feeling deep inside

at three foot tall so […]

the war was barely over with expectation high

the ground was packed to bursting when the Dynamo came by

a deeper motive ruled they say some cold-war ploy or catch

such mystery and secrecy surrounded this great […]

I remember that Saturday like yesterday
the steaming summer of ’58
August in London and sweltering

“stand clear of the doors”
“all change for Fulham Broadway”
“official programme sixpence a go”
“wear your […]

“the whole stand is on fire” he cried upon my radio
but how it started to this day we still may never know
and who here can imagine the fear the heat the pain
but pray that such a day as this will never dawn […]

what finer sight today than this
on Fulham Road awash with blue
as to a man triumphant
all drenched in May’s unbridled beating sun
these streets that shared our feet and years
what feelings now amid this h […]