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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Another Brick in the Football Wall (Part 2)
…with apologies to Pink Floyd
We don’t need no FA Cup replays
We don’t need no extra games
No lower league teams in the quarters
FA, screw those clubs below
Hey, FA, screw them clubs below
All in all, they’re just a nothing club that can fail
All in all, you’ve got to let the top teams prevail
We don’t need no FA Cup replays
We just need Premier League control
No fit and proper in the boardroom
FA, leave big clubs alone
Hey, FA, leave the big six alone
All in all, you’ve got to, let the Premier prevail
All in all, you’re just a governing body that can fail
If you don’t do what we say, you can’t have any money
How can you have any money if you don’t do what we say?
You! Yes, you below the Championship
Stuff you, laddy!
FA Cup replays no more
Oh how we’ll miss
The continuous sequence
Of FA Cup replay after replay
More and more carbon footprints
The same old song
Played over and over again
No resolution, no clarity
Indecision until the
Calendar year just
Can’t take anymore
The wearisome themes
Of draw after draw
Oh spare us the necessity
Repeat after me over and over
Again, no more replays
But how we’ll miss them
That failure to accommodate
Those who just can’t seem
To make up their mind
Remember Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday
In years gone by
That seemed to take several Christmases
To finally sort the men from the boys
Some of us were snoring over our
Horlicks hot toddy
Just to keep the matches
That held up our eyelids
How many times did the Owls
Look out for the Gunners
And just despaired of football?
Full stop, but hark
A decisive result did restore
Our faith in the FA
But why on earth have we
Abolished that second game
In the FA Cup?
Scrapped its charm offensive
That made our hearts swoon
When the non Leaguers
Couldn’t quite manage to
Upset the odds
First time around
To shake up
Those condescending souls
Who believe the
FA Cup minnows
Have no right to be
In the last eight
Of the FA Cup
Since the wealthy industrialists
Of the Premier League
Have ploughed lorry loads of money
Into vanity projects
Where the Manchesters of United
And City assess their value
In stock markets and the Financial Times
Pity now the non League fantasists
Who will never know
The sweet smell of TV millions
In their modest bank accounts
No second sequels, no opportunities
To finish off the job
On their lovely
Postage stamp ground
Next to back to back
Terraced houses
Or flats and floodlights
No larger than a burger van
It’s one match only
In the FA Cup next year
And that’s that
The air of finality
Line under the sand
Win it first time around
Or the alternative may be
Eternally grim
Like Sinatra coming out
Of retirement
Seemingly inevitably
Not once, but twice
Even three, four or five times
And yet Ol’ Blue Eyes
What did he know about
The FA Cup third round?
Dulcet, velvety and
Honeyed voice
Of course
But Sinatra did things his way
Indisputably
Non League idealists though
Can no longer rely
On just one more
Roll of the dice
It’ll no longer be
The case
To prove to the world
That they can do
It one more time
So infuriating but true
Twenty-Five Percent
“Twenty-five percent possession?
Doesn’t sound that much.
Twenty-five percent possession?
Surely not enough.
Twenty-five percent possession?
Reckon we’ll need more.
Let the Red Shirts hog the ball,
No doubt they will score.”
Hunger, pride and nude aggression,
They can take you far.
You don’t need too much possession,
Sometimes less is more.
Plus a Ground that’s full of passion,
Hear the Bluenose Roar.
Liverpool were taught a lesson,
When we two goals scored.
25/4/24
Denys E. W. Jones
What A Comeback !
Will the Sky Blues come back
three down and on their way out ?
but hang on they’re turning it round
the City are in with a shout.
Its now all level at 3-3
us fans are all up on our feet,
this team we love and support
never know when they are beat.
Then the Sky Blues go on the attack
Hadji Wright is on the ball,
Torp arrives and pokes the cross home
but hang on there’s a VAR call.
They’ve only gone and disallowed it
we stand there in total disbelief,
given offside what a joke
United breathe a sigh of relief.
It goes to a penalty shoot out
my nails bitten down to the quick,
United win it in the end
which leaves me feeling sick.
But what an effort by our team
Coventry City are on the way up,
I’m so proud of each and everyone
and it’s still been a great FACup!
