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When the Groundsman Rested

Alex Saynor

Sunday, March 16th, 2014

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 When the groundsman rested
from the first autumn freeze,
the mowers were silent
as sun on the leaves

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Lines were unpainted
and dads left unabused referees
at home in the kitchen
with a quick cup of tea

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 When the groundsman rested
from the Laurel Park freeze,
the parents were silent
on how we should win-
‘Get out! Switch on! Release!
Get in!’ A redundancy of tactics
to counter the surface. ‘Squeeze!
Push up! We’re getting boxed in!

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 When the groundsman rested
from the first autumn freeze,
the parents were silent
and the players at peace

© Alex Saynor 2014

Notes

This is designed to capture the Saturday morning feeling of peace and anticipation before a ball is played. Perhaps in this case the players have a further sense of relief that they can concentrate on watching the professionals at work rather than participating themselves. I remember playing at full back for my youth team and having to suffer an endless stream of comments and injunctions from the sideline (not conducive to developing good technique), the most common being ‘get out.’ We played a ridiculously high line which meant that whenever we had the ball we had to rush to the halfway line. This created high scoring games, a lot of pressure on the defence and a lot of angst and misdirected passion from parents.

Editor Note:
No 1 ‘Football Poets on Facebook Nostalgia Poem of The Week’

Moving pastoral piece by Football Poets ‘new boy’ Alex here in a When Saturday (Morning) Comes ‘Peace v Over-Zealous Parents’ vein.


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