the curse o’ Andy D’Urso
in the 2002 / 2003 Premiership season
a certain Frenchman, lost all sense of reason
for in the closing stages of the League
Arsenal let slip, a comfortable eight point lead
but Arsene Wenger, would like it to be known
that it had nothing to do, with Martin Keown
no, despite his ill-timed o.g.
the fault lies squarely, with a referee
and neither was the bizzare own goal by Kaolo Toure
the reason why the rival reds, were busily singing ‘hooray!’
and Sol Campbell’s elbow so errant
didn’t fit the bill, for our Gallic pedant
no, no, you see
it was all the fault, of ONE referee
it was nothing to do with an arrogance, a swagger
over-confidence, surely? no, we have it wrong, it was a dagger;
a stab in the back
from a man ‘formerly in black’
nor did the season hinge, on the form of a goalkeeping icon
as the Gallic Master was quick to refute, with the tv mic on
no, he announced loud and clear, Seaman was no Nemesis
it was the presence of a certain match controller, on the premises
so there’s definately one arbiter, dropped from his Christmas card list
as Wenger regales, on all the bad tackles missed
that lead to crippling injuries, to a crop of star players
the reason for which, he attributed to whistling betrayers
it couldn’t be, could it? that all the ups and downs
could have been curtailed, without the Upson frowns
when a glaring lack of cover, in the centre of defence
ultimately brought failure and an attitude intense?
no, no, you see
it was all the fault, of THAT referee
one in particular, shoulders the blame
a whole season’s misfortune, condensed, all in one game
for it was the man with the whistle
who caused Arsene to bristle
and so I daresay Mr D’Urso
will never be Wenger’s favourite perso n.
rhymes can be so contrived these days!
as can the excuses from bitter football managers – Arsene Wenger lost a lot of friends with his sore loser stance.
He was particularly upset with the following match :
April 26th 2003
Bolton 2 Arsenal 2
h-t 0-0
Bolton scorers : Djorkaeff, Keown og
Arsenal scorers : Wiltord, Pires
Arsenal were 2-0 up!
Referee : Andy D’Urso
Laville of Bolton was sent off in the last minute, but Arsenal were unhappy with the number of heavy tackles that were committed before that
Manchester United went on to win the League that season.
Earlier in the campaign, reserve centre back Matthew Upson was sold to Birmingham City. By the end of the season he had made his debut for England.
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
25th April 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
25th April 2024
kevin halls
23rd April 2024
Alex Saynor
23rd April 2024
joe morris
23rd April 2024
Crispin Thomas
22nd April 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
21st April 2024
joe morris
20th April 2024
Clik The Mouse
15th April 2024
Mike Bartram
15th April 2024
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
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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29th January 2024 at 10:03 pm
Hi Crispin,
How are you doing mate? Yes, you’re probably right but hey football is all about emotion and passion and I just love writing about the game. I try to keep my poetry to a reasonable length but there’s so much to write about the game and its literature just lends itself naturally to poetry. Sometimes I just get completely carried and I do apologise for the length of my poetry but it’s a great thrill to be associated with Football Poets.
Cheers mate
Joe
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10th January 2024 at 7:52 pm
You’re right of course Joe but…..it’s actually more of a big welcome break for everyone who is not into Premier League ..I’m talking fans of EFL National League and below…..
Btw …is this actually your longest poem ever !?
Best
Crispin
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8th January 2024 at 4:45 pm
Thanks!
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