A Non-Ascending Order of Passes
The first is the Hollywood, lofted
or hooked thirty yards from its target’s foot
over an advertising board for East Neuk Salt.
The second is the slide rule
from a vision barely peripheral –
a pitch for heaven in the eye of a needle.
The third is a clip down the line
you didn’t want to play: a pragmatic,
high-pressure parting of the ways.
The fourth is a switch to the other side:
a sudden tactical change of mind
against wise calls or against the tide.
The fifth and most important,
they say, is like a fee you anonymously pay.
It is an easy-to-see but harder-to-choose
calm, decisive, quick-release move:
the one that says ‘This one’s for you.’
It’s the simple ball, for most of the time:
a simple ball you vanish to find.
United almost sent to Coventry
It was close and yet so far
Manchester United,
World beaters renowned
Throughout the globe
And serial trophy winners
Of some prestige
Respected on every continent
But on Saturday evening
United were almost sent to
Coventry. It could have been
The truth undoubtedly
Deprived of their second
Consecutive FA Cup Final
Against their noisy
Mancunian neighbours
By the skin of their teeth
How agonising was the
Proximity between
The departure gate
At Wembley
And another argy bargy
Altercation, bicker
And quarrel
With that lot
Over the garden fence
City, the feuding foes
For well over two
Centuries
When Newton Heath
Was but a child in shorts
While City was alive
With ringing, resounding bells
At Maine Road
On Saturday though
Manchester United thought
They’d been dumped unceremoniously
Through the trap door
After a six goal nailbiter
Come pulsating cliffhanger
At Wembley
A man called Torp
Must have been convinced
That he had given
The Sky Blues
Their passport to an
FA Cup Final
But in the twinkling of an eye
The fairy story became
A horror show
It couldn’t have been offside
But it was
Coventry denied at the final kick
Fate can be so fickle
Football can be so heartless
Savagely cruel
Coventry punched in the ribs
When memories of 1987
And victory against Spurs
Were beckoning them back
To another crack at
FA Cup Final victory
Sadly, painfully not to be
Football’s demoralising
See saws of fortune and
Misfortune
And all because of the
English alphabet
VAR, yes that old chestnut
Lines, graphics,
Football dictated by
Parts of the human anatomy
How much longer can this
Potty charade be allowed
To go on?
And just to rub salt
Into the wound
No FA Cup replays
Next season
What will the FA
Think of in their
Mad myopia?
Are they trying to
Kill off the game’s
Most beloved treasure?
No vision, no foresight
Still it’s
Manchester United and City
At the same time
Same place
As last year
How many times have
We played that precious
Piece of vinyl
On the turntable?
History repeats itself
How tedious and predictable
Probably the same result
Repetition we love it
Or maybe not
Shades of 31 years ago
When the Gunners
Saw off Wednesday
Sheffield that is
On Thursday
Preceded by springtime
Gambollings on League Cup
Final duty
But the two Manchesters
Collide yet again
The Salford derby
Well, almost
In the ditto FA Cup Final
As a neutral
You’re inclined to go
For United’s revenge
If only to stop
The City express
But this is
Just beyond exasperation
Who cares?
It’s just football
May the best team to win
The Poetry of Euro ’24 & Fooball Poets 2000-2024 (Revisited)
so much has happened in our world since last time
but suddenly a tournament draws near
so all we ask is keep your poems flowing
soon so soon it will be here once more
and may our rhymes reflect these times -it’s coming
the poetry of Euro ’24
for in the Spring in Stroud back in Two Thousand
we poets sat outside of Mills Café
and in that courtyard round a wooden table
a plan was hatched that still remains today
where once our football words were only spoken
at gigs or when we’d meet up in some bar
with all our thoughts confined to bits of paper
the chance at last to spread our verses far
the idea seemed preposterous and crazy
perhaps we were indeed the only ones
but with the help of Stuart Dave and from me too
the Football Poets website had begun
we launched in June when Summer brought the Euros
to Belgium and to Netherlands that year
and to our joy the poems came in numbers
from those who loved the game from far and near
and meanwhile in that hazy crazy summer
we stood or sat with eyes glued to those screens
when flags would fly on pubs and cars and buildings
we followed in our numbers with our dreams
and hopes grew stronger though our group looked daunting
that golden day when when we beat Germany
only to lose out to Romania
with that despairing last gasp penalty
we drowned our sorrows barely three days later
and we all swore we’d win the thing next time (!)
