Rhys Jones R.I.P.
Our deepest sympathy to Rhys’s family and friends
Johnny Todd
Their song, “Johnny Todd,” rings out into the night
And we give our hearts to the three in blue and white
Then applause for little Rhys as his Everton hymn fades
Amidst madness and grief, a certain beauty pervades
© Mark Thomas
For Melanie, Stephen and Owen Jones.
Rhys Jones, an eleven year old, was shot by a teenager on a BMX bike in Croxteth, Liverpool, as he walked home from playing football last Wednesday. Last night, his family was given a standing ovation by fans at Anfield, prior to the game against Toulouse. The Everton song “Johnny Todd” (better known as the theme tune to Z Cars) was played in tribute as the players arrived on the pitch.
Melanie Jones, his mother, suggested Rhys would have been looking down and smiling in the knowledge that he was the reason the song was being played at Anfield … I hope he was.
There is no …
There is a Portuguese saying that loosely translates into :
“There is no endless misery neither everlasting happiness.”
Try telling that to the McCann’s
Or to Rhys Jones’s family
Neither can see beyond the first declaration
Only one can currently cling to the latter
And no matter
What Everton’s fortunes this season
Even an unlikely Premiership title will only see –
Them and us celebrate within reason
© Clik the mouse, 27th August 2007
The quote taken from a response to an article by Clive James on the BBC website, unrelated to football, but the original essay was about feeling guilty at feeling happy when there is so much around us to be unhappy about.
Genuine heartfelt emotion poured out during the minutes applause for Rhys Jones at Saturday’s game, Everton v Blackburn, 25/08/2007
Another wasted life
Empty seat in the stand.
A minutes silence.
Empty seat at the table.
Silent tears.
Empty seat at school.
Fond memories.
Empty promises.
Nothing new.
© jim Dolbear.24.08.2007.
Another angel to watch over us.
Wee boy
Just a small, wee boy.
Rhys Jones, Evertonian,
A loss to football
A loss to Goodison Park.,
But heartbreak for his parents.
© Alan McKean August 2007
Such a waste.
Rest wee man
Rhys Jones, Evertonian
There’s one team
Playing with ten men
There’s a mother
Who won’t see her son again
A father in a stadium
Next to an empty seat
Schoolmates who will never forget
The boy who played out on their street
There’s a brother
Who lost a brother who cannot be replaced
There are neighbours remembering
The boy with a smile upon his face
There will be a minutes silence
At Goodison this week
But for those with information
The time has come to speak
© S B Ingle 24.8.07
Football seems irrelevant but it was important to Rhys Jones, a big part of his life, and it is fitting that he will be remembered at Goodison Park tomorrow. I hope that the way Rhys lived his life will comfort his family and inspire his friends. May happy memories light the dark times ahead.
With my sincere condolences.
When Football Lies Back In The Shadows
picture the scene
when your life is so young
when you’re out on the street
when you’re having some fun
when playing connects you
and takes you away
from all of the stuff
that bombards you each day
when no-one can offer
an answer today
why an innocent child
has his life blown away
when a park in the summer’s
no longer ok
that’s when football
lies back in the shadows
and the reasons are endless
however you try
too young to fight back
and too young to die
when a child of eleven
is no longer safe
to go kicking a ball
with a couple of mates
when all of your future
is clouded in fears
and all of your dreams
become flooded in tears
for these are the questions
and these are the times
when you hang on to something
or cling on to signs
as somewhere a family’s
grieving with pain
knowing they’ll never
see their child again –
that’s when football
lies back in the shadows
while talk shows and tabloids
host phone ins and views
this culture still spreads
and assaults us with news
of where to point fingers
and who is to blame
when it’s no longer safe
to go out for a game
for this is the feeling
that sadness can bring
lying and crying
behind everything
but this is an action
we can’t understand
he was one of so many
young Everton fans
he was on his way home
on some usual road
and no one minute silence
will lighten this load –
that’s why football
lies back in the shadows
© Crispin Thomas ’07
Our deepest and most sincere sympathies go out to the family and friends of young Rhys, so senselessly gunned down after a summer
game of football in Liverpool, on a nearby park with mates aged 11.
What can his parents and loved ones be feeling about life now, we shudder to think?
I just listened to an hour long debate with young childen expressing their fears, hopes and understanding of what is happening right now. I felt I had to say something, even if words always fall short and wil not change things . What can we do? Two years ago I worked at Everton Study Support Centre with some great kids of Year 4,5 & 6 aged 9,10 and 11. Children , many of them struggling with learning but fresh faced , all races excited to be at the club, driven by football, thinking about their futures. Something I know i struggled with in my youth in London. Today I just feel (again )so very very sad.
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
25th January 2023
joe morris
23rd January 2023
Denys E. W. Jones
23rd January 2023
joe morris
14th January 2023
joe morris
8th January 2023
kevin raymond
7th January 2023
joe morris
6th January 2023
Crispin Thomas
6th January 2023
kevin raymond
5th January 2023
kevin raymond
4th 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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