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Swapping Garrincha for Dukla Prague

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Going down the corner shop
Pocket money in my hand
Football cards of players
And teams like England.
I’ll swap you Best for Greaves
And my Spain for your Italy
Getting all excited now
Because I’ve just got Coventry.
Scrapbooks full of stars
And foreign players galore
Football Annuals collected
From the early age of four.
Me and my mates and Subuteo
And playing blow football
Comparing all our autographs
Bet you ain’t got the Spurs player Saul ?
Those little pin badges
Sold outside the grounds
Really cheap back then
Now cost about five pounds.
My favourite read was Soccer Star
I bought it every week
I was just a football fan
Now I’d be called a sad geek.
Just mention the name Charles Buchan
And I can drift back in time
Recall my Mum throwing out some books
To me that was a very henious crime.
It’s all known as memorabilia
But to me it’s just a lifelong love affair
To outsiders they think we are all mad
But to be honest I don’t really care !

27

Notes

I’m at that age when any excuse to go down memory lane is fine by me.
I’m like Crispin because we both love the football of the sixties, to me it was just the best, and I wish that I’d kept hold of everything I collected from that great era.
Editor Note: Thank God I’m not alone and ‘sad’ here! Crispin

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/swapping-garrincha-for-dukla-prague/