Football Poets

We Welcome in August ….

This August, we welcomed the following new contributors :

Robert Rea
John Haines
Emdad Rahman
Fernando García – all the way from Mexico
Chinyere Nwakanma
Chris Boothby
Lisa Wenz
Aidan Sterling

+ Our friends from the ELG Interface, aka West Ham

Tayo
Nabilah
Lucy Crossley

Some examples :

Starting with my favourite this month – because I’m biased – we share the same idol :

God in royal blue

Wolf-hungry, towering, glowering
Viking-like, plundering and pillaging
To me – a wide-eyed four-year-old fan
You were a god

Standing on the steps of the Shed
Among the beer and sweat of the terraces
All I could hear – throbbing in my ears – was your name
“OSGOOD! OSGOOD!”

The only hero I had before was my father
But you were different – deadly, dangerous
That wicked grin, arms punching the air
To mark another goal

For five years, you were my north and south
My idol, my ambition, my deity
They hailed you the king of Stamford Bridge
And I worshipped you

And then — one awful day — my god was toppled
Not overthrown or beaten, but sold like a prize cow
Stomach-sick, I had to see you play in red and white
The stripes of shame

You came back to Chelsea a few years later
In our hour of need, the returning king
But you were slow and slothful, and couldn’t save us
Ossie, what happened?

No longer a god, you were just another footballer
What made you mortal – the boos? Or the booze?
Or was it me – had I grown too old for idols?
Everything had changed

Since then, like any fan, I’ve had my favourites
But none like Osgood, none filled my world
They all were flawed, all failed as a replacement
No-one came close

I don’t believe in heroes now – and yet somewhere
Inside me is still the wide-eyed four-year-old
Who gapes in awe at the number 9 and the sideburns
At the god in royal blue

© Robert Rea

Peter Osgood, Chelsea legend, played 279 times for the Blues between 1964 and 1974, before being sold to Southampton after a row with the manager Dave Sexton. He died in March 2006, but remains immortal to all of us who saw him play at his peak in the Chelsea sides of the 1960s and early 70s.

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Brilliant Orange

Schizophrenic they may be

Two world cup final losses,

Leaving the nation all at sea

‘Total Voetbal’, switching positions with ease

flowing passes, stubborn possession, the killer pass, all a breeze

Wilkes, Cruyff, Gullit to name but three

Stars for the future include Van Persie

The future is orange, the future is bright

The spirit of Rembrandt and Van Gogh is truly alight

© Emdad Rahman – 17.08.06

In a nutshell…

“The neurotic genius of Dutch football”

David winner

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the hammers prayer.

our bobby who art in heaven.
football be thy game.

at the boleyn it will be won
as at anfield and goodison
lead us not into southampton,.

give us our dailly and repka.

and forgive us our losses
as we forgive spurs who score against us

it will be won on earth with
our team of eleven
for geoff, billy, and trevor, amen.

© john haines 22 aug 2006

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I Froze

I stepped up
Shocked
Scared like mad
My nerves
Were
Worried
Furious
Heart pumping
BOOM..BOOM..BOOM
Hands trembling
Feet shaking
Score
Or
miss
I cant
Believe it
It was a…
GOAL!!!!!!!
Screaming
With
Joy
Happiness
In the air
The crowd goes…..
WILD!!!!!

© Tayo

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& I have to include the latest from one of my favourite contributors on the site :

Say it ain’t so Iain. Say it ain’t so.

“I need to be near my family,
I’ve got to leave the South.
These were the words that flowed,
from Iain Dowie’s mouth.

Now South London it is wonderful,
to say different I’d be a liar,
but I really need to be up North,
with my wife in Lanca-shire.”

T’was to Palace Chairman Jordan,
he made his desperate appeal,
begging him to release him,
from his original contract deal.

Iain had been a coaching wonder,
when he led Palace to promotion,
but then the following season,
he was in charge of their demotion.

Between himself and Simon Jordan,
there was no love, they both agreed,
and to get Iain Dowie to stay aboard,
Jordan wasn’t going to plead.

” I’ll release you from your obligations,
I won’t look for compensation,
as long as you are true to your word,
and make the North your destination.”

But instead of heading the M1’s way,
to live in the Northern burbs,
Dowie was checking a vacancy,
left by Charlton’s Alan Curbs.

So a week after shaking Jordan’s hand,
and acting all pally pally,
Dowie was sneaking up the road,
to sign a contract at the Valley.

Mr Dowie, we always supported you,
we cheered when you raised your fist*
but the way you pulled a fast one,
means at Selhurst you won’t be missed.

© John J O’Connor August 2006

The title comes from an American saying, ‘Say it ain’t so Joe, say it ain’t so.’It originated in Chigago in 1917 when the greatest baseball player of that time Shoeless Joe Jackson got charged with match fixing.Apparently he was approached the next day by a tearful young boy who uttered those words.

Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie convinced everyone he had to head North for family reasons then once released headed down the road to bitter rivals Charlton. At his press conference he was served a writ from a bitter Palace Chairman Simon Jordan.

* The Dowie fist reached almost legendry status at Selhurst. Was raised to the crowd after winning performances.

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