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Former players spouting (rondeau)

Peter Goulding

Friday, June 1st, 2018

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Protect us, Lord, from former players spouting
their clichéd tripe when some team’s had a routing.
Whether they’re on radio or tweeting,
they know why this or that team took a beating
and send me off to go and check the grouting.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 There must be laws of decency they’re flouting,
laboring each boring point they’re touting.
From all their righteous twittering and bleating,
protect us, Lord.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 If you played football once, there is no doubting
your views on current teams will get an outing.
No matter whose opinions you’re repeating,
your airtime will, too sadly, not be fleeting –
from this great epidemic that is sprouting,
protect us, Lord.

Notes

Probably old age but the modern game at the highest level holds increasingly little appeal for me. I watched a clip on youtube recently of Brian Clough rounding on a hapless John Motson back in the seventies. Clough’s arguments were that there was far too much football on the telly and also that so-called experts and analysts and pundits were ramming their opinions down our throats and telling us how to think about a game. Basically, television was turning the sport from an entertainment to a form of education, the problem being that the teachers had little formal education themselves.
On both counts, Clough would be turning in his grave now with a positive typhoon of ex-players explaining the game to us poor peasants.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/former-players-spouting-rondeau/