Football Poets

FA Cup Poems Round 4 + The Site-Your Reaction Blog

1 F.A. CUP POEMS ROUND 4
2. SITE FUTURE -YOUR REACTION – IN WORDS.

1 FA CUP POEMS ROUND 4 2008
27 Jan sharpened blades scythe blue balloons haiku Emdad Rahman
27 Jan Almost Their Waterloo Ron Hiles
27 Jan Havant Been Dreaming Haiku Crispin Thomas
26 Jan Havant the boys done well
Emdad Rahman
25 Jan good luck Havant! Clik the Mouse
25 Jan Beat It! Saints v Bury S B Ingle
FA CUP ROUND 3 POEMS
08 Jan Time Travel John Oliver
07 Jan It’s The Roon and Ron Show Tony Lewis-Jones
07 Jan Hats Off To Luton Crispin Thomas
06 Jan That Was Then Simon Parr
06 Jan The Big 4 Cup Crispin Thomas
06 Jan The Magic of the Cup? Pogue
Mahone
06 Jan What Magic of The Cup? Peter
Goulding
02 Jan Pray Tell Me, Will We Win The Cup?
kevin raymond

FOOTBALL POETS SITE FUTURE-YOUR REACTION

“A month back we asked you ALL what you thought about the
‘unfunded-unchanged for 8 years’ site (!) and it’s future.
Well – we’re still here, un-funded, un-changed and still without our founding webmaster Dave and limited to editorial input only. Some of YOUR reactions are printed below. MORE PLEASE..especially suggestions . If YOU have the skills to create from scratch or advise on producing a viable, exciting, betting-ads-free, innovative and accessible new site – please get in touch.
Please E-MAIL US (or in Submit Poem) . Here are a selection of some of the replies we received about the site. I would say they’re fair comment. There are also replies to the points raised from Peter Goulding (Editor-Ireland) and myself. I’ll ask Stu and Clik to do the same. Stay involved and please do comment either by l
Email E-mail us Editors -Football Poets :

on the NEW COMMENTS section at :
Football Poets on MySpace

just scroll down to bottom of page right . Thanks Crispin

or in the ‘Submit a poem’ section’

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COMMENTS

1 “This isn’t a ‘restricted to this site’ problem, it’s Poetry itself.
There is no big sale or desire for poetry across the board in any subject you like, and whenever ‘someone of weight’ wants a so-called football poem they commission it off some ‘big name’ mainstream poet (a la McGough) who rifles something off which passes for football poetry. Where are the openings for genuine football poets? The in house poets at football clubs are NOT football poets, they are mainstream poets who have had doors opened for them. Easy eh??

Who publishes football poetry? it is self published by the (brave few) football poets themselves (and you can count them on one hand) one of whom wrote a fabulous book of football poetry, and then was ‘rewarded’ with 3 years of hoaxing and heartbreak. One poet was subject to written abuse on this site from one of the occasional contributors. Jealousy must always rear its ugly little head.

So where does that leave Football Poetry? it you have a forum with rules etc you will need moderators, would people pay for upkeep? on what rules and regulations would it be run? and what about all the problems with past guestbooks? how would you control content?
For Football Poetry to be truly successful it needs successful Football Poets, not the ifs buts and maybes of swapping shirts with Shakespeare, or the constant tribalism of teams or mainstream poets in the guise of football poets….but who has the magic wand to change it? I dont know. Promoting it in the schools and football study centres is admirable but it hasnt changed things so far. The literary establishment remains stubbornly oblivious.

Perhaps Football Poetry is best left as it is here, it has a willing and regular audience, it is accessible ,and it is free. ”

Pogue Mahone

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2. “About the site, overall it is really good, but 10 thousand poems is perhaps too much. Ok so the Russians had a saying during WW2 that ‘quantity had a quality of its own’, but really how many of this site’s 10000 are any good? Some are good, some are brilliant but most are not. The problem is the really good poetry gets drowned out.

Stuart Butler no longer contributes so ‘Butlers Bench’ needs to change. Sorry Crispin but just using it to promote your myspace blog and workshops is not editorial input.

Clik hardly posts up these days and when he does it is minimal – again an overhaul is needed.

If all this site is to be is a “it’s mine and i will do what i like and i wont share” then fine keep it as it is. But you need to promote more fully your best poets, they are the true voices that need to be heard, there are no places out there in mainstream poet land for football poets, blunt but true, wasnt this site set up to change that???

