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Ode to Football

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 This is football:

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Yes, jumpers for goalposts in your local park

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 With the lamp-posts as your floodlights,

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 And no-one watching but the stars:

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 This is football:

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Where the groundstaff cut grass with a barber’s care

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 Where the terraces forever sing hymns to their favourite players:

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 This is football:

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 Hot coffee in the stands on midweek nights

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 This is players squaring up

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 But never actually starting fights

13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 This is football:

14 Leave a comment on verse 14 0 Each battle lasts an hour-and-a-half

15 Leave a comment on verse 15 0 It’s that war of rival scarves

16 Leave a comment on verse 16 0 You can fight fair, or plunge to grass –

17 Leave a comment on verse 17 0 This is football:

18 Leave a comment on verse 18 0 Imitating that voice that reads Final Score

19 Leave a comment on verse 19 0 This is transfer-window shopping,

20 Leave a comment on verse 20 0 It’s Deadline Day on Sky Sports

21 Leave a comment on verse 21 0 This is football:

22 Leave a comment on verse 22 0 Last in that half-time queue for the loo then food:

23 Leave a comment on verse 23 0 This is Sir Geoff Hurst on Wembley’s turf in destiny’s pursuit

24 Leave a comment on verse 24 0 This is football:

25 Leave a comment on verse 25 0 Humming Match of the Day’s theme tune as it starts:

26 Leave a comment on verse 26 0 Keeping your head down from thirty yards, and shivering crossbars:

27 Leave a comment on verse 27 0 This is football:

28 Leave a comment on verse 28 0 This is panic,

29 Leave a comment on verse 29 0 Your defenders scrambling back

30 Leave a comment on verse 30 0 When they realised the other team sitting deep

31 Leave a comment on verse 31 0 Was just a trap

32 Leave a comment on verse 32 0 This is football, this is football:

33 Leave a comment on verse 33 0 Cracked shinpads and all

34 Leave a comment on verse 34 0 It’s the innocent protest –

35 Leave a comment on verse 35 0 It’s the “I barely touched him, ref!”

36 Leave a comment on verse 36 0 This is football:

37 Leave a comment on verse 37 0 This is not just 4-4-2 or 4-3-3

38 Leave a comment on verse 38 0 This is what you do when you go one player down, and then concede

39 Leave a comment on verse 39 0 This is football:

40 Leave a comment on verse 40 0 This is that banter you get at away grounds

41 Leave a comment on verse 41 0 Which when you score that last-minute winning goal

42 Leave a comment on verse 42 0 Is not so loud

43 Leave a comment on verse 43 0 This is football:

44 Leave a comment on verse 44 0 Cup tie:

45 Leave a comment on verse 45 0 You’ve gone to penalties to sever the knot

46 Leave a comment on verse 46 0 But your guts are all you’ve got

47 Leave a comment on verse 47 0 And sudden death now marks the spot:

48 Leave a comment on verse 48 0 This is football:

49 Leave a comment on verse 49 0 Not prawn sandwiches

50 Leave a comment on verse 50 0 You can find it in all languages

51 Leave a comment on verse 51 0 It’s your spilled pint in the pub

52 Leave a comment on verse 52 0 When your team goes one-nil up:

53 Leave a comment on verse 53 0 This is football:

54 Leave a comment on verse 54 0 This is that fanzine which calls it harsh but fair

55 Leave a comment on verse 55 0 This is catching coaches, planes and trains since your club needs you there

56 Leave a comment on verse 56 0 This is football:

57 Leave a comment on verse 57 0 Practised against the wall, and in the hall

58 Leave a comment on verse 58 0 It’s those concrete playground moves

59 Leave a comment on verse 59 0 That have ruined all your shoes:

60 Leave a comment on verse 60 0 This is football:

61 Leave a comment on verse 61 0 Lugging your team’s laundry home from Sunday league

62 Leave a comment on verse 62 0 This is playing online tournaments until sleep intervenes

