‘Remember The 96’ Poems+Football Poetry Workshops
1 FOOTBALL POETS ON MYSPACE visit the site
Football Poets on MySpace
2 REMEMBER THE 96 Poems from 2000-2009
3 FOOTBALL POETRY WORKSHOPS (See dates and news below)
Aailability from May onwards through 2009 all over the UK. contact Crispin Thomas: ctm@crispinthomas.orangehome.co.uk or phone 01453 757376 & 07837 798463
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2 REMEMBER THE 96 Selection Of Your Poems
20th Anniversary of Hillsborough – Wednesday April 15th 3.06pm .
A city came to a standstill to mark the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster. The bells of Liverpool’s two cathedrals and its civic buildings rang out out in memory of the 96 football fans who died at Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium on April 15 1989. The city’s public transport also came to a stop for two minutes at 3.06pm on Wednesday, exactly 20 years since the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was abandoned.
Thousands also respected the moment in Sheffield and Nottingham, (Liverpool had been playing Nottingham Forest in 89 in the FA Cup Semi Final that day.).
An esitmated forty thousand attended a memorial service on the Kop at Anfield during which 96 candles were lit and a representative of each family was awarded the Freedom of Liverpool. It goes without saying that ‘Justice For the 96’ was also chanted . A selection of your poems from the last 9 years follow in memory of the lives of those 96 souls we lost. New poems are also featured and welcome
REMEMBER THE 96 Poems 2009
17 Apr Hysteric call Darren o’Keeffe
17 Apr The 96 Stephen Snape
17 Apr Hillsborough-20 Years On Mark Thomas
15 Apr Banner On The Night Crispin Thomas
15 Apr Please Stop Alexander Daye
15 Apr Heroes mark merriman
15 Apr Good Kop, bad cop Clik the mouse
15 Apr Empty seats – the 96 legacy Clik the mouse
15 Apr 20 Years to YesterdayS B Ingle
15 Apr 96 Haiku Hy Koo
15 Apr 96 Lost Clik the mouse
15 Apr I am always there Jim Dolbear
15 Apr Hillsborough Redman
14 Apr Don’t Go to the Match Today Denys E W Jones
14 Apr Gone but never forgotten Emdad Rahman
11 Apr In Memory of our 96 Brothers and Sisters Red
11 Apr The Day Football DiedCrispin Thomas
2000-2008 Selection Of Your Poems-Apologies If Any Left Out
Milan – Real Madrid 19/04/89 Minuto di silenzio P Maguire
The Day Truth Died P Maguire
3.06pm P Maguire
19 Darren O’Keeffe
Hillsborough Daniel McDonagh
Hillsborough P Maguire
how do you sleep? poet1978
96 poet1978
Hillsborough Justice For The 96 SB Ingle
96 Reds We’ll Never Forget P.Maguire
Hillsborough Memorial Mark Thomas
Anyone Mark Ballard
Souls Of Our Departed Ken Bushell
Do You Remember P.Maguire
Justice Part 1 Tina Bass
April 15th Hillsborough DJ Bullen
A Terrace called Leppings Lane Emsy
Hillsborough Roses Alan McKean
Remembering Hillsborough P.Maguire
The Funny Thing About Justice Mike Nicholson
Hillsborough 15 Years On Redlady
Justice For The 96 P.Maguire
At Hillsborough Stephen A Owen
Hillsborough Robert Romans
96 tears Clik the mouse
May We Never Forget Nikki Young
For the 96 Shaun Maddy
Cry me a tear mottman
96 Reasons Mark Ballard
Are You Sorry? P Maguire
96 Angels P Maguire
Justice P Maguire
Sorry Mike Nicholson
His darkest disgrace Mike Nicholson
Why did you do it? Mike Nicholson
Wishing for their old Mum Mike Nicholson
What colour justice? Mike Nicholson
Liverpool Justice Louise Ann Lacey
Why Do I Care? Tom England
Justice for what? Chris Murphy
3.FOOTBALL POETRY WORKSHOPS 2009
SPRING 2009 WORKSHOP BLOG
Hi again – Book Week and March kicked off with a return visit to Forest Green Rovers PFS Centre to work on converting the students poems into a ‘wow-factor’ display montage. That night I also drove in torrential rain , to compere and perform at a charity words fund-raiser gig in Bath in the Cavern-like ‘Porter’ venue.
