Football Poets

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

You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.