Football Poets

while premier fans in thousands
enjoy spotless pricey comfort
this weekend
with images of Tsunami
still fresh in minds
and collection boxes on every corner
lest we forget
spare a thought
for those
closer to […]

it’s so strange when it’s full yet I’m sadly alone
in a pub where one’s team has dramatically grown
and it’s usually worse when your side are at home
I’m outnumbered and bad-vibed for whisp’ring “well-done”
for […]

what is the price of racism
and what price for this monkey sound
what worthy fine for this act at this time
just give or take four hundred pounds

and what message now are they sending
when will they open […]

how can I ever again wait anxiously
for news of other teams scores –
while thousands wait anxiously
for news of their lost loved ones?

how can I ever without guilt
look forward now to “important” games
or […]

ten am on a cold Christmas eve
open my eyes and can you believe
out in the mud in the wild East Nine
but ev’ry day here is football time

thirteen a side in a seven hour game
dark by five but they’re playing just […]

I’m the only person in the football ground
silence fills the stadium there’s no-one around
a pin could be deafening you can’t hear a sound
I’m the only person in the football ground

the only soul in the home of […]

nobody loves you when you’re bottom
nobody is ever gonna stop
nobody is happy when you’re stuck there in the middle
nobody loves you when you’re top –
no-one’s ever pleased about the system
no-one’s ever happy wit […]

can you still remember
somewhere way back when
the being sent to bed at night
when you were nine or ten?
while outside in the distance
the muffled magic roar
the biting nails the hoping
just waiting for the score […]

i’m just a tout a ticket-tout – they know me
but keep it quiet mate – please don’t shout it out
I’ve done some deals and had some laughs I grant you
it ain’t a job I’m all that proud about

but E-Bay’s changed […]

born into a different world the Spring of twenty four
you were barely starting on the path
but down at Bristol City at the outbreak of the war
you ended up just nursing the giraffe! *

but destiny was […]

lion keeps purring – what can you do
why have one team – when you can have two?
why build stadia reaching to the heavens
if every game you’re runnin’ round at sixes and sevens

why paint a picture – an […]

born in the heart of London town
the sound of jazz still blowing around
Moscow Dynamo were turning on the style
when I was still crawling and learning how to smile
there in the shadow of the Chelsea lights
never […]

who would believe
from such a stricken country
from grubby broken back-yards
from endless days and nights
kicking pounding
home made balls of rags
to African Pride

from Monrova’s streets
to the heady portals of […]

1983 April 16
the day you connected
the first time ever – you saw that place

funny when you know or suspect the power
of taking along son daughter granny grandad
grand-son grand-daughter nephew uncle
or […]

The World Cup in America, nineteen ninety four,
USA – Colombia, do you recall the score?
And over in the Rose Bowl, the fevers running high,
while on the streets, of Medellin, it’s near to do or die. […]

just once in while
over talent and style
comes a gaff that defies every rule
and with seconds to go
you’d be nervous I know
but you’d sure try to master your cool

so when you get the ball
with no-one close at […]

inspired by a wordsmith named Ingle
whilst recalling the great half-time tingle
on that time when we fans used to mingle
I was driven to offer this thought

for we’d often change ends
with our visiting […]

there are grounds where you keep a low profile
and you don’t try to add to the vibe
where you never incite
nor evoke any spite
and you tend not to taunt or deride

how brave then and charming – though slightly […]

I knew I was in for a hiding

I could tell we were in for a drubbing

when i thew on the DJ

from off- of the bench

and the crowd shouted out

“you need clubbing!”

football – like a drug

chances too they come and go

why did you Mutu?