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When The Dynamo Came By

Crispin Thomas

Thursday, May 19th, 2005

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 the war was barely over with expectation high

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 the ground was packed to bursting when the Dynamo came by

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 a deeper motive ruled they say some cold-war ploy or catch

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 such mystery and secrecy surrounded this great match

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 a nation sick of ration books of ruins loss and fear

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 they flocked in thousands just to see those Moscow men appear

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 that mid-week cold November day this hungry London crowd

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 for too long starved of football now free to stand so proud

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 so keen to sample normal things to feel at home once more

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 and to a man their voices stirred the mighty Chelsea roar

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 in uniform and raincoats from boats and camps they came

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 from service for their country to watch this simple game

13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 for though they’d offered ev’ry ounce upon those battle fields

14 Leave a comment on verse 14 0 an atmosphere of carnival their sadness here concealed

15 Leave a comment on verse 15 0 and just to glimpse the action they give their very all

16 Leave a comment on verse 16 0 to risk their lives on railway tracks and scale the highest walls

17 Leave a comment on verse 17 0 one hefty paratrooper who climbed that stand so steep

18 Leave a comment on verse 18 0 fell through the roof and landed in an empty wating seat!

19 Leave a comment on verse 19 0 A woman in some nearby flat was met at her front door

20 Leave a comment on verse 20 0 by hordes of fans all bursting in and asking what’s the score ?

21 Leave a comment on verse 21 0 past long locked gates they swarmed to fill this ground that they adored

22 Leave a comment on verse 22 0 in turnstile mayhem on they swept from terraces they poured

23 Leave a comment on verse 23 0 they stretched up to the halfway line they clung to rooves & signs

24 Leave a comment on verse 24 0 to witness such a spectacle to cast away those times

25 Leave a comment on verse 25 0 of fear and loss of life and limb the misery and pain

26 Leave a comment on verse 26 0 they clamoured to that touch-line to sing and cheer again

27 Leave a comment on verse 27 0 and as the Dynamo appeared a mighty wave did grow

28 Leave a comment on verse 28 0 in gasps of awe they feasted on the skills and styles on show

29 Leave a comment on verse 29 0 their flowers at their kick-offs their unknown passing style

30 Leave a comment on verse 30 0 their ball-control and Russian flair stunned ev’ry man and child

31 Leave a comment on verse 31 0 when hot shot Ivan’s penalty sparked off a roar so loud

32 Leave a comment on verse 32 0 the ball bounced back but not from post – it flew back off the crowd !

33 Leave a comment on verse 33 0 at Stamford Bridge they’ll never know how many there were there

34 Leave a comment on verse 34 0 a hundred thousand maybe more who came to watch and share

35 Leave a comment on verse 35 0 amid such mighty long-gone scenes of one thing it is known

36 Leave a comment on verse 36 0 the score three-three did not reflect the football lesson shown

37 Leave a comment on verse 37 0 nor never could reflect the mood in photos you can spy

38 Leave a comment on verse 38 0 the wonder and excitement when the Dynamos came by

© CT05

Notes

13th Nov 1945. Chelsea 3 Moscow Dynamo 3
Fast approaching the 60th anniversary of a great sporting day in history.
Long gone lessons from this great Russian side of its day. Later the Hungarians were to teach us further lessons. How times change but how apt too, that it took a further 60 years for the first Russian side CSKA Moscow to lift a European trophy this week.

Barely months after the war had ended this extraordinary game aroused the nation. An official attendance of 82,000 was recorded, but that was before gates and walls were breached. When Roy Bentley, then in the Navy, accompanied by two well inebriated matelots, there were close on 25,000 locked outside. Final numbers are impossible to guess, as Roy and many others found various dangereous routes into the stadium. In Roy’s case across a live track and up the back of the stand !

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/when-the-dynamo-came-by/