|

Down the Line!

Peter Goulding

Tuesday, August 19th, 2003

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 “Down the Line!” was at each game,
Though actually I doubt that
It was his true God-given name.
It’s just – he used to shout that.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 I never spoke to him at all
For he was so much older.
There’d come, whene’er we had the ball,
This cry behind my shoulder:

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 “Throw it/Kick it down the line!”
His tactics were consistent.
To him, the flanks were quite divine,
And he was so insistent.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 He must have hated Johnny Giles.
Square ball, pal? No thanks.
Far better, he would say, by miles
To hoof it down the flanks.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 A full back who might hesitate,
Uncertain where to throw it,
“Down the Line!” would get irate
And loudly let him know it.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 God help the back four when they passed
The ball among each other!
There’d come a long and uncouth blast
That would have shocked my mother.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 He always used to wreck my head,
Not easy to dismiss him,
But recently I heard he’s dead,
And now he’s gone I miss him.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 “Down the Line!” in silence lays,
So sometimes now upon a
Summer’s eve, I’ll shout that phrase,
With feeling, in his honour.

© Peter Goulding 19th August 2003

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/down-the-line/