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The Man Who Designed The Beautiful Game (Pelé )

Crispin Thomas

Friday, December 30th, 2022

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 I was 10 years old when I first saw you
that steamy Summer of ’58 the World Cup …Sweden
when before you – for me
there had only been one hero…Jimmy Greaves.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 we’d only had our tele a year
but there you were on that June night in black and white
making your debut at seventeen in one of the few random games shown*

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 but it was in that Semi Final v France
with a nonchalant and graceful hat-trick
that we first sat up and took notice
and in those moments you changed my world
and also – unknowingly
lay down a marker and bench mark
for the likes of Best and Messi
Ronaldo, Mbappe and Neymar
and so many more to follow

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 I remember being infused with the spirit Brazil played
and you just seven years older than me…
Oh how I wanted to be you… play like you ..glide like you

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 and on that summer night
in between and after that match
and then again in that stunning final against the hosts
when you bagged another two
we’d run to the street with tennis ball in hand
before chalked posts on old red brick walls
to dream and feel and move
as though we were Brazilian

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 and so began a life-long love affair
with the beauty of the game
that you instilled so effortlessly …

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Shine on
and thank you Pelé.

Notes

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known mononymously as Pelé. RIP (1940-2022)

* Only certain random games douring the ’58 World Cup were shown on BBC and ITV .They did include, thankfully two of England’s games and the Brazil-France Semi Final and the Brazil-Sweden Final.

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-man-who-designed-the-beautiful-game-pele-rip/