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The First Time: Tenth December 1977

S B Ingle

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Norwich v Wolves

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Off to Carrow Road
Past the City centre, seemed a long way past
Walking to the South stand
Wearing a scarf of sage and beige
The nearest to club colours that I had
In fact, the only scarf I had
Didn’t have a ticket
Paid at a turnstile and went through
Didn’t have a seat
Stood on terraced concrete with a view
The crowd policed itself
Kids pushed through to the front
With determined solidarity
The regulars blocked off the drunks
The crowd was like a Lexicon wave
A human tide of passing words
As we swayed left and right and back again
Talking to your neighbour
Till he disappeared into another throng
Joining in with the familiar song
Word perfect football fan
No stagefright, no uncertainty
Knew that I belonged
There would always be a place here for me
Singing our hearts out for the lads
I was here and I was glad

© S B Ingle 28.1.07

Notes

I was never taken to the football and I was 15 before I was brave (or stupid) enough to go by myself. Only then did I realise that you don’t go by yourself; you go with 20,000 other people.

Today, the area around the football ground has been developed to provide a vast array of clubs, pubs and restaurants. There’s also a retail park, bowling alley, cinema, swimming pool and riverside apartments.

Back in 1977 there was nowt but a burger van.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-first-time-tenth-december-1977/