Football Poets

Hereford in the FA Cup tonight and Ronnie.

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Ronnie, how we’ll miss you tonight
Hereford tonight in the FA Cup
The ultimate romantic rendezous
How he’d have adored it all
The Sunday morning papers groaning
Under the weight of praise,
Back page flattery
Millions of kudos
Pouring from the printed archives
Of all our yesterdays
Shirt flapping in muddied acknowledgement
Flapping, flailing arms waving frenetically
Hereford United non-League giant killer
Slaying the arrogant airs of old First Division
Newcastle United beaten fair and square
Joy unconfined, young Hereford loyalists
Barely believing the evidence of their eyes
Look at that,
Who’d have thought it
And yet sadly
Ronnie Radford has died
One of Hereford’s own
And the bleating of sheep
Neighing of horses
In the heart of Herefordshire
Cattle country
Will lower their voices
Significantly tonight
A moment of deference
In the farming lands
Where once the spirit
Of Ronnie Radford still lives on
Pompey and Portsmouth
At Edgar Street tonight
The millions of Hereford
Will still harbour the affectionate
Echoes and images of
1972, and whyever not
50 years ago perhaps
But Ronnie still resides on
On this wondrous, rural
Timeless painting
In palpitating hearts
Ricky George will wipe
Away a brief but profound
Tear of reminiscence
But grandparents will
Still remind
This generation
That giant-killing Hereford
Once brought
Football’s aristocracy
To its knees
Newcastle and Malcolm
Macdonald, black and white
Stripes toppled over in the
FA Cup
We had to blink twice
It did happen
Since Yeovil performed
The same party piece
Just after the Second World
War when high flying
Sunderland were pounced
Upon and flicked away
Disdainfully by the cider
Quaffing Somerset folk
Humble and unassuming, then
Beat the seemingly unbeatable
Sunderland at the time
So the FA Cup is with us again
All dressed in its finest gleaming
Metals and fabrics
The First Round of the Cup
As familiar as Big Ben or the
Tower of London, Buckingham
Palace too,
A cultural necessity
As the nights draw in
And 4.00 in the afternoon
Seems like the midnight- hour
The FA Cup, in all its
Handsome finery
Football’s most
Polished jewellery
Hereford United
Against Pompey
And Portsmouth
Last winners in 2008
In remarkable meeting
Unlikely as it was
At the time against
Cardiff
But Harry Redknapp
Will never question
Achievements great or small
An FA Cup winner
Harry’s day in the sun
Oh well done
My son
Pompey chimes again
As if it were some Post
War song
But tonight, the Cup
Will think of Ronnie
Hereford’s headiest moment
50 years ago
Never forgotten

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