Poetry Archives
This archive contains every poem that has been published on Football Poets. They are listed ten-per-page in reverse chronological order so the most recent poems appear first. Click or tap the arrows in the corners of the page to navigate between pages. It's easier to use the search form below to find a specific poem.
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One Christmas During Covid
one Christmas during Covid
we stand but far apart
our loved ones and our football
confined to in our hearts
the snow has still to paint the land
but hope surrounds us now
with wipes in hand behind our masks
we carry on somehow
as we reflect upon our year
the strangeness and the cost
and think upon in sadness
all those that we have lost
and though we miss the human touch
the banter and the cheer
we’re grateful just to be alive
and simply to be here
reminded of a long gone time
our grandparents went through
the endless loss the dreadful cost
the lethal Spanish Flu
*one Christmas in the trenches
when deep in mud and sand
their loved ones and their football
a distant far off land –
they stood as snow lay all around
as icy chills would spread
behind the sand bags and the wire
they stood among the dead
on backs of Woodbine packets
around some cold tinned stew
like texts and up-dates of their day
the scores would still get through
December Nineteen Fourteen
upon that Christmas morn
when to a man an act un-planned
and instant truce was born
behind the barbed wire barricades
all scorched and bleak and bare
a distant sound grew all around
a song hung on the air
that Christmas in the trenches
a hope blew on the wind
a carol in another tongue
from far off did begin
we’ll never know who made the call
to move in such a way
but something somehow lifted them
upon that Christmas Day
from burrows then on either side
they met in no-man’s land
as enemy met enemy
with gifts and outstretched hands
a football thrown between the guns
from nowhere did appear
and in that silence voices rang
and echoed loud and clear
we’ll never ever know the scores
or just how many games
when Tommy Atkins challenged Fritz
upon that Christmas Day –
one Christmas in that first Great War
of stench and blood and grime
their football brought them closer
for one brief day in time
and though commanders drove them back
their orders to obey
between the lines a match was played
upon that Christmas Day*
and here we are in Covid
the strangest time we’ve known
for some of us it’s easy
for some it’s spent alone
and while we long to see our kids
and feel so torn apart
we wait so patiently and keep
their faces in our hearts
we do our best to just ignore
conspiracies that rage
and keep the faith as always
throughout this poignant age
we stand at social distasnces
but hope is growing now
behind our masks we meet the task
to carry on somehow
Rodborough Robin Trail ~ It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
It came upon a midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
When angels bent down to the earth,
And changed machine guns into harps,
And turned leaden bullets into golden carols
That drifted across no man’s land.
And choirs of soldiers joined the angels
In a cease-fire of exultation,
While all the bloodied uniformed citizens
Of heaven above watched as silent knights,
As helmets and caps and whisky and schnapps
Were passed from frozen side to frightened side.
A robin trilled a winter song of peace;
A soldier kicked a ball into the air,
And there it stayed, suspended high up in the sky,
Shining forever in a continent’s memory;
A star of peace in a bleak midwinter’s century.
For Diego and Peter Shilton
Don’t cry for Diego, Argentina.
The truth is
He’ll never leave you.
All through his wild days,
His mad existence,
He held God’s hand high:
Don’t keeper your distance.
Seagulls nick a point
Brighton 1-1 Liverpool
Neco fells Connolly
Seagulls get an early look
Maupay fails from twelve yards
Potter scribbles his notebook
Dancing two challenges
Jota seems to seal the win
Finding the bottom corner
Nine goals for the new kingpin
But VAR has other ideas
Salah and Mane got done
Controversial late penalty
Pascal Gross makes it one one
28 11 20
number7
© emdad rahman
Saints & Sinners
Pantomime villains
Saints and sinners
Football has them all
Be blessed with God-given gifts
Upon that football pitch
You’re forgiven all the more
But should your boots have trace of clay
The losing hand, the miss-placed pass
Expect from grace to fall.
Yo digo
Yo digo in Spanish
can mean
I say, I said, I’am saying
That is when
DIEGO HAS THE BALL what he does
He is saying
Yo digo
Man and Myth
Diego the man
Returns to the
Silent earth
Maradona the footballer
Plays on
Thunderous immortality.
R.I.P Diego
Diego dribbled up to heaven
Where he met Saint Peter at the gate.
who looked at his credentials
And said “give me a minute mate.”
He then came back from God’s room
Saying, “I’m sorry but you’re banned
God said one time you borrowed
But did not return his hand.
So you’ll do some time in purgatory
Where you’ll repent with other sinners
And you won’t be allowed in heaven
Until England are World Cup winners.”
