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The Battle of Wrexham

Dachlan Cartwright

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Wales 1 Austria 2, November 23, 1955

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Red is the Dragon, ready to snap
At the toes of the klimtwinkling continentals
Kelsey cymmrodoric, keeper of the gael
With wise Wally Barnes, gunners shot from metal
Spiky Stuart Williams, sawn-off from the Hawthorns
Mel Charles is melded from the mold monumental
Which furnaced Big John, our Bran-Bred Bellipotent
Who’s flanked by Roy Paul, skyblue and eloquent
All of our Churches from our kid, Len, till
Ivor the Telepath, Prince of the Swans
Dreich Derek Tapscott, a frag that went mental
No bridge uber Danube, then Ford it, true Trevor
Cliff Jones ran, crossed and ran, crossing balls of high potential
But the torteaters taught us the short pass and tap…

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 …And something in Tapscott went zap
And Snowdon smashed into the Alps
Red dragonfire kindled
The white dirndls brindled
And rapidly Mel’s leg von trapped

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Speaking Shankly it’s so matter of life and death
When in Fifty-Five the Wrexham Kop held its breath
It wasn’t exactly cleansing the temple
But the only time that a Giant so Gentle
Gower’s Flower
Elmet’s Helmet
Piedmont Power
Cymru’s Founthead

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Big
John
Charles
Uncharacteristic, like
Lost
His

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Gemutlichkeit

© Dachlan Cartwright 20 Nov 2004

Notes

I was there. It was the only time that John Charles was known to have lost his temper on the field, after his brother Mel was injured. The game is actually on the Pathe Newsreel website.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-battle-of-wrexham/