Thus if it is to move forward and reflect a truly representative portion of the football poetry world it needs to move out the “its my ball and i’m not sharing” mode.

Thoughts????? Jeff Usher
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3. “This is the only site on the web, that I am aware off, that is exclusive to football poetry and I will say that it is managed and edited very fairly by all those involved with the site.
I have in the past, had a problem or two with the powers that be, but I was the one who had to grow up and accept the editors decisions to which particular poems of mine would suit this site.

I have posted my poetry on various Celtic websites & forums to a lot of mixed reviews, been rejected by the Club magazine and been given abuse on one particular Celtic forum but it does not stop me from writing and the Football Poets website allows me (most times) to express myself as a Celtic supporter and nothing else.

So I agree with Pogue Mahone with the quote; “Perhaps Football Poetry is best left as it is here, it has a willing and regular audience, it is accessible, and it is free.”

Writing football poetry for me is just a hobby, a hobby that I enjoy. It won’t make me rich or famous but content.”
D McDonagh

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EDITORIAL THOUGHTS…
This from Peter….

“The part about being an editor that I find the hardest is whether or not to include a poem that is not very good. Okay,
‘Chelsea Chelsea are the best,
They are better than all the the rest’
will probably be deleted , but at the same time I consider the site as vital in encouraging new poets to come on and give it a go. I’m sure the last thing we want is to be seen as elitist – having a clique (pardon the pun) means we set the agenda, whereas the democratic nature of the site is what I love about it. That is why it is often hard when a poor poem comes along to decide if it is a genuine effort or someone taking the mickey.

I suppose in the ideal world, you could have two forums –
side by side. One for everybody and one a registered forum to which only invited poets were given writing access.

As regards the sections, whatever you put in them is fine by me. I have no problems with the content. I know Crispin has been given a bit of stick – as we all have over the years – but if you put your head above the parapet, you’re going to get shot at. My only occasional gripe with the site is that perhaps Crispin
does react too quickly when a criticism rears its head. I know his remit
is to be “squeaky clean” (archived by The British Library,
and recommended by RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) Kick Into Reading, BBC, Five Live, National Literacy Trust, schools etc)
but just because one person objects to something, it doesn’t mean we have to act on it (particularly if the complainer does not include a valid email address)

The sections page is also useful for inspiring new poetry. You only have to publish a list of Christmas / Armistice / FA Cup poems and a load more flood in, which is a good thing.

Personally, I don’t think 10,000 is too much. If people like a poet, they can isolate his/her stuff and concentrate on that. There is an excellent word search engine too for anyone looking for poems on “Kilmarnock” or “Mendonca.” New poems may not last long on the home page, but you read the list of new poems and pick out the poets you like. PeterGoulding (Editor)
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5. CRISPIN’S REPLY TO COMMENTS…AND THOUGHTS ON FUTURE

Well what can i say? We try and we will improve, promise Sir/Miss!

ON BEING SLAGGED OFF I do get some crticism on this site.
“What kind of massive ego trip are you on Crispi baby?”
was a particular favourite. It’s annoying when you can’t reply to non-existent email adresses . It’s counter-balanced though by pleased schools and kids who do write a bit more as a result. Peter’s right I’m over sensitive. But I’m up-front so I have to take it.

ON ADVERTISING WORKSHOPS AND MY BOOK!
OK I do poetry workshops and I advertise my Football Poetry book.
Over the years we’ve asked for any football poets out-there to come on board to do workshops , or to be an editor with a section. There is still one free remember if you would like the opportunity and all the “perks” with it! So far in eight years of asking , the only up-take and involvement has been from Ted Smith Orr and Rosemary Dun plus locally : Adam H, Danny & Katie McCue, Stuart Butler ,Dennis Gould and Jeff Cloves. Nationally only Ted , Rosemary, Stuart and I have worked together and done ‘stuff ‘ at
places like Chelsea, Charlton, Northampton Town, libratries,schools , festivals and in prisons in Wales twice. (Wild!) More ‘get-up and read out loud poets ‘ needed (don’t you hate the phrase ‘performance-poets’).