The next day it was a 4.30am rise for a high energy and fun World Book Day in Stockport. (Hello Years 4, 5 & 6 Cale Green Primary!) Another hectic month took me on early train jounneys
to Wales again as part of ‘Read A Million Words’ in Chepstow ,Caldicott and Abergavenny and a few days later it was off to a great school in Bridgwater .Some great lively sessions followed at Reading FC where Study Centre leader Jenny has lined up 150 kids thoughout the day and evening!
Team captain James Harper dropped by to listen and comment on the students poems and took on a hilarious Q & A .
Two days later at Lincoln City FC we were joined by ITV Yorkshire and some really inspiring Yr 5 & 6 kids.We sat in the stands chanting and the kids produced some great work. West Bromwich Libraries (Hamstead Tipton & Central ) coming up,
See you somewhere soon .Keep on writing. Crispin
2009 FOOTBALL POETRY WORKSHOPS NEWS
We still have availability from May onwards and on through 2009. We run and book Football Poetry Workshops all year round all over the UK. .For info contact Crispin Thomas: ctm@crispinthomas.orangehome.co.uk or phone 01453 757376 & 07837 798463
W= Workshop G=Gig/Performance PFS=Playing For Success
April 09
14 STROUD Sub Rooms ‘Another Way Home Book Launch’7.30(G)
28 HAMSTEAD & Central Library 10am -3pm (W)
30 TIPTON & Central Library 10am-3pm (W)
May 09
30 STROUD HIV Aids Benefit Subscription Rooms (G) Evening
June 09
26 GLASTONBURY Festival Fluffy Rock Café (Afternoon) (G)
27 GLASTONBURY Festival Fluffy Rock Café (Afternoon) (G)
28 GLASTONBURY Festival Fluffy Rock Café (Afternoon) (G)
October 09
9 PLYMOUTH Central Library .National Poetry Day (Wy)
SOME WORKSHOP LINKS
Click on coloured link to view then close page or hit Back button
EVERTON FC ‘ Making A Difference’ Workshop Review Crispin ThomasSession at Everton FC Extra Time Study Support Centre
FOOTBALL STUFF Crispin Thomas BBC Video Nation (Real Player) Crispin at Forest Green Rovers with Casio and a ball.!
3 INNER GOAL GOAL the poetry of football..a journey in rhyme
by Crispin Thomas
(Illustrated/Paperback) Published by Football Poets Books
ISBN 9780955 737602 £8.99
click here INNER GOAL on Amazon
“Poems in the street, the ground and the heart, poetry with balls!”
Michael Foreman
“One of the pioneers of football poetry.Who ate all the pioneers”?”
Attila The Stockbroker
BOOK NOTES
“A rhythmic feast for football lovers everywhere both young and old. From rattles and rosettes to women’s football and the trenches, fantasy salaries and racism to mobile phones for goalposts. Spanning fifty years of watching and ten years of writing , Inner Goal is an affectionate and perceptive nod to the People’s Game in verse. A long-overdue and illustrated hard-copy paperback debut from football’s maverick performance poet featuring 75 poems, 65 haikus and hand-drawn illustrations from the author.
BY POST
Signed first run copies available at 7.99 +pp (£1.51)
Write to:Football Poets ,4 The Retreat, Butterow, Stroud GL5 2LS
(Tel 01453 757376) enclosing address+ a cheque for £9.50 made out to “OUT TO LUNCH ”
SHOPS:
National Football Musuem , Preston Tel 01772 908442
Stroud Bookshop , 23 High Street ,Stroud 01453 756646
Made In Stroud, 16 Kendrick Street Stroud 01453 840265
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USEFUL ORGANISATIONS
To find out about KICK IT OUT click here
Kick It Out
Show Racism The Red Card
Football Unites Racism Divides
Pioneering Black Footballers
Women’s Football-A Brief History
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4 . BLOG – A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FOOTBALL POET
from Stroud to Morpeth and Plymouth..and from Sutton Coldfied to Mansfield , Long Eaton and Stratford On Avon !
