Football Poets

© Crispin Thomas 2001
10 years old ..Chelsea 6 Wolves 2- 30.08.58 – Scorers: Greaves 5 Block 1.. ATT::62116. In true Chelsea fashion we’d already lost the first game of the season 2-5 away to Man U, then thumped Spurs 4-2 on the Wednesday. Elated with the Wolves result, I swore to my mum that I was round a friend’s house, but my older mates got me in for the away Spurs game four days, later where we were slaughtered 4-0! Scored 12 and conceded 13 in our first 4 games.

Apologies for this re-print. Editor’s perk I hear you scream! Blame E-Bay though and nostalgia for this poem’s re-appearance. It was while unsuccessfully bidding for a late-fifties / early sixties blue plastic star badge of Peter Sillett on e-bay recently (how sad is that?), that this resurfaced.
It’s also in memory of a stalwart defender and penalty scorer (brother of John of Coventry fame) Peter Sillett. I only recently discovered that Peter had sadly passed on, whilst meeting up with Roy Bentley at Chelsea again. I still have the programme to this day, which has an article on Peter in it..
I remember being passed down the front, sitting proudly on that grass verge dog-track,with this amazing completely unobstructed view, in blue heaven, leaning against the old wall. My mate somehow got himself lifted back over the wall desperate for the loo, and returned fifteen minutes later, on the hands of the crowd again, with an almost totally melted Lyons Maid orange ice lolly for me, such dedication! At a recent workshop I was reminded by the Charlton poet Ted Smith Orr of why there was always a bit of a gap near the terrace wall, pitchside, however packed it was ! I always innocently used to think, perhaps the view was not good from there, but I realise now it must have been a combination of the daunting distance of the far-off toilets and the smell and the increasing wetness of the surrounding vicinity! Well would you go all the way out to the loo after waiting two hours to get a good position?! Halcyon days of an old ground and classic cavalier good old unpredictable Chelsea at their notoriously wonderful best. Unpredictable or what? A week later I saw them beat Newcastle at home 6-5 too! Now that was being consistent..consistently unpredictable..and you just don’t get consistency like that these days.. To be honest walking the same road to see Chelsea receive the trophy a week back reminded me of it too!