63 Leave a comment on verse 63 0 This is football:

64 Leave a comment on verse 64 0 It’s a very big deal,

65 Leave a comment on verse 65 0 You can ask Bill Shankly

66 Leave a comment on verse 66 0 It’s that click-clack of the turnstile,

67 Leave a comment on verse 67 0 It’s that Gazza-needs-a-hanky

68 Leave a comment on verse 68 0 This is football:

69 Leave a comment on verse 69 0 Brought to you by the Football Association

70 Leave a comment on verse 70 0 Formed in the Tavern of Freemasons

71 Leave a comment on verse 71 0 One-fifty years in the making

72 Leave a comment on verse 72 0 This is football:

73 Leave a comment on verse 73 0 Of all the sports, this is our nation’s favourite

74 Leave a comment on verse 74 0 And we speak to celebrate it

75 Leave a comment on verse 75 0 So if you have a drink, please raise it

Notes

Click Here to Watch The Video featuring Musa, Gary Cahill, Stevie Gerrard, Ant & Dec, Theo Walcott and many more…
Ode to Football~The Video
Musa Okwonga and The Football Association
The FA commissioned ode to commemorate its 150th anniversary

Click Here to see Images of Musa and more on our Football Poets on Facebook page Football Poets on Facebook

Editor’s note:
This poem has been released today by The Football Association of England, to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the FA.

The poem is published here with permission from all parties.

Press release from the FA:

Ode to Football Marks 150 Years of the Game

– Steven Gerrard, Ant and Dec, Arsene Wenger, Amanda Holden and Olly Murs feature in video of FA poem –

As a year of celebration draws to an end, The Football Association has today released an Ode to Football to commemorate its 150th anniversary. The poem talks of the nation’s love for the game, from a grassroots through to elite level and captures the emotions experienced by football fans around the country.

The poem is being released in the week that marks 150 years since the first game was played using the laws drafted by Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863.

Entitled ‘This is Football’, Ode to Football was commissioned by The FA and written by poet, author and sportswriter Musa Okwonga. A host of famous faces have shown their support by appearing in a video of the ode. Led by England captain Steven Gerrard, the video also features other notable football names including Arsene Wenger, Theo Walcott and Sky Sports’ Jim White. Celebrity football fans Ant and Dec, Dizzee Rascal, Amanda Holden, Nick Grimshaw and John Bishop have also delivered lines of the poem.

With nods to legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly and the iconic Match of the Day theme tune, taking home your team’s laundry and playing online tournaments, the ode features all the aspects of the game that players and fans experience week in, week out. The poem also brings to life the battles fought on the pitch, the fans cheering and waving scarves, and that moment a goal is scored. England legends Sir Geoff Hurst and Paul Gascoigne are the focus of specific lines.

Musa Okwonga, poet and author of Ode to Football, said:
“Football is a passion for almost every person in this country and The FA’s 150th year presents the perfect opportunity to honour this great game that we all love.

“The ode showcases how diverse the game has become since 1863. From the grassroots level to the professional game, from video games to the huge media spotlight, from mums washing kit to jumpers for goalposts. Hopefully the poem unites football fans everywhere to celebrate 150 years of football.”

Greg Dyke, Chairman of The FA said:
“After an incredible year of celebration that has particularly allowed us to highlight the great work The FA’s army of grassroots heroes does throughout all levels of the game. The Ode to Football captures the essence of football. Whether that is the ups and downs of watching your team play, the simple pleasure of a kickabout in the park or cheering on England with all your mates.

“Football brings people together like nothing else. As we reach the end of our 150th anniversary year, it is great there will be a lasting tribute to the game’s simple pleasures.”

To find out more about The Ode to Football, please visit www.TheFA.com

To find out more about events in The Football Association’s 150th year, and to get involved in football, visit www.TheFA.com and follow @FA.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/ode-to-football-2/