“Lark In The Park”
¶ 1
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I could have gone home after work
Lazily watched DVD’s and stayed in
But with Forest Hill Park playing Kent Football United
That really would have been a sin.
Forget that glorious English failure
In the Champions League knock-out stage
I think I’d get more enjoyment
Staring at a hamster on a treadmill in a cage.
Was it Brian Clough who told us
Football should be played on grass
I’m not too fussed if it’s real or artificial
As long as it’s not on a box with glass.
That’s why I’m at Ladywell Arena
Genuine football with heart and soul
The quality might not be Monaco or Man. City
But I’ll still see a half-decent goal.
Non-league football for a fiver
What more can you ask
If that makes me a ‘weirdo’
I’m going to take you to task.
So tell me..if the Champions League’s the pinnacle
Why didn’t City have a first half shot
Give me 22 limited Step Six players
Huffing around giving all they’ve got.
Half time I’m queuing
For a can of coke
Just as I’m about to pay
It’s bought for me by another bloke.
None other than the away team manager
Whose name was Ennio Gonnella
He remembered me from Dulwich Hamlet
A thoroughly decent fella.
That’s the beauty of non-league
Full of kindness and warm heart
A simple gesture like that
Champions League a million miles apart.
I wouldn’t say no to watching Monaco and Man. City
If I had the money and the time
But only in the flesh at the stadium
Football on telly’s a heresy and a crime.
I hate to be surrounded by armchair experts
Never been to a live game
Thinking wearing a Premiership top
Puts non-league fans to shame.
They’re no football supporter
Giving it large in their local boozer
I’m happier in last night’s crowd of thirty three
And don’t think that makes me the loser.
This was my 97th game of the season
I’m aiming for many more
Matches where I pay my way
Rather than pushing open a pub door.
Great poem, Mr Dulwich 😉
Being an ex-pat, I don’t get to many matches, but did get to first game of this season, Hampton & Richmond v Dartford. I love getting out to grass roots football.
And being a pedant….
It was El-Tel that coined “They Used To Play On Grass”, or at least he grabbed the zeitgeist and wrote a football book by that name, co-authored with Gordon Williams, who was the creator of the telly tec “Hazel”.