Poems tagged ‘Art of Football’
Ray Kennedy
Ray Kennedy
For those who were
Not of a red persuasion
Be it Liverpool or Arsenal
Ray Kennedy decorated
The Beautiful Game
With ornate patterns
Embellished with rich
Textures of class and
Style, a style icon
Sadly though
Ray Kennedy
Of the parish of
Highbury and Anfield
Died today, nobly
Majestically adorning
The seats of learning
Of football’s finest
Theatres and galleries
Our Ray, cultured feet
So visionary and radical
In his thinking
Seeing by far the bigger
Picture, the wider scheme
Of things,
Constantly imagining
Perceptive angles
A model of trigonometry
On a football pitch
Now there’s a thought
When Charlie George and
George Graham carved
Vivid images at Highbury
And Kenny Dalglish
Fed on a substantial diet
Of goals from the Kennedy
wand of sorcery
Then England came calling
And of course our Ray
Was the metronome
Swinging metrically perfect
Passes into fecund and feverish
Penalty areas
Guiding the ball, cajoling and coaxing
It, breathing life and encouragement
Into the birth of a game
The quiet man, the unfussy man
A man of huge footballing intellect
Towering above the rest with that
Ever present air of upper class
Refinement, a player of cultivated
Bearing, a conductor of all
Orchestral themes
Farewell Ray Kennedy.
Thankyou our friend.
In The Middle Of Europe
So here we are in the middle of
Europa League conferences
Where once the UEFA Cup
Ruled with the rod of iron
When two legs held us in thrall
But tonight it’s Viennese waltzes
For the claret and blue
Thames Ironworks
Strauss without stress
And yet it seems to last for
An eternity with group stages
As long as vinyl record
Albums, drawn out as
Now that winter has
Dawned and the nights
Are blissfully comforting
And David Moyes
Enraptured by London
Stadium symphonies
That caress the discerning
Ears of those bubble blowers
Who may think they’ve seen
And heard it all
But then Sunday will arrive
Like a chariot of old
City and Pep, will the
Hammers tremble with
Fear and trepidation
Or will Sunday be
The day when the mould
Is broken and the Premier
League champions are toppled
From on high and claret and blue
Visions reach for the sky.
Mirth Mayhem & Magic
These groaning bones of life
With chill upon this winter earth
In search of little solstice
And a spruce of football mirth
Keep us from the devil
And his tackling for the soul
For there’s glory in those football boots
Puer grace in every goal
God love you William Shankly
And the truth that hued your team
God hold the hand of Maradona
God bless the head of William Dean
Oh, my well-worn match-day memories
Lo, the pitch of fading green
Fire my heart brimmed up emotion
With the joy that football brings.
A day with orphans!
‘Who’ll hear the orphan’s cry?
‘They’re full of fear and dread’
We took our team on the road
To play football with them instead
Haji Eusuf orphanage, Chattak
We met 53 orphans that day
Zoinul and Moshahid had it all lined up
Rounding off with some sunset play
We took pictures and shared gifts
The orphans smiles put us to shame
We were itching to get on that pitch
To play the beautiful game
So gaffers Shaheed and Mehdi
List two orphan teams on a pad
Favourites Abdal, Waj, Abu, Yarimi
Bench stars Saif, Diya, Emdad
But we didn’t care for big names
The orphans were fighting fit
They ran and ran like Olympians
With us adding our little bit
I had to pull a trick for a goal
But then Yarimi beat the keeper
My shot came off the post
Diya pounced for the winner
With plenty game time left
It was time for a dirty prank
Poor Abdal smashed into the hoardings
Only way to stop that tank
With Abu pulling the strings
Saif was our brick wall
Ref Jay whistled to give us the win
Our orphans stood proud and tall
‘I’ve never seen them so happy,
‘I pray you’re all blessed from above’
A local expressed her feelings
On football spreading the love
At the Human Relief Foundation
Raisah’s match summary
Gobindogonj has played host to
The ‘best game in HRF history’
‘Who’ll hear the orphan’s cry?
