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“Burnley Boy”

Dulwich Poet

Saturday, July 6th, 2013

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 A real eye-opener
Into how the game was
And how it is now-
A tippy tappy, contact free
Holy cash cow.
Retired old pro
Forgotten in name
A half decent footballer
That was his game.
Interspersed with impov’rished Irish roots
Born on the ‘dodgy’ side
Bowler hats an flutes.
Managed to escape his poverty hell
Only because he played rather well.
Career cut short by a broken leg
Never really recovered from that damaged peg.
There were no riches when you retire
Out of the frying pan into the fire.
He ended up trying to top himself
When his company failed and he lost his wealth.
Imagine playing for your country
And scoring a rare Wembley winner
Then sinking so low
Through the emotional wringer?
Only alive because of fate
He fell on the kitchen floor
Before it was too late.
Not sure how much of your book
Is an exaggerated porky pie
But I can tell you’re glad
That you didn’t die.
Maybe poetic licence a tiny bit
But it’s your story to tell
As only you see fit.
Is your right as you were clearly blessed
With more natural talent than most of the rest
You’ve been there, done it, got the postcard
When men were tough and footballers hard
Every game battered black and blue
But it was part and parcel of what you do.
Some might be old rose tinted glasses
Ankles battered chasing untold passes.
Without a doubt
There were thugs on the field
Like dirty Leeds who
Would never yield.
But he also virtuosed alongside flair
Georgie Best and Ralph Coates with no hair.
Way back then you dished it out
And took many a punch.
But no-one deserved a leg break
With such a crunch.
I, for one, admire your resilience
After a dirty animal
Cut short your brilliance
So Willie Irvine of Burnley I salute
Though underneath I suspect
You too were a brute.

Notes

I have just read a library book, ‘Together Again’ by Willie Irvine. Published in October 2005, it is about the life of Burnley footballer & Northern Ireland international from the 1960s, whose career was shortened & potential curtailed, by a badly broken leg, when he was done by an Everton player.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/burnley-boy/