so we went down to Glaston’bry for Bowie
and Coldplay played the farm for the first time
before we knew of masks or isolation
before the kind of years that we have known
before our media all became so social
before we could not live without our phones
but we’re still here whichever clubs we follow
and all our words arrive here just the same
reflecting still in voices loud and booming
our love or loathing for the People’s Game
and gladly now we have this site to savour
and thanks to Chrstian* so much for it all
who rehoused all your poems in their thousands
and introduced us all here to ‘The Ball’**
so from that fateful meeting in Two Thousand
the friends we’ve made the journey on the way
we carry on with pride and we remember
the plan we hatched that still remains today
and after everything that we have been through
all since our now last distant Euro year
while all our clubs face final games appraching
so suddenly a tournament draws near …
so all we ask is keep your poems flowing
soon so soon it will be here once more
and may our rhymes reflect these times..it’s coming
the poetry of Euro ’24
FA Cup Replays
There was a lack of football on TV.
So you invented the Champions League.
But now your players are so tired you say.
Wheeze is to scrap FA Cup match replays.
Chop, change, tinker and tweak.
When will you leave us supporters in peace?
If for more fiddling you feel there’s a need,
Why not do that in the Champions League?
When the score’s level after playing ninety mins,
Dump Extra Time, go directly to pens.
Tweak, tamper, flip and flop.
Harebrained Cup Replay Scrap Plan must be stopped!
.
21/4/24
Denys E. W. Jones
Farewell Europe, England
And so English football
Bids farewell to Europe
Apart from Villa of course
It was nice to know you
For a season or quite
A few, it was a blast
Firstly West Ham
Toppled by the German
Infantry and cavalry
Bayern Leverkusen
Class told
We knew it would be
This way
Overwhelmed by Bundesliga
Champions
Still washed by
Gallons of champagne
The end of the adventure
For West Ham
An odyssey into European
Terrain, a fantasy land
That held us in thrall
But it was good to be there
Involved in the heat
Of it all
Fraternising with Germany’s
Finest, in a league of their
Own, alone, just dominant
No answer West Ham
Baffled and bewitched
In Bavaria
And then last Thursday
Just given their
Marching orders
Never mind claret and blue
Bravery shines through
At the London Stadium
But not enough
On the night
Heroism a tune to hum
For many a year
Seasons in the Sun
No, that’s a song
But a good one
From way back when
Still, Euro trophy
To flaunt in our dreams
And peripheral visions
Before shimmering through
The blinds and velvet curtains
And then surely that
First crack of dawn
We witnessed the
Glorious sunshine in
Prague, you were all
Peerless, happy Hammers
Thanks for those gold,
Silver and bronze nights
Where trophies were brandished
Like swords of honour
Never forgotten
Then there was Liverpool
And Manchester City
Feasting at the top table
Of Europe
Driven out of the Champions
League and Europa League,
The biggest and glamorous
But for the last three seasons
The Irons from the East End
Were also at the anvil
The sharp end of European
Conflict, never to be
Discounted, just as good
Liverpool, though, Jurgen’s band
Of merry men
Also leave the European party
Italian fashion role models
Atalantata, cleverly pacing
Themselves and sealing
The deal
But Liverpool have seen it
All before
Shanks, Bob Paisley,
Kevin Keegan, Tommy Smith,
Terry Mac,
In ironically Rome
1977 when the European Cup
Was sampled and claimed
Italy simply the hosts
That memorable night
Rome was never built in a day
And yet Liverpool established
Their right to win in Europe
Sadly though Liverpool are out of
Their favourite geographical
Hot spots
Manchester City
It’s all been said
Treble winners
Last time out
But now the mighty
Gladiators of
European football
Real Madrid
Hold their shields
Scintillating as usual
Football’s headmasters
Kings of Europe
How many times?
Would somebody pass
An abacus, please?
