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Life, Football and Mandela

Gacina Bozidar

Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 The World Cup is coming.
This is the time to remember the World Cup held in South Africa.
Nelson Mandela died on December 5 2013
The Brazil World Cup draw was held on December 6 2013.
This is life and this is the world.
This is pride and sadness.
This is irony and this is symbolic.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 What is football compared to life and death?
In short that is – according to Bill Shankly.
Should I remind you of what Shankly said?
“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death,
I am very disappointed with that attitude.
I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 But the fact that Mandela and South Africa
hosted the Wold Cup in 2010
and that Mandela passed away on December 5
a day before the next World Cup Draw
is just confirmation of the famous idea of Bill Shankly…..
that Football was more then life and death.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 At the time I was waiting for
and expecting something from Spain
who always had been a big favourite.
But so many things to remember happened in South Africa:
The tears of Maradona after Germany beat Argentina,
The scandal of England scoring a clear goal
when the ball crossed the line
and everybody pointing at the FIFA’ for their refusal
to introduce goal-line technology

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 There have been the scandal of French players
separating from the coach Domenech
and the allegations of that ‘insult’ by Anelka.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 I travelled to Madrid to be there
to witness the popular celebration
after the Final of the World Cup.
In the letter boxes of one central Madrid building
there are many prepared printed orders
for a book ont Einstein .
,
I couldn’t help thinking about this
because Iniesta’s goal was decisive
and I realised as a ‘poet’
that it is very poetic that the names
Iniesta and Einstein go well together
when I reflect on my travel that day to Madrid

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 I just wanted to say that it was a fabulous World Cup
and that it is unbelievable
that the draw for the Brazil World Cup
was held on December 6 and that Nelson Mandela
passed away a day before on December 5 2013

© Gacina Bozidar

Notes

Editor Note: Thanks Gacina. Your poems are always fun and different. Please note.we have edited and adapted some language, grammar and phrasing ( that may have been lost in translation) to make the poem clearer .Hope that’s ok? Keep on..

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/life-football-and-mandela/