Hi again .Time to subject you to a Workshop day (well 10 days actually!) in the life of a football poet….on the road and on the rails !
SO WHAT’S A DAY REALLY LIKE?
I felt it necessary to dispel the legendary Take That / Frank Lampard / Ronaldo / Wannabe Football Poet Laureate celebrity image and myth of limos, riders and executive treatment that it doesn’t entail .
A HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY IN MANSFIELD & LONG EATON!
I’m just back from a great school in Sutton Coldfield where I ended up performing with 15 children reading their rhymes and raps for the first time in front of 400 in the main hall . Next stop was an invitation from Mansfield Town FC’s Stags Study Support Centre to work in a local Primary school for World Book Day . We made tiny books and wrote football poems and thoughts for aliens, and for anyone who would listen. In the evening it was a mad dash to Long Eaton where I worked with Jim Sells of The National Literacy Trust and a local puppeteer/story teller for Blokes On Board , complete with a PC and library-equipped bus!” This is an on-going Reading Champions project to inspire “blokes” to go into schools to encourage boys to read .
WORKING WITH HEROES & VILLAINS IN MORPETH
For two days I was back in Morpeth, Northumberland at King Edward V1 , a thriving and high achieving grammar school where I work with 160 Year 9 pupils. The theme of the two days is ‘Heroes and Villains’, with a strong focus on Martin Luther King . Each student brings in a picture of a hero and villain. Mine were : Roy of The Rovers and Darth Vader. Two groups writing poems on chosen heroes like Alan Shearer, Slash from Guns n’Roses and Martin Luther King to notorious villains who included (bizarrely) Sponge Bob Square Pants, Osama Bin Laden and Hitler. We also created a 15 minute play which we performed in front of 160 pupils about the life of Arthur Wharton ,the first ever black professional footballer in the late 1800’s. Finishing at 3.20pm it was a sleepy two hour wait for my 5.30pm train home to my cottage Then a 4 and
a half hour train journey back to Cheltenham. On finally arriving it’s a
dark and windy 45 minute drive to Stroud listening to Bolton vs. Arsenal in extra time. Rock ‘n Roll!”
KICKING INTO READING IN PLYMOUTH
The following week found me in Plymouth where I spent 5 days. I worked for Kick Into Reading with around 700 children alongside some great Plymouth Argyle trainers and coaches (Mark and Debbie) and one director (David) Football poems , riddles, games and stories all week-long in Plymouth libraries.
DAILY WORKINGS
When you start to link in as a one-off visitor with the intricate daily workings of modern schools, prisons, libraries, football grounds and study support centres the timetables, paperwork and lesson plans never fail to surprise . As a result I now involve no paperwork in the setting up of my workshops , in the effort to leave as small a football poetry footprint as possible and to stay as carbon free as possible. To this end, I go everywhere by train which is often veryearly and incredibly stressy , but far more relaxing than dnving .`The workshops are run on fun lines. All I want to do is inspire, from getting students thinking , writing and reading to getting up and performing work with gusto in front of their giggling mates and just having fun with words. I like sending myself up, and love making the kids laugh (at me), my silly poems, and to make them think a little deeper and laterally maybe. I want them to take the time to compose stuff on their own and then wax lyrical. To think and feel in the words of Catherine Tate..”I can do that ”
For the younger ones, we usually kick off with an action football poem or song that everyone can join in on, and I’ll do some stuff of my own . We use PowerPoint images to highlight any and everything to do with football. We are there to explore football , to write poems as a group and individually. One hour school based lessons are a mad rush, and I prefer longer with each class for quality, but however long , we always somehow get there. We always include a spontaneous group poem on the flip chart or white board (or blackboards in Porto) and usually leave about 15 minutes to perform them all. Here’s a poem I wrote on the way home from Morpeth opposite some bloke who got on at Leeds and kept snoring. It’s about my first ever Cup visit to Middlesboro FC. Allegedly! Go well! Crispin
15 Feb Down By The Riverside Crispin Thomas
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!
My Account
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!
See in context
16th November 2022 at 11:04 am
[Football on soiled turf]
This is a wonderful phrase which I shall be using from now on!
See in context
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.
See in context
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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