Just swagger into
the semis,
Champions League that is
England’s finest ambassador
Jude Bellingham
At least representing
This fine island
In a Champions League final
It could happen
His moment to shine
At the highest seat of
European power
And yet there was one glinting
Shaft of light in the darkness
Aston Villa still in
European backwaters
Bobbing buoyantly
In the shallow end
Where their fellow claret
And blue warriors were
For West Ham now read
Villa, inching closer
To their first Euro
Trophy since the bearded
Peter Withe
Grabbed the winner
For Villa
42 years ago
Better late than never
European Champions
Incredible but true
Yes, Villa wearing the
Ultimate crown
And now Unai Emery
Back on the claret and blue
Road to the land
Of Euro conference glory
Glory days
And yet for West Ham,
Here’s your
Passport back home
Stamp or scan that document
Go through customs
With nothing to declare
Proud as punch though
The boys did well
Pick up your cases
Gentlemen
Tangibly triumphant
Nothing to be ashamed of
Liverpool, City and West Ham
You were our appointments
With destiny
European Champions at all levels
Take a bow again
What’s it all about, Alfie?
When a player dominates a game
to the extent
that no other could be considered extant….
When a player cruises
beyond bruises
and delivers shock and awe…
and a four purloined score…
how then
to acknowledge any other talent?
“He’s one of our own…..”
Well that’s not Cold Palmer
yet that unerring charmer
has boom-bombed into our hearts….
But it’s a young lad
without too many starts
who came off the pitch at match end
with an even bigger smile on his face
and he has yet to look out of place
when entering the fray….
the young lad can play
and tonight, also opened his account
and no amount
of praise for our outstanding #20
who scored four-a-plenty
can intrude
on younger Master Gilchrist
who’ll go to bed tonight
with his heart a-pounding
after a night outstanding…..
lo, this here certain someone scribing (three times their age)
may yet tonight, take centre stage
as all sorts of dreams
come flying off the page!!!!!!
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
Richard Williams
26th April 2024
joe morris
25th April 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
25th April 2024
kevin halls
23rd April 2024
Alex Saynor
23rd April 2024
joe morris
23rd April 2024
Crispin Thomas
22nd April 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
21st April 2024
joe morris
20th April 2024
Clik The Mouse
15th April 2024
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
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
25th April 2024 at 1:56 pm
Thanks Joe,
you might like to write a poem yourself on the same subject…
See in context
23rd April 2024 at 4:03 pm
Hi Denys
With you all the way on the abolition of FA Cup replays. What are they doing to the game?
See in context
23rd April 2024 at 3:59 pm
Hi Crispin,
Yes sorry mate. Villa are still in Europe. Mistake rectified.
Cheers
Joe
See in context
20th April 2024 at 12:04 pm
Hi Joe
Shouldn’t your title read your poem Farewell Europe England to everyone exccept Aston Villa ?
I know you mention them in your poem , but I do feel sorry for Villa re the national press .
Largely ignored. the hype was was all about Man City & Arsenal with a bit of a nod to the Hammers..but hardly a mention of Villa..
So well done to them
C
.
See in context
19th March 2024 at 8:00 am
Hi Crispin. Chris Sutton on the radio has gone for a Chelsea v Coventry final. As we know anything can happen in the Cup, and I reckon we can go to the final.
We’re still in with a chance of the play offs too, so lots to go for.
See in context
19th March 2024 at 7:41 am
Hey Kev
Let the masses drool over their odds on City v Unted Final, but who knows how pressure can hit.
Cov and Chels will be rightly labelled as having no chance..but hey …stranger things have happened..
so Chelsea v Coventry…that’s the Final for us!
Best
C
See in context
29th January 2024 at 10:03 pm
Hi Crispin,
How are you doing mate? Yes, you’re probably right but hey football is all about emotion and passion and I just love writing about the game. I try to keep my poetry to a reasonable length but there’s so much to write about the game and its literature just lends itself naturally to poetry. Sometimes I just get completely carried and I do apologise for the length of my poetry but it’s a great thrill to be associated with Football Poets.
Cheers mate
Joe
See in context
10th January 2024 at 7:52 pm
You’re right of course Joe but…..it’s actually more of a big welcome break for everyone who is not into Premier League ..I’m talking fans of EFL National League and below…..
Btw …is this actually your longest poem ever !?
Best
Crispin
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