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When Football Lies Back In The Shadows

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 picture the scene
when your life is so young
when you’re out on the street
when you’re having some fun
when playing connects you
and takes you away
from all of the stuff
that bombards you each day
when no-one can offer
an answer today
why an innocent child
has his life blown away
when a park in the summer’s
no longer ok
that’s when football
lies back in the shadows

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 and the reasons are endless
however you try
too young to fight back
and too young to die
when a child of eleven
is no longer safe
to go kicking a ball
with a couple of mates
when all of your future
is clouded in fears
and all of your dreams
become flooded in tears
for these are the questions
and these are the times
when you hang on to something
or cling on to signs
as somewhere a family’s
grieving with pain
knowing they’ll never
see their child again –
that’s when football
lies back in the shadows

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 while talk shows and tabloids
host phone ins and views
this culture still spreads
and assaults us with news
of where to point fingers
and who is to blame
when it’s no longer safe
to go out for a game
for this is the feeling
that sadness can bring
lying and crying
behind everything
but this is an action
we can’t understand
he was one of so many
young Everton fans
he was on his way home
on some usual road
and no one minute silence
will lighten this load –
that’s why football
lies back in the shadows

Notes

Our deepest and most sincere sympathies go out to the family and friends of young Rhys, so senselessly gunned down after a summer
game of football in Liverpool, on a nearby park with mates aged 11.
What can his parents and loved ones be feeling about life now, we shudder to think?

I just listened to an hour long debate with young childen expressing their fears, hopes and understanding of what is happening right now. I felt I had to say something, even if words always fall short and wil not change things . What can we do? Two years ago I worked at Everton Study Support Centre with some great kids of Year 4,5 & 6 aged 9,10 and 11. Children , many of them struggling with learning but fresh faced , all races excited to be at the club, driven by football, thinking about their futures. Something I know i struggled with in my youth in London. Today I just feel (again )so very very sad.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/when-football-lies-back-in-the-shadows/?share=google-plus-1