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Banner On The Night

Crispin Thomas

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 we talk of standing areas
and if they’d be alright
I stood all game where we should sit
with Reds and Blues last night
a sea of red before me
a sea of blue behind
a programme on a poignant night
with pictures to remind

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 I know that some would have been here
if they were with us still
I watched the dramas all unfold
and swing as see-saws will
we’re here and free to watch and sing
but always will recall
a day when everything stood still
to make this game seem small

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 I travelled far by train and car
as many did that day
with Hillsb’rough thoughts inside my head
that would not go away
and there we stood all safe and sound
on concrete steel and bricks
a banner flies behind the goal
justice for the 96

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 exhausted drained emotional
all free to leave again
we walked together Reds and Blues
and left the ground in rain
to rush for tubes and last trains back
to different homes somewhere
the coaches decked in blue in red
as they were waiting there

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 I watched the fans with flags and scarves
all hurrying away
and thought of those whose wait goes on
and will do ev’ry day
the older fans and loved ones
their eyes still fill with tears
through league games cup runs Euro nights
these long last twenty years

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 I walked beside a Liverpool fan
with no talk of defeat
we passsed the place where I grew up
the house in my old street
we’re both still here and standing
the memories fill our minds
so much has changed in football
I feel it ev’ry time

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 I think about it as we pass
the crowds in which I stood
and swayed and rocked so dangerously
as fans in those days would
what can we do to put things right
no way that time can fix
but to remind and all demand
justice for the 96.

Notes

CL QF Chelsea 4 Liverpool 4. April 14 2008
Programme images and stories of Hillsbourough and a
banner among loads at the other end in a sea of red last night.
Justice for the 96

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/banner-on-the-night/