Stuart Butler
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years ago
Not Sherwood FOREST
Nor Lincoln GREEN,
But FOREST GREEN;
Not Robin Hood and Little John,
But Dale Vince and David Drew;
Not outlaws and poachers,
But left-wingers and goal poachers;
Not the pollution of […]
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years ago
My seat was down the front, right by the pitch,
With a view right out to open fields, new leaf trees,
Scudding clouds, a grand sky horizon, and two billboards
That tried to send their message down to the New […]
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years, 5 months ago
Forest Green was, as historian Tim Barnard comments:
‘A staunchly Non Conformist village,
made up of Baptists and Congregationalists’ –
Although the club was based at a pub,
‘The Jovial Forester … Lower F […]
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years, 5 months ago
Immaculate in spotless cricket whites,
Keeping wicket on the village green,
Up past Slad’s crossroad war memorial,
Betwixt Purgatory and Paradise,
To where 7323 Private Edward Hogg’s name
(7th Battalion, Glo […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years, 6 months ago
When War broke out, the British public cried
“We’ll be in Berlin by Christmas”. But
By Christmas hundreds of thousands had died,
As Mons, The Marne, Ypres and Messine cut
Down the youth of Europe, while Fland […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years, 6 months ago
It’s a bit Herbert Marcuse,
A bit One Dimensional Man:
A unification of opposites,
A harmonisation of contradictions,
Where liberal-democratic capitalism
Gives that tantalising illusion of freedom,
Whilst […]
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years, 6 months ago
It wasn’t, in fact, a bolt from the blue,
Instead the 1914 Truce was part of a pattern,
That both preceded that Christmas and continued beyond:
There were ‘cushy’ sectors, involving ‘lais […]
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years, 6 months ago
When you’ve been out ‘ere as long as I ‘ave,
You get to know the ropes and have a laugh,
Keep’ yer ‘ead down aint enough for Fritz,
You’ve got to show you can live and let live.
When Fritz has his breakfast, […]
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 9 years, 11 months ago
Midsummer Night’s Dream:
I wake up to a nightmare,
England are Bottom. -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years, 2 months ago
Board game metaphor:
The name’s Monopoly now,
Not Subbuteo. -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years, 5 months ago
There was, of course, more than one football match
In the long line of unofficial truces
That stretched all along the front in Flanders;
Indeed, the matches themselves were a sort of climax,
Punctuating the peace […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years, 5 months ago
The Beautiful Game
Gave freedom-fighters respite
In freedom’s struggle.Apartheid’s victims,
In Robben Island’s prison
Played the Peoples’ Game.It was an escape,
But also an expression:
The need for new r […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years, 6 months ago
18th Century Rural Direct Action
versus 19th Century Industrial Capitalism~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A normal feature of my teenage years
Was hours spent queuing for football tickets,
But this autumn’s trip down memory l […]
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 10 years, 8 months ago
I think the love for a football team
Transcends the oft quoted tribal loyalty,
And involves, instead, individuality,
Something subliminal within the personality –
For it’s all about the dreaded mortality:On t […]
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 11 years, 4 months ago
You called on Christmas Eve afternoon,
Carrying an unwrapped parcel,
A gift brought from memory lane:
David Dangerfield’s dad’s football boots,
Slightly battered but proud and dubbined,
Though still smeared wit […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 11 years, 6 months ago
Haiku for Nympsfield War Memorial
As I write these lines,
The young men of the village
Arrive for the match.Nympsfield village,
Catholic sanctuary,
High-up on the wolds.And at the cross-roads,
A […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 11 years, 11 months ago
Steam trains whistling through the night,
Wagons buffering up in the marshalling yards,
The milk man with his early morning horse and cart,
‘Papers and comics land with a thwack in the hall;
Eggs, bacon, tea and t […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 12 years, 4 months ago
It was déjà vu all over again,
But with a football boot in the present:
Trains full of fans but without the toilet rolls;
A minibus of men but stone cold sober;
One woman in a pub – reading a kindle;
Swindon r […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 12 years, 12 months ago
Wordsworth grew up fostered alike by beauty and by fear,
I grew up on trains, football, politics and beer:
“No platform for Fascists” was the cry
And “Swindon until I die”;
Now the steam is locked in a museum, […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 13 years, 1 month ago
I am going on the march on Saturday,
And not watching football because
“It’s the same the whole world over,
It’s the poor wot gets the blame,
It’s the rich wot gets the pleasure
Aint it all a crying shame”: […] - 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!
My Account
Latest Poems
joe morris
11th May 2024
joe morris
9th May 2024
kevin halls
8th May 2024
joe morris
6th May 2024
joe morris
4th May 2024
Crispin Thomas
2nd May 2024
joe morris
28th April 2024
Richard Williams
26th April 2024
joe morris
25th April 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
25th April 2024
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
29th April 2024 at 2:47 pm
Hi Denys,
Yes Richard Williams you’re a brilliant wordsmith, my friend. When I first saw your football poetry I thought it was the superb Guardian sports and music writer. I once had the honour of sitting next to Richard Williams while at the Independent on the sports desk. He writes about music and sport with immense knowledge and authority. I’ve read a couple of Richard’s books recently. Great writer rather like you Richard Williams the Pompey fan. Congratulations on promotion.
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28th April 2024 at 5:59 pm
Thanks Denys. Yes your replay poem was superb.
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26th April 2024 at 4:46 pm
Nice work, Joe. You were quick off the mark with that! Good one from Richard Williams too I see.
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25th April 2024 at 7:33 pm
Hi Denys,
Thanks mate. I’ll do it now.
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25th April 2024 at 1:56 pm
Thanks Joe,
you might like to write a poem yourself on the same subject…
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23rd April 2024 at 4:03 pm
Hi Denys
With you all the way on the abolition of FA Cup replays. What are they doing to the game?
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23rd April 2024 at 3:59 pm
Hi Crispin,
Yes sorry mate. Villa are still in Europe. Mistake rectified.
Cheers
Joe
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20th April 2024 at 12:04 pm
Hi Joe
Shouldn’t your title read your poem Farewell Europe England to everyone exccept Aston Villa ?
I know you mention them in your poem , but I do feel sorry for Villa re the national press .
Largely ignored. the hype was was all about Man City & Arsenal with a bit of a nod to the Hammers..but hardly a mention of Villa..
So well done to them
C
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19th March 2024 at 8:00 am
Hi Crispin. Chris Sutton on the radio has gone for a Chelsea v Coventry final. As we know anything can happen in the Cup, and I reckon we can go to the final.
We’re still in with a chance of the play offs too, so lots to go for.
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19th March 2024 at 7:41 am
Hey Kev
Let the masses drool over their odds on City v Unted Final, but who knows how pressure can hit.
Cov and Chels will be rightly labelled as having no chance..but hey …stranger things have happened..
so Chelsea v Coventry…that’s the Final for us!
Best
C
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