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The Next Best Thing To Being There

Paul T Conneally

Friday, June 28th, 2002

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 The first pubs in England
to be granted the right to open
at breakfast time for the World Cup
were in Northamptonshire
a land of boot and shoemakers

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 For the first big breakfast match
pub doors open at 6.30 a.m.
to serve bangers, bacon and Beckham
washed down with lager, bitter
and for some, champagne

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 The Bull’s Head, The Anchor and The Magpie
the new terraces, the new Kop for a generation
brought up on all-seater stadiums
where tickets are hard to get
and when available too expensive

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 ‘It’s the next best thing to being there’
says Sheila in a break from screaming at the screen
‘You can watch it in a crowd
and have drink with your mates
at the same time’

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 morning drizzle
the sign on the front door
runs off the paper

Notes

I remember the first time dad took me on the Kop at Hillsborough and two photos in an old Shoot! annual of Liverppol Kop in the summer and the Hillsborough Kop in winter iduring a snow storm. And then the sadness that brings Liverpool and Hillsborough together again in all our minds and always will – paul

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-next-best-thing-to-being-there/