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Geoff Tabrah

Thursday, January 29th, 2015

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 I was watching football the other night,
They say it’s a beautiful game.
So I watched another tonight as it happens,
You know, they both looked the same.
Oh, the teams were different, the shirts were too,
And the officials that made sure of fair play.
The songs that came from the supporters were,
But the rest seemed the same I would say.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 I’ve read the books and learned the rules,
Watching replays on the tele.
Listened to all the presenters talks,
And studying players like Pele.
I know how the game is changing,
It’s not what it used to be.
There’s so much money that’s got involved,
Caused a lot of cheating you see.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 When my kids watch a match on the box,
Look dad, they shout at me.
That man just kicked the ball out,
It’s just been shown on TV.
He’s now claiming it’s his throw in,
The other player kicked it there.
Is that the rules of the game dad,
If so, then that’s not fair.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Look dad they’ve got a penalty,
The man on the floor claimed the kick.
But he wasn’t touched by anyone,
Yet he went down just like a brick.
The referee he pointed downwards,
You’ll take the kick from here.
First I’ll get my book out,
There’s a name I must write in there.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Why do they do that in a game?
Well boys, it’s all that money you see.
If the players can get a good result,
Then they’ve earned their fee.
The club then gets more supporters,
More money goes in to the bank
They then can get more successful,
And go to the top of the rank.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 It’s not cheating these days lads,
Called gamesmanship, that’s so.
It’s not in the rules, but that’s ok,
Because up the table they will go.
When you get older you will find,
Life is the same and it’s not fair.
Yet you’ll leave the ground a happy man,
Your team won, and you don’t care.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 When at work I’ve had success,
My goal has been reached for the day.
Should I celebrate the result like a player,
And then would you increase my pay.
Yet scorers do it on the pitch,
When they put one in to the net.
It’s their job that they’ve just done,
But it’s more for the praise that they get.

Notes

When I was a kid, I lived near Stanley Park in Liverpool. The only football I played was with a tennis ball in the street. I once played in goal in a Boy Scouts tournament at Anfield.

Sometimes, of a Saturday afternoon, if I wasn’t minding cars or bikes of both Liverpool and Everton supporters, I used to go to the match. That is, to the boys pen at half time. Those days, they would let you in for free after half time. Stanley Park in the summer holidays, you and your friends could hire football, cricket or rounder’s equipment from a van in the park, Sixpence a time. We passed many a holiday afternoon there. When I was sixteen, I left Liverpool. I joined the Army. Opportunities not to be missed, I took up rugby, boxing and skiing. I’m seventy one now. Yet when I sit in my armchair and watch football or rugby, I can’t keep still. That armchair takes a pounding.

Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of changes to the game. A lot for the better, other ones get my back up. I wrote this poem a while back. A reaction to a game I watched on TV with my grandchildren. I wonder what they will think, and view the game when they reach seventy.
Geoff Tabrah

Editors Note: Great poem and footer footnote Geoff !
A big armchair’/concrete terrace welcome to Football Poets..Keep on and more please.

PS.Any more great memories to wax lyrical on.?..We are the preservers championing the past and now remember…

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/footer/