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Men In Suits At The Football

Luke Innes

Sunday, April 20th, 2014

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 I.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Before we donned the newest home shirt
Levi’s and DM boots
We football fans attended games
In our sharpest suits

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 In the days before Nike trainers
And team crest-branded caps
Fans would flock wearing polished brogues
And velvet bowler hats

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 The way the times change
Is amazing too see
From the days of my great-granddad
All the way through to me

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 And as I return from game after game
In retro shirts and jeans
I look back on the way things have changed
And wonder what it all means

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 ‘Cause fashion changes as a rate of knots
It’s really quite a range
But regardless of what we wear
Our passion for the game will never change.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 II.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 Men in suits have spoiled the game
With their soppy jackets and ties
They’re the reason you have to drop twenty quid
For a beer and a couple of pies

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 Whether they’re in the directors box
Or out on a corporate getaway
Their monopolization of a sport we love
Means it’s us plebs who really pay

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 We pay in blood and toil
To afford the cheapest seat
And through the nose for shirts and scarves
To wear while we get beat

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 So much for the game of the working class
So much for the common man
To secure tickets for a cup final
Would take some sort of dastardly plan

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 And I don’t wanna remortgage my home
To fund my loyal pursuit
Of a football team pricing me out
All because of those men in suits.

Notes

I’ve always been infinitely annoyed by football spectators in suits, but I noticed that in a lot of archive footage, all the men attending are wearing suits. I decided to play the two eras of the game off against one another, in a then and now fashion, with themes of changes in style, nostalgia and gentrification.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/men-in-suits-at-the-football/