‘They’re full of fear and dread’
We took our team on the road
To play football with them instead
number7
© emdad rahman
Painting a poetic purview?
I see it in Monet
with his haystacks
and Rouen Cathedral
I see it in Hokusai
with his 36 views
of Mount Fuji
I see it in the curious cut-outs
of a demiurgic Matisse
“series”
repetition – but with a carefully crafted nuance….
just like keepy-uppys
a succession of association
between body and ball
just like the skill of a brush-stroke; as the torso stipples
and the scapula sculpts
where foot melds, with pigskinned orb
where the knee jounces
the instep cushions
forehead flicks
the thigh stifles
the heel lifts
the sternum softens
and the calf cradles
practice, practice, practice
makes perfect.
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
John Gilbert Ellis
28th November 2024
joe morris
26th November 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
26th November 2024
Gacina Bozidar
26th November 2024
Wynn Wheldon
26th November 2024
joe morris
17th November 2024
Crispin Thomas
17th November 2024
kevin halls
10th November 2024
joe morris
10th November 2024
Clik The Mouse
10th November 2024
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
27th November 2024 at 5:55 am
‘You’re Supposed To Be At Home’ is an excellent and moving poem Denys.
You start off thinking it’s just about another oft-sung chant, one we personally heard a lot last season throughout our second relegation in a row here at Forest Green(FGR) ! I always love poems where you think they are saying one thing and then they suddenly pull you deeper to somewhere or something else else.
I’m currently helping in a local school for FGR in a voluntary capacity using football to help young students with reading. At an upcoming session we will tackle racism, just like we did in workshops at football schools and grounds when we first started this site 24 years ago. I’m gonna try and weave your poem into a session.
We’ve added it to the Anti- Racism/Kick It Out section under Crispin’s Corner.
Best C
See in context
26th November 2024 at 1:59 pm
Great poem and great to see you back Wyn.
Don’t leave it so long next time my friend!
More please.
See in context
13th September 2024 at 6:14 pm
Welcome to Football Poets Beth
Great evocative poem Beth….
More please !
Haiku always welcome.
Hope we (FGR) get to play you again soon
Best
Crispin
See in context
26th July 2024 at 6:25 pm
Great poem Mike Bartram. Eddie was a legend, affectionately known in Liverpool as, “the first hooligan.” Even the hoolies were well dressed in those days. The amazing thing was he was only 26 when that picture was taken. He’d played for Everton youth team and was well known to the players. He never got arrested. They threw him out and he climbed back in, just in time for Derek Temples winner.
I used the picture of him being tackled to the ground on the front cover of my book, “Once Upon a rhyme in Football.” It’s worth looking on youtube and finding the re-enactment of the Wembley scene. Frank Skinner and Baddiel went around to Eddies home in the 1990’s and acted it out on the green outside. It’s hilarious, especially all the effort they put in to get Eddie sober enough to shoot the scene.
See in context
10th July 2024 at 6:07 pm
Hi Crispin,
I don’t know if you’ve see the picture in social media today…
a picture of a teenage Lionel Messi cradling a baby in Africa as part of a photoshoot…. the family had won a lottery to have their baby pictured with him….
the photographer has just revealed that the baby is actually in fact Lamine Yamal!!!!
See in context
26th May 2024 at 2:30 pm
Hi Denys…
Re Man City:
OK it was 20 years ago but Criag Wilson did write this and a few others on them back in 04/05.
BTW I’m more Forest Green Rover since 2014 (and Chelsea) these days . I drum and am a standing season ticket holder .
Best
Crispin
See in context
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.
See in context
28th April 2024 at 5:59 pm
Thanks Denys. Yes your replay poem was superb.
See in context
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.
See in context
25th April 2024 at 7:33 pm
Hi Denys,
Thanks mate. I’ll do it now.
See in context