Graham Salter
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Graham Salter commented on a poem on Football Poets 8 years ago
I really enjoyed this poem. Wistful and tender.
Yes.
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Graham Salter commented on a poem on Football Poets 8 years ago
A great poem, Crispin. Loved it.
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Graham Salter commented on a poem on Football Poets 8 years ago
With thanks, of course, to John Masefield.
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Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 8 years ago
I must go down to the pub again
There’s a football match on Sky
And all I ask is a decent view
Of the screen, with the bar nearby
And the crowd’s heave
And the Kop’s roar
And the sudden surge down the wing […] -
Graham Salter became a registered member 9 years ago
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Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years ago
Unassumingly,
Pellegrini claims the prize.
El condor pasa.
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Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years ago
I met a traveller from an antique land,
A refugee from an R and B band
He said “Take the advice of a wand’rin man;
Don’t bet on the favourite in the first week of Jan”
Then chewing on some baccy as he turned […] -
Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years ago
The no-score draws have settled in like winter
We sleep under six clean-sheets and a blanket of snow
Each snore draw is a draught, a phial of sleep
A white and quiet light, a rest that is silence.
But slow. […] -
Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years ago
At school in the Sixties
We all called you Albert,
A boy who was destined for fame,
And on bright Monday mornings
Announcing a victory
The Headmaster read out your name.So Preston schooled you
And Liverpool […] -
Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years ago
In nineteen hundred and fifty eight
Queen Victoria was truly great.
With a scorching drive at Hampden Park
The Empress of India made her mark.
Her goalscoring record was second to none
It’s strange to think […] -
Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years ago
We rise as one as the chant goes up
Surge si Blackpool oderis
Singing in tongues about the FA Cup
(What mystery has come over us?)
Supporters leap, supporters dance
Ascendentes sumus
Everyone loves those […] -
Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years ago
Henrik Ibsen,
CAN YOU HEAR ME ?
King Haakon of Norway! Sonja Henie!
Roald Dahl ! Edvard Grieg!
Roald Amundsen! Edvard Munch!
yes
Your girls took one hell of a beating! -
Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years ago
For our last game
I got up in the cold light of the South Midlands
Well insulated from reality
And made the long pilgrimage to Deepdale.
Walking through the town that late morning
I encountered my life again (or […] -
Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years ago
Woke up one mornin’ to a brand new year
Me heart full of hope and a little bit o’ fear
We playin’ Norwich City in de afternoon
So hurry down to Deepdale cos they startin’ soon
De famous Norwich City are a […]
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Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years ago
Fifa gave up on the truth one day;
And ever since it happened, they’ve been talking this way,
So fill my ears with tinsel
Coat my eyes with butter
And talk to me, Herr Blatter
Tell me lies about the World […]
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Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years ago
On Sundays after tea we kicked a ball
Around outside until it got dark in the street,
Maybe listened to the wireless for an hour
(“Take it from here” or “Journey into space”).
But tonight I curled myself […]
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Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years ago
When melancholy autumn comes to Wembley
And hot-dog stands are lighted after tea
The poplars by the Stadium are all trembly
Then my mind goes back to nineteen fifty-three,
When Puskas and his cherry-shirted […] -
Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 11 years ago
I don’t write about daffodils or larks ascending
Only football … or trains
With no rhyme at the ending
So here is the fruit of my pains
About trains.It was a three-quarters empty local, one day
That […] -
Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 11 years ago
We’ll win away at Scunthorpe
We’re going to make our mark
Yes, we’re heading for Old Trafford
By way of Glanford Park.You lose some and you draw some
But never mind the pain
We’re on our way to […] -
Graham Salter published a poem on the site Football Poets 11 years ago
(as told by T.S. Eliot)
Sudden Death is something you can’t prepare for
Said Bobby Robson long ago.
That time has come again.
Now we are the team, the scarecrow men
Leaning together
Arrayed like s […] - Load More
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!
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Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
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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10th July 2024 at 6:07 pm
Hi Crispin,
I don’t know if you’ve see the picture in social media today…
a picture of a teenage Lionel Messi cradling a baby in Africa as part of a photoshoot…. the family had won a lottery to have their baby pictured with him….
the photographer has just revealed that the baby is actually in fact Lamine Yamal!!!!
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26th May 2024 at 2:30 pm
Hi Denys…
Re Man City:
OK it was 20 years ago but Criag Wilson did write this and a few others on them back in 04/05.
BTW I’m more Forest Green Rover since 2014 (and Chelsea) these days . I drum and am a standing season ticket holder.
Best
Crispin
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