Deus Maradona, 1960 – 2020
Diego does go
Full of flair and flamboyance
Flawed yet feted
Diego Maradona 1960-2020
It was a dream come true
I’d emptied my savings tin
My broad smile stretched
From Bognor to Berlin
I would be the proud owner
Of a Diego Maradona boot
Now the barrel chested ones
Latest fanclub recruit
Sprinting down Whitechapel Road
I dragged along me Mam
Dropping a shopping bag en route
Shattering a jar of jam
“You wear them, you’ll play like him”
The shop assistant said
I believed every single word
My beaming smile spread
A walking Ambassador I became
I put those boots to use
On grass, tarmac, concrete
Each time I got set loose
Wear them on the old sandpitch
In the thick of the Berner Estate
Not ideal for that surface
But that was open to debate
Even wore them to school
On an odd day or three
“Get them off right now!”
Hawkeyed Margaret would scream
Wore them into the ground
Even when they were a goner
Yes, the one and only
Puma Maradona
Goodbye to you Armando
A Druid, a one off edition
Eternal Gracias Dieguito
Footballs flawed magician
25 11 20
number7
© emdad rahman
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
3rd December 2020
Stuart Butler
3rd December 2020
Martyn Woodward
1st December 2020
Emdad Rahman
28th November 2020
Sharon Jones
27th November 2020
Gacina Bozidar
27th November 2020
Sharon Jones
26th November 2020
John J O’Connor
26th November 2020
Clik The Mouse
25th November 2020
Emdad Rahman
25th November 2020
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
13th November 2020 at 9:52 pm
I am interested in the tale about The
Boot Room and Shankley
See in context
12th November 2020 at 11:21 am
Hi Sharon
Please see my private message re arecent use of one of your poems from Manchester cheers C
See in context
9th October 2020 at 8:17 pm
Hi Daniel,
Good to see you are still writing about the ‘Tic. Hope all is good with you.
Best, Sharon
See in context
4th October 2020 at 9:52 am
So true mate.
You’re certainly not alone in your thinking. I get incensed sometimes.
Aside from the endless and stillwith its -here once labelled Fergie Time moments ,we now have VAR with its far off decisions by supposed ‘neutrals’ .
So …the supposed influenced ‘integrity’ of refs and neutrals favouritism ?
You could tuck it away into some corner and call it yet another football conspiracy theory, (like analyzing and searching to find which teams refs follow and VAR assistant refs (if we knew ) but it still occurs too often for me.
It raises the question is there such a thing a a real neutral. Everyone who watches football definitely supports or has a soft spot for some club however tenuous..
BTW When I was 10 and the Munich Air Crash happened. i (and many at my school in Fulham) was a Chesea fan but took United on as my second lcub for a season through that awfdul time. Now FGR are my life and my team in the next village and i drum (when we get back) on the terrace at 72 with the young kids and scoff vegan pies and get bwind Dale’s green vision for the planet …
Go well Attila and stry safe with your good lady….
Best Crispin
See in context
18th September 2020 at 5:39 pm
nice one sorting a pic to go with..off to a trial run with several hundfred masked fans v Bradgford at FGR tomorrow
See in context
16th September 2020 at 5:51 pm
Sorted! Cheers. SJ
See in context
6th September 2020 at 6:23 pm
Hi again
This message from Ken via the site.
Ken Storey
mail: kensart@talktalk.net
Message: Message for Sharon Jones. I hadn’t been able to contact you as your email seems to have lapsed and would like to know if you still want your Liverpool Christ painting. Let me know if you want it and when you can pick it up from me at 27 Mentmore Road L18 4PU. Hope you are well. Best wishes Ken Storey
See in context
6th September 2020 at 6:22 pm
Hi Sharon-PLEASE CONFIRM RECEIVED
This request from Gavin via the site. Can you get back to him please. If you don’t want to do it let me know, I might have a go.
Name: Gavin Blackwell
Email: gavinleelee@hotmail.co.uk
Message: Hi,
I am looking to make contact with Sharon Jones to see if can or someone could write a poem from my article The Brutality of life of the football Physio?
Best Regards
Gavin Blackwell
See in context
29th July 2020 at 9:26 pm
Hi Crispin,
I’ve only just seen your comment about a photo of the gates. I will dig one out.
I’ve still not been to The New Lawn but I do hope to get there one day.
Martyn
See in context
29th July 2020 at 6:41 am
Woohoo….sentiment shared Denys.
I thought the huge No 3 on Chelsea’s new shirts strange enough.
Keep on mate.. C
See in context