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Windrush generation

Clik The Mouse

Friday, June 23rd, 2023

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Stepping out onto Albion’s shores
from the ironsides of Windrush
came future friends
future trends
future stars

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 they assimilated….
but it was a struggle
as the Muggles of middle minded England
welcomed with negative force
and with a narrative both crusty and coarse…
No Blacks
No dogs
No Irish

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 and Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of blood” speech:
the leeches
of National Front, spray painting “KBW”
added their bile….
and yet all the while
we loved the style
that grew into our game….

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 The Three Degrees
Viv Anderson’s first cap
Luther Blissett’s first goal
Paul Ince’s tenure as Captain
JB’s wonder goal against Brazil….

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 all “Progressively moving Britain on”
and enriching our game….
all those banana lobbers
should hang their heads in shame

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Clyde Best featured too
I grew up watching him on The Big Match
and then watched non-plussed from the terraces, as our own…
Paul Canoville, Keith Dublin and Keith Jones
were abused with verbal sticks and stones
from those all around me.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 It still astounds me
to this day
how racism
ever held so much sway

Notes

inspiration?

Watching the wonderful poet Benjamin Zephaniah and his documentary:
Standing Firm: Football’s Windrush Generation.

It’s his line I have quoted in the poem above….
“Progressively moving Britain on”

And I loved his poem that he closed out with, which definitely counted as a Football Poem!

Big shout out too, to Nikita Parris, ladies footballer for England, who featured too. I loved her quote:
“I wear the badge of England with pride, and I wear the colour of my skin with just as much pride.”

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/windrush-generation/