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A Brief History of Goal Celebrations

Graham Salter

Thursday, March 30th, 2017

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 1950s The Corinthian Casual approach
A gentle trot
Back to the centre spot
In white and black
With just a pat on the back

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 1 1960s The Peter Osgood approach
He gives a turn and a thump
Then a punch and a jump
On a pitch that’s a mess
(Like that teacher in “Kes”)

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 1 1970s The Mexican approach
Cartwheels and forays
From vaulting Señores
Spectacular ballets
In two Mundiales

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 1 1980s The Klinsmann approach
How does he contrive
This spectacular dive?
They accused him of shamming
But now Juergen’s just hamming

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 1 1990s The Proud Dad approach
Romario and his lot
Cradling a cot
Rock a bye baby
Is it memorable? Maybe

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 2 The “Silence the crowd” approach
He runs round the back
And smirks at the pack
One finger to nose
Saying ssssshh as he goes

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 1 The Hull City approach
No half-time break
For punishment’s sake
They sit with a frown
For a right dressing-down

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 1 The Man City approach
If he’s feeling a bit ratty
He just does some karate
On the flag and its post
Like he’s punching some ghost

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 The robot
Then the critics said “Ouch”
When they saw Peter Crouch
They all looked askance
At his robotic dance

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 and lastly … The glide
He slides ‘cross the pitch
Excavating a ditch
With one final pivot
Watch the high-flying divot

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 … Olé !

Notes

 

Barry Hines’ story “A Kestrel for a Knave” was turned into a moving and powerful film. In one scene, the PE teacher (Brian Glover) intervenes in a muddy school game of football, takes the ball through, and scores. The words “Leeds United 1 Manchester United 0” appear at the bottom of the screen.

Kun Aguero’s way of celebrating was to pretend to have a “punch-up” with the corner-flag.

Hull City manager Brown had kept his side on the pitch at half-time in order to berate them publicly. In a later match, against Manchester City, the Hull goal celebration was to re-enact the scene, with one of the players doing the finger-wagging.

 

I had also thought of calling this “The Silence of the Fans.”

 

At the 1994 World Cup, Romario, Bebeto et al. pretended to rock a cradle, to celebrate a goal by Brazil.

 

When Juergen Klinsmann came to Spurs, he had a reputation as a “diver.” Seeing the funny side, he celebrated his first Spurs goal with a huge parodic “dive.”

 

Hugo Sánchez amazed the crowd at the Mexico World Cup by celebrating a goal with a cartwheel.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/a-brief-history-of-goal-celebrations/