Stuart Butler
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 14 years 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”: […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 14 years ago
It was that time of the year when winter and spring
Walk hand in hand, with crisp wind, bars of sunshine,
Saturday afternoon cumulus clouds,
Splashes of blue, shouts of “muddied oafs”,
And a referee’s whist […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 14 years ago
Pythagoras thought
About the meat pie he’d bought
That meat pies r square. -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
Would you bet six quid
On the psychic octopus
Being a sick squid? -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
So when I look back, what do I remember?
The regressive sense of anticipation,
Being a boy again but with Christmas Eve in summer:
Digging my plot and seeing red ants and slow worms –
The imagination goes on […]
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Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
No more old stereotypes.
All our yesterdays. -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
A dribbling parrot,
Three dreaming lions, supine;
And a palsied rose. -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
Last week, kick and rush;
This week, kick without the rush;
Next? No kick? No rush? -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
With sanctuary,
Persecuted refugees
Find refuge’s goal. -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
“So come on England”,
Eton and the white van man
Speak the same language. -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
You know how it is, some nights you just can’t sleep:
The wife went out to the pub to watch the game last night,
I stayed at home and tired after work,
Fell asleep at 10 only to be woken by Trish at 1;
She g […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
France v Uruguay,
Irritable vowel syndrome:
But no end result. -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
The word “quality”,
Chris Waddle’s constant cliché,
Is not quality. -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years 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 15 years ago
“Nelson Mandela.”
The whole wide world shouts your name:
The end of Babel. -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
“Bloomin’ Football”, a World Cup floral festival,
Early June, at St. Mary Magdalene’s:
World Cup flags draped from yew tree to porch,
Countries portrayed in displays of flowers,
Firstly, Brazil, created by Sarah f […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
World Cup Haiku 7
“People of the Grass”,
Hear the Setswana language,
See the Bafokeng.Edible grasses,
Once grown by the Bafokeng
To feed their cattle.Now the Kikuyu,
Hardy grass seed from Kenya,
Then str […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
WORLD CUP HAIKU1
A Rainbow Nation
Arcs across the shanty towns
Bulldozed for football.WORLD CUP HAIKU2
Green Point Stadium,
Stares out at Robben Island:
Ghosts stare from cells.
(Nelson Mandela’s prison: […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
Over a hundred years ago, or so,
When Britannia ruled the waves,
And the sun never set on former slaves,
We went to war in South Africa
Not the one with Michael Caine,
But the one that led to fighting in the […] -
Stuart Butler published a poem on the site Football Poets 15 years ago
So it was modern life is rubbish again:
My brother booked our train tickets over the internet,
The server went down half way through,
He had to ‘phone up and do it all over again,
The server went down again, but R […] - 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
Crispin Thomas
16th June 2025
Gacina Bozidar
15th June 2025
joe morris
15th June 2025
Stuart Butler
13th June 2025
Alex Saynor
13th June 2025
John Gilbert Ellis
7th June 2025
joe morris
7th June 2025
Denys E. W. Jones
31st May 2025
joe morris
31st May 2025
Clik The Mouse
30th May 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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