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I Could Have Been A Defender! Charlie.

kevin raymond

Saturday, November 25th, 2006

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 We’ve touchline thugs unfolding grudges,
Each time two youth teams meet
Some are re-living never played in games,
With a twitching of their feet

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 ‘Were you as half as good, as you say you were,
When you were my age dad’?
‘Er….yes son, come to think of it, I was,
But not in eyes of other lads’

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 “I could have been a great defender’
Really? That’s pretty impressive stuff
‘But… the manager didn’t fancy me much,
So I didn’t play enough’

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 If’s and buts are not enough,
To let you prowl carte blanche
The touchline most Sunday morning’s
Telling any mug who’ll listen, ‘Here’s how it should be done….’

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Do we really need pitch side know it all’s,
Inviting ‘Get stuck in’, who in their prime
Were ‘stuck in goal’ as the only way of getting a game?

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 In matches played in open streets, devoid of all white lines,
Were these fathers, just like the rest of us,
Super stars,….. on the playing fields of their minds?

© kjp raymond 2006

Notes

I’ve written loads of stuff about these blokes who patrol the touchlines, of youth games most week-ends, in a pristine track suit and a brand new pair of trainers, that they think gives them the credentials of a FIFA coaching badge as soon as they are wearing them!

After watching my son as a youngster trying to enjoy a game, where a kid on the other team was being instructed by his father to ‘get stuck in’ to any one who was near him, the ref had to warn the father and his kid about their conduct! I made comment to the teams coach that ‘it might be a good idea to substitute that young fella before he hurts himself or one of the other kids(my son included) playing, if he carries on listening to his father’ all to no avail.

Tear ups on the touch-line, between opposing sets of parents, are not uncommon either from what I read in my local paper, where, it would seem, two junior teams had to replay a cup-tie that was stopped due to fighting between the mums and dads! The match had to be replayed behind closed doors at a semi-pro ground, with both sets of parents, forced to sit out in the car-park, banned from watching the game!

One coach, of a team in the North, got the mums and dads to sign a contract that if they, the parents, ever questioned his decisions or were found guilty of verbally abusing his team or their opponents, then the child and the parents were banned! All the of the parents signed the contract without hesitation!

Where’s all the enjoyment gone? Gone to win at all cost’s son!

peace.

kev

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/i-could-have-been-a-defender-charlie/