ON BOOKS!
Advertising a book is something all writers do on the web to help them survive. It’s bit like hating a small band who hold up their £5 CD at gigs! I sell a few copies here and there. Believe me it doesn’t put me alongside John Terry and Ronaldo! The problem here is : I have a section which Dave created that I cannot change until someone comes in with a new interactively designed site. There were 3 editor sections initially set up in 2000 (!) and it’s stayed that way, like an old antiquated football ground . When Parry had to sadly stop being an editor due to studying commitments , (remember Parry’s Post?) it took me a few stressful and embarassing months just to locate Dave to get it’s title changed back to Butler’s Bench. Even though Stuart had far too many Head Teaching commitments to be able to go on editing.

ON NOT ENOUGH INPUT FROM EDITORS
Fine and true, but for for those who complain –
“Come and lend a hand if you think you’re good enough.. La La La!”

Stu allows me to use his section for themes and contributes when he can , alongside his hectic teaching role. Clik and Peter are in Ireland. Peter and Clik have families and busy jobs to look after. Technically, I can’t create complicated digital stuff yet. I’m learning. I set up the comparitively simple My Space site as a temporary thing for myself , and then turned it into a joint MySpace/ Crispin/Football Poets site, hence the name . Do check it out and comment there! It’s at :
Football Poets on MySpace

just scroll down to bottom of page right hand side.

Basically Peter, Clik and myself, do this for fun and for nothing. I’m up for grabs more because I promote myself : Bad Times,
But I get to write more and to highlight things : Good Times.
I like making people laugh. I take the mickey out of myself to try to inspire others. I’m nostalgic and anarchic but I try like many of you to write from the heart . This site isn’t about me. it’s your site.

ON FEATURING “TOP” OR “BETTER KNOWN POETS”
On the question of so called ‘top or better poets’ I understand the emotion but what’s that about exactly ? There are many great FOOTBALL POETS per se on this site, but who could compile a fair Top 10,40 or 100?

There are also only a handful of great PERFORMANCE
Poets (whatever that means) who contribute to the site . Notably Attila The Stockbroker and Albert Nyathi (Zimbabwe’s Premier Performance Poet and National Poetry Award Winner) who many of you may have seen at gigs or Womad. Paul Tubb (Ireland)
and Neal Zetter (London) both work in schools and libraries and festivals. Ted has organised festivals ,books and gigs in Croydon, Rosemary runs great Big Mouth Poetry gigs in Bristol. Stu, Dennis Gould, Adam Horovitz, Peter Wyton, Peter Tickner and Jeff Cloves (all Stroud) are all wonderful LIVE poets .There are also quite a few other who I know do loads of stuff out there , but we just haven’t connected yet.

SECTIONS
We always wanted individual poem-subject-theme sections :
“clubs, games, grounds, players, philosopy, nostalgia, Euros, World Cup, FA & Carling Cup, , Scottish Welsh and Irish Cup, European Leagues and Cups, Nationwide, The Championship, Non League, Homeless World Cup, Scottish, Welsh and Irish League, African Nations Cup, Racism , Womens’ Football, History and perhaps a section on ‘What the Romans did for us apart from roads, sanitation, taxes, baths and RomanCandel fireworks of course. I’d still love it. Individual sections too for each person to re-style or as they say today ‘re-pimp their profile’, f they want.
This would allow your own personal integrated site in your own colours, message board etc.. Every one would then have their own place, pic, bio, gigs, cds, books, in which they could publicise all their stuff., if they wanted . It may come.

FOOT(ball) NOTE
On top of it all , like you all, I have to juggle the editing , correcting, spam and virus prevention with keeping my own self-employed music business (CTM) together. Lastly (no sympathy please), my wife Jennie has also been very ill for the past five years, which has slowed down the pursuits of progress I guess and made it diffiicult at times just to keep the site going,. So big thanks to Clik and Pete especially and to Kevin, Ted, Rosemary, Stu , Adam, Mat and Damo for their support . But we keep on. Ever hopeful of promotion and avoiding relegation or even worse extinction. At least you can still stand up to wirite and perform at our site (ground!) Bottom line – I’m basically an old (Football) hippy poet who’s liteally been to 20 live games only in the last 8 years (honest). I spend al iot of itmes with three mates in thnakfully smoke-free pubs come rain or shine, with little hope of getting ticketsfor Finals and i go to games hundred of miles away when I can afford it, but that’s another poem .

As my good ol’ cockney mate Kevin ‘Chelsea’ Raymond would say…….Peace (and love) Crispin

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