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The end of Tolka Park

Peter Goulding

Tuesday, November 8th, 2016

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 The ‘i’s are dotted, ‘t’s are crossed
and Tolka Park appears lost.
The football ground will pay the cost.
Financial targets? Sure, we never met them.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Shels will go and share with Bohs,
their bitterest and oldest foes,
bidding to cast off the woes
that for the past long decade have beset them.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 The flags are flying at half-mast,
the ghost of countless players past
drift across the pitch, aghast –
mistakes, perhaps, but why should we regret them?

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 The memories of magic nights
beneath those bright, imposing lights
when Shelbourne hit some dazzling heights –
till we die, we never will forget them.

Notes

Shelbourne FC makes the long-expected announcement that, due to financial reasons, Tolka Park will be handed over to Dublin City Council for private redevelopment by the start of the 2020 season. Shels will move in to Dalymount Park with Bohemians in a ground-share arrangement. Tolka Park was previously home to Home Farm and, before them, Drumcondra Rovers, before Shels moved in in the late eighties. Dublin City Council will transform Dalymount into a state of the art 10,000 seater stadium (I’ve been in 40,000 crowds in that stadium) while Tolka (capacity 11,000) will probably be turned into social housing.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-end-of-tolka-park/