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Mudchute

Alex Saynor

Thursday, February 19th, 2015

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 They had to name it Mudchute
so no fans would go there,
isolate the station like the Isle of Poplars.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Pitches where Millwall Rovers played
and council tenants co-exist

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 with a Docklands Museum in place of windmills,
penthouses for the nouveaux riches

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 and Mudchute Farm for grazing sheep
in South London, north of the river,
where I’m told it’s best to just say ‘East’.

© Alex Saynor 2015

Notes

Millwall are one of the few clubs who don’t play in the locale of their name. It would be easy to miss where Millwall is altogether, but once there you find a place of extremes: skyscrapers, one of the most deprived wards in the country, luxury flats, the highest average income, sheep grazing and traces of a past world of dockers and mills now pushed to the margins.

Mudchute Station should by rights be called Millwall or ‘Millwall Park’ as it was going to be called. They say it was so that fans wouldn’t turn up to the wrong place, but I can’t help but wondering if the real reason is more to do with international bankers and the like never having to say ‘Yes, our global headquarters is in Millwall; just get off at Millwall Park…’ A shame if that’s the reason.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/mudchute/