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Millwall v Iran : cancelled, post 7/7

Clik The Mouse

Wednesday, July 20th, 2005

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 A Millwall spokesman stated :
“The club’s concern is not about safety and security inside the stadium but rather that the occasion may be used as a vehicle for those holding extremist views to cause problems.”
He added that the club had worked hard to shake off a notorious reputation and promoted initiatives such as Kick Racism out of Football.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 It was a train of thought
that reverberated through my head
I wished it was one
that would motor off into oblivion, but instead
the news broke
with the subtlety of a tank –
a club spokesman
with statement frank
re-iterated that they had no truck
with fans hell-bent
on ruck and riot;
a disquiet
politically motivated, for this
was not about peckish gulls
chasing trawlers
but vengeful minds, reprisal callers
using football
as an agenda
an excuse
for a vicious bender
where a tandem of revenge and reputation
and the manic cycle
of retribution
begatting
a convoy of coffins
that could only ship
Decency into the ground –
with Hate
standing aside the grave
lobbing
the first handful of soil
like grenades

© Clik the mouse, 19th July 2005

Notes

Millwall vs Iran : friendly match cancelled due to fears of racist attacks.

Many inside the club, and many fans, feared the club would be inviting further trouble by playing the match.

extract from the Guardian :

A long arranged soccer match between the Iranian national team and Millwall in south-east London is almost certain to be cancelled today because the organisers fear the game will be targeted by far right extremists.

Three days after the Guardian revealed fears of far right extremists and football hooligans acting jointly to attack Muslims and “avenge” the London bus and tube bombs, administrators at Millwall are preparing to cancel the fixture amid fears that Iranian fans may be attacked going to and from the ground.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/millwall-v-iran-cancelled-post-77/