A November welcome ….
This month, we welcome the following new contributor’s to the site :
Sophie Waters
Jim Russell
James Armstrong
Craig Wilson
Denys E. W. Jones
Hannah Ardley Taylor, Zahra Shaheen and Lucy Footman, all from Lister Community School
We also said a sad farewell to Emlyn Hughes.
There were many fine tributes to this much loved footballer and ex-England captain, a great role model for so many of us.
My personal favourite tribute was by Alan McKean :
Giggles in Heaven
There’ll be giggles in Heaven now,
With Emlyn there.
He’ll soon get them chuckling.
He leaves us with a mixture
Of tears and laughter.
Fond memories of a grand lad.
© Alan McKean November 2004
From the batch of new poets, I offer this month, the following :
The Beautiful Game
Silky shirts and earrings,
Hairbands and flowing locks,
We don’t care what you look like,
Just get it in the box.
© Jim Russell
I remember when there used to be linesmen
I remember when there used to be linesmen,
My Da was a linesman,
He didn’t wave a flag or call for offside,
He restored electricity when the weather was wild.
Whether there was hail or snow or wind or rain,
My Da and his crew got the power on again,
He wasn’t a middle aged man in ill fitting shorts,
Calling a foul even if there was none.
My Da didn’t raise his flag very late,
When the electricity was out he didn’t hesitate,
Now its all change, they’re called ‘referees assistants’,
But the linesmen are still there, dedicated and persistent.
© James Armstrong
This is dedicated to my late father who worked as a linesman with the E.S.B. (electricity supply board) for over 35 years. He and all the other linesmen did a fantastic job restoring power in the worst weather and still do. Referees Assistants wave little flags.
And I have to include this brilliant paean to footballer’s as poets :
The Poet On The Football Pitch
The Footballer is the poet
He plays with the ball like a word
Tumbling from the pen
To write beautiful metaphors
Precious little moments that
Are created by no other
Than this poet
Pele knew how to write
Kopa too
And the dark devil Maradona
He wrote with his left foot
His hands were too busy for pens….
© P Maguire
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
Gacina Bozidar
3rd February 2023
Gacina Bozidar
3rd February 2023
joe morris
3rd February 2023
Stuart Butler
2nd February 2023
Denys E. W. Jones
30th January 2023
joe morris
29th January 2023
Crispin Thomas
25th January 2023
joe morris
23rd January 2023
Denys E. W. Jones
23rd January 2023
joe morris
14th January 2023
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
5th December 2022 at 8:11 pm
Stuart, you are not alone, in your dichotomy of doubt
but without dissention
you stand alone
in hogging our attention!
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16th November 2022 at 11:04 am
[Football on soiled turf]
This is a wonderful phrase which I shall be using from now on!
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15th November 2022 at 3:54 pm
Well said Crispin. One of the reasons for The Ball 2022/23 is exactly this – that FIFA need to know. The Ball is essentially a petition to FIFA to honour their commitments to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework. They signed up; they should act. The Qatar tournament takes the World Cup in the opposite direction to that commitment. And 2026 looks like it’ll be even worse.
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8th November 2022 at 2:06 pm
Hi Guys
Re ‘Lets Boycott Qatar ‘ poem
You probably hate me banging on..and problably know (like me) that my/your not watching the World Cup in Qatar will make no difference.
Of course it won’t. That’s not the point.
OK someone might possibly eventually publish a minimal drop in terrestrial TV viewer numbers, but I fear that is unlikely.
But please above all, do go on writing poems about the World Cup, as/you we have always done. I hate to think a poem or two of mine might l make you feel bad about comenting on a game or country …or that I’ve put you all off about wanting to contribute.
So we’d love to hear from you and read your thoughts and observations, as ever on what’s going on.
Some of us have been here since Football Poets website birth/inception for the Euros 2000 ….
All my best wishes
Crispin
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18th October 2022 at 10:06 am
Shoot! (Something we’ve also been screaming in vain at our team all season !)
Great memories Joe . Before Shoot, it was Roy of the Rovers comic too, dropping through my letterbox.
Anxiously waiting each week to see if they survived in the mexcian jungle after an ambush..or a pre-season earthquake!
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3rd October 2022 at 8:32 pm
Thanks for the kind words Sharon. Yes, it was a shame with Billy Shako, but with five subs now being allowed, he might yet make it off the bench. Even if it’s just a cameo to close out a poem.
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2nd October 2022 at 1:49 pm
John, your new book is an absolute delight and more please. It’s a shame ‘Swapping Shirts With Shakespeare’ never made it off the bench, but quality football poets light up the writing fields like Roman candles. Go well.
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4th September 2022 at 12:42 pm
Great memories Greg. Took me right back.
Today I stand on a small terrace in the hills where I live watching Forest Green Rovers in L1, and keep up with Chelsea on highlights. It’s a far cry and a world away from those times when I lived as a child within walking distance of ‘The Bridge’ – just off the Ifield Road, which led to Fulham Road. The Blues were rubbish for so long, but we loved them and somehow we stayed in the old First Division for so many seasons. And of course we got to see Greavesie at his impudent best, scoring goals for fun. Mad unpredictable games where we’d score 4 and let in five.
The looming floodlights in the dark and mist on magic night games. The big games when the ground heaved.
I don’t think we ever realized how magical and incredible it was back then. The atmosphere and arriving there so early – like you said.. just to make sure you got in. Back when Bovril, tea and cake and roasted peanuts for sixpence a back were just about all on offer.
Good times.
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4th September 2022 at 12:37 pm
see above
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18th August 2022 at 10:20 am
To put it politely!
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