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Sometimes it really is a beautiful game

Greg Freeman

Thursday, July 11th, 2024

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 “Perhaps we are all wrong,
and Southgate
is a substitution genius.”

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 The Facebook banter
after the England game
moves into the realm
of long-ago memory
as we talk of previous
footballing magic moments.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 For three veteran Chelsea fans who
used to gather in front of the Shed
at the old Stamford Bridge,
it takes us back to the Cup final
replay of nineteen-seventy.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 And one moment in particular –
not lifting the Cup, but Osgood’s
bullet header equaliser
at the Stretford End
with not much time remaining.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 As Clive says: “Magic moments,
it’s what we suffer the rest for,
in the hope of … ”

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 And when he says magic moments,
Old Trafford is the first
that comes to mind.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Clive recalls “being lifted off my feet
by the crowd and flying down
the terracing, then seeing you John,
in that special Chelsea hat, passing me”.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 And yes, there was
a Labour government
then too, if only for
another couple of months.

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 Johns says dreamily: “No matter
where you are or what you are doing,
your mind can always go back to it …”

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 I say that whatever happens
in the final, I’m proud of England,
for this one game alone …

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 Boys, boys, and girls,
the moments we’ve had.

Notes

A found poem culled from comments on Facebook banter after last night’s glorious England result. With apologies to Leeds United fans

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/sometimes-it-really-is-a-beautiful-game/