Greg Freeman
@gregoryfreeman
7 months ago-
Greg Freeman published a poem on the site Football Poets 3 years ago
I won’t mention the team. The reason?
I’d like most readers to stick
with this beyond the first lines.
It isn’t which club, or even football,
but about a father and daughter
forming an unexpected, unbre […] -
Greg Freeman posted an update 4 years ago
Several of my football poems are included in my new full collection, Marples Must Go! https://www.dempseyandwindle.com/gregfreeman.html
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Greg Freeman published a poem on the site Football Poets 4 years ago
Impatient men and boys waited
outside newsagents at six o’clock,
for vans to deliver their bundles.
News or Standard? Rival
papers competed to produce
Saturday night sports papers,
all the football s […] -
Greg Freeman published a poem on the site Football Poets 4 years ago
The beckoning floodlights
still work their magic,
early October’s comforting chill,
scarf snug round the neck.
Blood pulses through arteries,
moving as it should. Heart lifts
with every step towards the s […] -
Greg Freeman published a poem on the site Football Poets 4 years ago
It seems like a dream now:
the 1-4 scoreline;
Lampard’s goal that never was;
watching the game with Carol Ann Duffy.She turned up amid the half-time gloom
in the pub, asked if it was ok
to sit near the T […] -
Greg Freeman posted an update 4 years ago
My debut full collection Marples Must Go!, which includes some football poems posted here, is now available from publishers Dempsey & Windle https://www.dempseyandwindle.com/gregfreeman.html
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Greg Freeman‘s profile was updated 4 years ago
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Greg Freeman published a poem on the site Football Poets 4 years ago
‘The goalkeeper’s fear of the penalty’ –
but shouldn’t a striker fear it
so much more? The keeper isn’t
expected to save; the forward
is obliged to score. A penalty
can help break the duck,
if you’re […] -
Greg Freeman posted an update 4 years ago
Highly recommended! Brian Bilston’s ’50 Ways to Score a Goal and other football poems’ (Macmillan). An ideal accompaniment to the Euros that’s not just for kids. Here’s my review on Write Out Loud https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=115831
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Greg Freeman‘s profile was updated 4 years ago
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Greg Freeman commented on a poem on Football Poets 4 years ago
Thanks for this, Crispin, a souvenir of a memorable night. Reading it brought tears to my eyes. Commiserations to City fans, I thought your name was on the trophy this time.
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Greg Freeman published a poem on the site Football Poets 4 years ago
As the boos rang out at the Riverside
I remembered my team’s
first black player
coming on as sub in the 80s,
the storm of hate from the Shed.The shock and anguish I felt,
wondering if I could c […] -
Greg Freeman published a poem on the site Football Poets 4 years ago
A winter’s day, a darkening sky. Warned
by the ref midway through the first half
for over-enthusiastic touchline coaching:
I don’t know what you’re on, but I want some of it.
Those games meant […]
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Greg Freeman published a poem on the site Football Poets 4 years ago
Look at it not so much as a game
of two halves – although it was that,
too – but the result of fixture congestion.
Pure and simple. Two crucial matches,
far too close together. A great win up north,
d […] -
Greg Freeman commented on a poem on Football Poets 4 years ago
‘Get stuck in’ … the same managerial advice we were offered as 3rd Tolworth Cubs, back in the day. And at half-time, the same refrain, slightly amended: ‘The trouble is, you’re not getting stuck in enough …’
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Greg Freeman‘s profile was updated 4 years ago
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Greg Freeman‘s profile was updated 4 years ago
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Greg Freeman changed their profile picture 4 years ago
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Greg Freeman published a poem on the site Football Poets 4 years ago
It may be just a pre-season friendly,
he’s the wrong side of thirty; I still
get the same joy watching him play.
Diehard tackles, rampaging forward,
exhorting teammates, lusting for goals.I’m double his […]
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Greg Freeman became a registered member 4 years ago
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About This Site
Welcome to Football Poets -- a club for all football poets, lovers of football and lovers of (alternative) poetry. Discover poets in every league from respected internationals at the top of their game to young hopefuls in the school playground.
