The Unity Cup Festival
One of my favourite contributors to the site, Ian Beesley, is involved with an initiative for integrating refugees and asylum seekers, called The Unity Cup, which takes place this weekend, July 16th and July 17th at Roundhay School in Leeds.
This is a festival of fun events and creative activities organised around a football tournament. Teams of asylum seekers and other displaced people will come from around the UK to compete for the Unity Cup.
Considering the news (relating to the London bombings of 7/7) emerging yesterday and today, ironically from the Leeds area,
we need Unity more than ever.
Quote from Adrian Jones, Co-ordinator, Your Story FC (last years winning team) :
“The Unity Cup Festival represents exactly what Your Story FC aims to achieve; enabling diverse teams to interact and share common experiences. Football can reach out to all communities – it crosses all language and cultural barriers.”
The Unity Cup Festival is a partnership project between Kick It Out & Heads Together Productions.
It receives financial support from, among others – the PFA.
The following poem inspired after reading the details available at :
http://www.elfm.co.uk/ then click on the link that says “DOWNLOAD THE INFORMATION HERE”
Your story. Our story.
Yours is filled with fear, atrocities, displacement.
Memories that are burned with terror, entwined
With the rotting flesh left behind.
Ours is one of comfort and plenty.
Of decency and democracy, sanctuary and frivolity
A mecca, for pursuants of equality.
Hard to imagine a common thread.
But football has squeezed itself
through the eye of a needle.
The Unity Cup is like a thimble.
A welcome mechanism to facilitate
integration, to spread the word
With a shared joy, to mix, to exchange
To farm the minds
To sow together
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!
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Latest Poems
Crispin Thomas
2nd May 2024
joe morris
2nd May 2024
joe morris
28th April 2024
Richard Williams
26th April 2024
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
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
29th April 2024 at 2:47 pm
Hi Denys,
Yes Richard Williams you’re a brilliant wordsmith, my friend. When I first saw your football poetry I thought it was the superb Guardian sports and music writer. I once had the honour of sitting next to Richard Williams while at the Independent on the sports desk. He writes about music and sport with immense knowledge and authority. I’ve read a couple of Richard’s books recently. Great writer rather like you Richard Williams the Pompey fan. Congratulations on promotion.
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28th April 2024 at 5:59 pm
Thanks Denys. Yes your replay poem was superb.
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26th April 2024 at 4:46 pm
Nice work, Joe. You were quick off the mark with that! Good one from Richard Williams too I see.
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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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