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State of the Nation’s Game

Mark Niel

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 A Lament for Luton Town

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 I remember when football
was a sport, not a business.
The game I recall,
team sheets
trumped balance sheets.
Players gave their all
for the love of the game,
not money or fame.
Believe me when I say
(and I’m trying hard not to replay
the phrase “in MY day”).
Directors put money IN to the club
and, here’s the rub
considered it burned,
no hope of return.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Alas poor Luton, I knew them well.
Glory days at Wembley
still ignite the memory.
Cup wins from the blue;
Arsenal three-two.
Joe Paynes’s goals;
pride of Kenilworth Road.
But because football is now
a business first,
clubs fear the worst
as accountants and
paperpushers
cast their curse
over the beautiful game.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 In the seventeenth century
John Donne told us that,
No man is an island,
but is part of the whole
and one man’s death
diminishes every soul;
therefore ask not for
whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 And so it is
with Luton Town FC.
Whether your team or your rival,
pray for their revival
to beat the business men and
administrators
who seek to castrate us
and the game we love,
no concept of the soul.
For it could be your team next….
…for whom the bell tolls.

Notes

I don’t support Luton but I was angered that financial mismanagement lead to the deduction of points and ended their tenure in the League. When there is so much money involved in paying for TV rights and players are paid so well, it seems wrong that the smaller clubs don’t receive more help.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/state-of-the-nations-game/