Publish your football poems here and then discuss them with your team mates and fans. We're archived by The British Library, so your masterpieces are in the safe hands of a world-class keeper. What a result!
My Account
Latest Poems
Mike Bartram
8th July 2025
joe morris
6th July 2025
Crispin Thomas
6th July 2025
Mike Bartram
4th July 2025
Denys E. W. Jones
29th June 2025
joe morris
29th June 2025
Crispin Thomas
26th June 2025
joe morris
23rd June 2025
Crispin Thomas
16th June 2025
Gacina Bozidar
15th June 2025
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
7th June 2025 at 5:57 pm
Very well put! My recent favourite came when visiting Chesterfield. They have the ‘LMD Vacuum Excavation Stand’.
May be if you’re in the vacuum excavation business, it’s a beautiful sounding name.
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24th May 2025 at 7:19 am
Hi Steve
I’ve come across you before on the live poetry circuit…something I’ve also been involved in since the late 90s at slams, gigs and festivals. Did you ever get to Glasto?
I was also at Swindon when José subbed and berated Kevin in a League Cup game for Chelsea….
Salah as you point out went the same way…
Be interesting to see Kev’s next move?
Best
Crispin
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24th April 2025 at 1:05 pm
Hey Denys..love this
“You may be a miner working down a pit.
You may be a rock star playing sold out gigs.
You may be a fireman putting out a blaze.
You may be an inmate chalking off the days. ”
Not just Dylan but maybe an unintentional nod to and shades of Ian Dury’s enigmatic ‘What A Waste’ rhythmic scanning..eg:
I could be the driver in an articulated lorry
I could be a poet I wouldn’t need to worry
I could be a teacher in a classroom full of scholars
I could be the sergeant in a squadron full of wallahs
What a waste
What a waste
Was lucky enough to meet and interview him twice.
Best wishes from Forest Green to Genoa C
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8th March 2025 at 2:34 pm
Thanks Crispin
I’ve been to FGR a couple of times in the past – great food! Barnet look like they have the NL sewn up for this season, but I wish you well for promotion next season.
Regards, Beth
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11th January 2025 at 8:13 am
TO ADD THIS TO THIS POEM’S COMMENT:WELCOME BACK DAVID MOYES!!!
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27th November 2024 at 5:55 am
‘You’re Supposed To Be At Home’ is an excellent and moving poem Denys.
You start off thinking it’s just about another oft-sung chant, one we personally heard a lot last season throughout our second relegation in a row here at Forest Green(FGR) ! I always love poems where you think they are saying one thing and then they suddenly pull you deeper to somewhere or something else else.
I’m currently helping in a local school for FGR in a voluntary capacity using football to help young students with reading. At an upcoming session we will tackle racism, just like we did in workshops at football schools and grounds when we first started this site 24 years ago. I’m gonna try and weave your poem into a session.
We’ve added it to the Anti- Racism/Kick It Out section under Crispin’s Corner.
Best C
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26th November 2024 at 1:59 pm
Great poem and great to see you back Wyn.
Don’t leave it so long next time my friend!
More please.
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13th September 2024 at 6:14 pm
Welcome to Football Poets Beth
Great evocative poem Beth….
More please !
Haiku always welcome.
Hope we (FGR) get to play you again soon
Best
Crispin
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26th July 2024 at 6:25 pm
Great poem Mike Bartram. Eddie was a legend, affectionately known in Liverpool as, “the first hooligan.” Even the hoolies were well dressed in those days. The amazing thing was he was only 26 when that picture was taken. He’d played for Everton youth team and was well known to the players. He never got arrested. They threw him out and he climbed back in, just in time for Derek Temples winner.
I used the picture of him being tackled to the ground on the front cover of my book, “Once Upon a rhyme in Football.” It’s worth looking on youtube and finding the re-enactment of the Wembley scene. Frank Skinner and Baddiel went around to Eddies home in the 1990’s and acted it out on the green outside. It’s hilarious, especially all the effort they put in to get Eddie sober enough to shoot the scene.
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