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My Hero (Twice)

Simon Parr

Friday, October 12th, 2007

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 When I was just a kid
One of the first things that I did
Was select a football team
A new theme to bring
Into the playground when we kicked a ball around
Playing ‘3 & In’

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 And ‘Southampton’ were my team right from the begining
And I’d like to think it was symbolic
Of the ‘opressed’ (i.e. me)
Taking on the ‘opressers’ (like Liverpool or Spurs) & winning
But it was probably just because I quite liked their shirts.
It could have just as easily been Sunderland or Stoke or Sheff U
(why do so many of these teams that play in vertical red & white shirts begin with an ‘S’?)

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Nevertheless, Southampton were my team
And if they were a bottle of milk
Danny Wallace was the cream.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Danny Wallace to me meant everything
In my Southampton dream team it would be he
Flying down the wing.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 I was quite a short kid, but Danny made me walk tall.
I remember beating Coventry 8-2, Danny scored a hat-trick, so did Steve Moran but Danny scored his first so it was he that went home with the match ball.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Then he signed for Man U & I felt much taller. Because say what you like about Ferguson, you can’t say he hasn’t always been a fine judge of a footballer.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 And he played for a bit & he won the cup but we knew something was up, he was never quite the same. He was injured all the time & he rarly got a game.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 So he was ushered away from the ‘Theatre of Dreams’, and he plyed his trade with other teams. But he hardly kicked a ball for Birmingham or Millwall.

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 He just disappeared altogether. He’d had his moment in the ‘Sun’, it was a time for different weather. For players for which people like Danny had set the scene. Wages were about to become obscene. Danny had just missed the boat, he was now just a footnote.

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 And no-one really noticed
The news of his diagnosis.
He said it came as a relief
Not an uncommon response
Because it hides the heartbreak underneath.

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 It all kind of made sense
But no-one could have guessed.
When we heard that all this time
He’d been playing with MS.

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 Danny! we were never meant to have anything in common!
I used to idolise you
I still do
But now for a different reason.
And I can still remember the player you used to be
With your trickery & your pace.
How you used to beat challenges & continue to beat challenges
That I must too now face.

13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 I met you once
You won’t remember
But I was thrilled.

14 Leave a comment on verse 14 0 And now you’ve dug a sound foundation into the ground
So that people like me might build
Something solid.

15 Leave a comment on verse 15 0 And I hang on to your every last word
& piece of advice
Because Danny Wallace is my hero (twice).

© Simon Parr 12/10/07

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/my-hero-twice/