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 that started before Christmas With shared burying of the dead in No Man’s Land, And that lasted in some […]

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 rules. When Rainbow colours Pass the ball in harmony: The Beautiful Game.

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 lane Was not through Swindon’s red brick terraces, But up high to bosky, sylvan Shortwood – With an […]

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 the one foot, football defines time With the passage of the fixture list, Taking each game as it comes, One at a time; […]

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 with 60 year old mud. Brown, big toe caps, heavy size 8s, Placed on the Christmas hearth to warm, Like two twin ships in dry […]