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Poems tagged ‘No football tomorrow’

Today’s the day war broke out

joe morris

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024

For today was the day
The nation’s darkest hour
The outbreak of the
Second World War
85 years ago today
That sombre dawn when the guns
Were fired and the
Bombs of destruction and
Carnage across the globe
Tore through dumbfounded cities
Millions of villages
Ripping out helpless nations
Football stunned and paralysed
By the low, dull thud of grenade
The rattling chorus of bullets
Pumping out horrendous death
Seemingly indefinitely
A five year barrage of brutality
Killing fields and broken hearts
But football had to stop
On the day Neville Chamberlain
Subsequently declared war on Germany
Poor Blackpool for it was they
Who were top of the pile
Top of the old First Division
But never to taste the nectar
Of trophies at end of season
Revelry, if only
Hitler had not
Lost his temper
Sir Stanley Matthews
Dreaming of delirious waltzes
On the wing
Still shuffling and shimmying
Deceptively, mockingly
But never to be a winner
During that fateful season
Stan Mortensen, Bill Perry,
Jimmy Armfield in later years
So we’ll never know now
If the Tangerine Seasiders
From the Golden Mile
Of Blackpool would ever
Have paraded the League championship
So the wailing sirens went
The nation hid in underground
Railway stations
Forming lifelong friendships
But no football any more
For the time being
Just wiped out completely
By terrorism and frightening
Tyranny, imprisoned by
Evil forces
Flattened but hoping
That one day commonsense
Prevailed, but it was six
Years without football
Unthinkable but true
No more local derbies
Good natured,
Cheerful ribaldry
Managers at war
With opposition dug outs
But then, suddenly
A library of quiet
Silence,
Those nefarious Nazi
Murderers and barbarians
Saw to that
And yet it could have been
So different on this
Third day of September
If only Blackpool could
Have continued winning ways
Lancashire hot pots
Would have tasted of
Liquid gold
And football would
Have thrived and
Not put on hold

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What- no football tomorrow?

joe morris

Friday, January 28th, 2022

No football tomorrow
Football in a
Desolate wasteland
Of concrete worlds
And hollow echoes
Of yesterday
The Premier League
Rests its aching
Ligaments, tendons
Ankles, legs and
Arms
Its wars and battles
Injured cruciates
Stilled, at bay
Mend those
Agonised sprains
The excruciating pain
Of the crunching tackle
That should have been
A penalty. Not given.
We’ll never know
Why. Then
Recovery, complete
Re-charged batteries
But still
The fans yearn
To be among family,
And friends
The warm
Communality of
It all, where once
The meat pie
Timed to coincide
With half time
Pleasantries
Lively bon
Mots
And bonhomie
Followed by
Thermoses
Of tea and
Contemplation
No football tomorrow
Though, it’s unheard
Of, unthinkable
None of those
Boyish, boisterous
Chants of terrace
Cheering and bellowing,
Salty compositions
Yet fondly sung
No VAR for this week
At least
No referees with sprays
Where corner flags
Strike up lifelong
Alliances wth goal
Posts while cross
Bars wait for
Another day
In the wintry
Gloom, but who
Cares
We’ll miss football
At Saturday lunchtime,
Afternoon, a rarity, almost
An oddity and then
We conclude football
Will never be the same
Without its traditional
Continuity
So we’ll long for those
Hugged touchlines
The wing wizardry
That plucked heart
Strings across our
Dreamscapes of
Being at the match
With the people
We love
So tomorrow we’ll
Scan the papers
For scraps and
Remnants of
Transfer gossip,
Resounds
Endlessly,
Interminable
Propaganda
But for Jesse
Lingard we’ll
Roll out the
Carpet for
The West Ham
Parade around
Our streets
Sadly, though
Football without
Throat, noise,
Volume or poise
A soundless chasm
Where nothing
But stillness
Survives
Emptiness around
Terraces that once
Shook with joy
Next weekend
Though
The FA Cup
Trundles into
A million perspectives
The Fourth Round
Restores our faith
In football humanity
Since tomorrow
It’s only speculation
And if only
We’d played
At home again
Victory
Would be
Ours in our
Eyes and ears

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/news/poem-tags/no-football-tomorrow/