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Young versus Old in Irwell Road (Little Hulton, Salford)

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Down our Little Hulton Irwell Road,

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 it’s: ‘Young versus Old’.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Us lads don’t want to play with toys,

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 we want to play football and make a noise.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 We play from morning till night;

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 sometimes under the street light

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 and sometimes in the garages

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 for our real ‘championship games’.

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 but Mrs Harrison tells us to move

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 and calls us all kind of bad names…

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 ‘I’ll let you know..I don’t approve!

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 and she even threatens to keep our ball

13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 if it goes over her garden wall.

14 Leave a comment on verse 14 0 I sometimes wonder

15 Leave a comment on verse 15 0 if these ‘old fogies’ ever played football in the road?

16 Leave a comment on verse 16 0 and how can we ever make it,

17 Leave a comment on verse 17 0 if we don’t have the chance to fake it?

18 Leave a comment on verse 18 0 We want to pretend we’re Bolton, United or City

19 Leave a comment on verse 19 0 in fact whoever we ‘wanna be’…

20 Leave a comment on verse 20 0 we just want to be free to play football in the road.

21 Leave a comment on verse 21 0 Old folks if only you’d come and see

22 Leave a comment on verse 22 0 us boys play football in the street

23 Leave a comment on verse 23 0 you’d see real talent at every poor lads feet,

24 Leave a comment on verse 24 0 you’d see Bolton beat United six three

25 Leave a comment on verse 25 0 and players like Shaun, Andy, Kevin and me.

26 Leave a comment on verse 26 0 To us there is nothing better than…

27 Leave a comment on verse 27 0 playing football in our Irwell Road.

28 Leave a comment on verse 28 0 Please don’t stop us because you’re old!

29 Leave a comment on verse 29 0 by Simon Icke

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Notes

This poem is written from childhood memories during the 1960s on a Little Hulton council estate called Mount Skip, (part of the ‘Salford overspill’, that was built in the 1950s). Simon Icke is also the author of Touchline Shouting ; a poem that is now used throughout the UK by junior football clubs as an example of good adult behaviour on the touchline; when watching children play the game. Simon also the publisher of Poetry in Motion Football! Football! Football! an anthology of Football poems published on behalf of Aston Clinton School in 1998 and featured on Football Poets website.
Editor Note : Great to hear from you Simon.Hope all is well.best C

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/young-versus-old-in-irwell-road-little-hulton-salford/