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A Meadow Park Scoreboard

Alex Saynor

Friday, August 12th, 2016

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 A trophy haul to rival Ferguson’s,
but new seasons don’t feel so new any more.
An imaginary game in the village of Solva,

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 a training camp in the Austrian Alps,
immaculate pitches, mountains
and thunderclouds. A refurbished Meadow Park.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 A dwindling summer, birds leaving these isles,
longer shadows in the parks at dusk.
Careful writing to prepare for the term

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 and reflect on a too-early start
to the football season column of wins
and losses, out-of-context judgements

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 from inspectors with no categories for castles
filling a classroom or shields fluttering
in rows from the ceiling. How many steps

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 beyond outstanding would you have to stretch the grid
to contend with Mr Wickens’
defences against ignorance, optimism planted

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 and hope inspired: the sense of a place
in the world he would help you to occupy.

Notes

This is written in honour of Geoff Wickens, a hardcore Boreham Wood fan, and one of my best friends, who recently passed away having suffered with cancer.

His legacy to Boreham Wood was a new digital scoreboard for Meadow Park. Geoff was also a much-loved teacher who always went the extra mile for his students. The ‘trophy haul’ is a reference to the fantasy football league he set up for staff and friends, in which Geoff – as in most other sports – tended to wipe the floor with the competition. RIP, Geoff

http://www.borehamwoodfootballclub.co.uk/goodbye-geoff/

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/much-loved-bulmershe-teacher-geoff-11645401

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/a-meadow-park-scoreboard/