Psycho-Geographical Wizard of the Dribble
Train driver turned teacher (and still tutoring in schools after all these years) Stuart has played for Swindon Boys in football and rugby and played competitive football in the Swindon League.
A self confessed “wizard of the dribble, feint and body swerve”, he founded Stroud Football Poets with Dennis Gould in 1996 after trying to get Dennis to perform his football poems. Stuart was told to write his own first – which he did.The site itself launched in June 2000 when original web-master Dave Cockcroft , Stuart and Crispin entered their first few poems . The rest is history.
Since that Damascene moment, Stuart has also written a variety of plays about his locality, which have been recorded: the tramp poet W. H. Davies, the Spanish Civil War, Laurie Lee, the co-operative movement, and WW1 have all featured within his oeuvre.
Stuart is more of a psycho-geographical writer these days, and regularly leads performative history and literature in the landscape walks: his next one is a Weavers and Workhouse walk for the Stroud Fringe. He is also currently involved in the writing, direction and production of a film about the Chartists.
Following years of dedicated editorial work on page and stage since its inception, Stuart still plays an integral part, both as contributor and live performer with Football Poets. His most recent performances include in 2014 & 2015 the Football Poets acclaimed theatre/music/spoken word production: Trenchcoats for Goalposts ~ Christmas Truce 1914. This show is also being performed in Gloucestershire this Winter 2016.
He blogs regularly at A Guide to the Radical History of Stroud and the Five Valleys and has a new website called Radical Stroud.
Pic1:An extract from A Christmas Truce poem by Stuart appears in Nancy’s autobiography.(Bless!)
Pic 2: Stuart & Crispin Live @ Stroud Fringe.
Poems by Stuart Butler
- Happy Wednesdays
- Watching Brazil Haiku
- Pilgrim’s Progress
- When Saturday Comes To Brimscombe
- 1960-61 Close Season
- Now ~ Swindon Town v Forest Green Rovers
- Good Afternoons
- Get Me To The Match on Time
- Stroud Strollers: Walking Football
- Rough Musick
- It’s Coming Home
- Come On England ~ Revisited
- St George 2021
- Get Your Book Out Ref
- Memories are Made of This
- Turkey v Italy haiku
- Rodborough Robin Trail ~ It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
- Christmas Past and Present Again
- Christmas Eve (Revisited)
- For John Summerbee
- Football Railway Time
- David Dangerfield’s Dad’s Boots
- It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
- A Swindon Town Remembrance Pilgrimage
- An FGR and Walter Tull Declamation
- Early morning hopeful haiku
- Football’s Coming Home at The Prince Albert
- On Charles Dickens watching England win on Pennos haiku
- On Germany Losing Two Haiku to Nil
- Kane haiku
- Another Way to Moscow haiku
- The Best Goal I Ever Scored
- Why I must support Swindon Town at Forest Green
- The Soul of Forest Green
- Keats Moore Likely Lads+Baudrillard @ Crown/Sceptre
- The Sea is Calm Tonight
- Swapping Shirts with Shakespeare: Dover v Forest Green
- Swapping Shirts with Shakespeare
- Refugees Welcome
- FGR vs Bristol Rovers
- COYFGR ~ Forest Green v Dover Athletic
- Forest Green Rovers and WW1
- Jack Russell and Edward Hogg
- The Sainsbury’s Advertisement
- Football In The Trenches (Thankfully Revisited)
- Live and Let Live
- The 1914 Truce in Context
- Swapping Shirts with Shakespeare World Cup Haiku
- Figuratively Speaking Haiku
- Christmas 1914
- Football on Robben Island haikus~revisited
- Shortwood United versus Port Vale
- Football Time: Second Half
- Christmas Eve
- Remembrance Day
- The Early 1950s: “Seen but not Heard”
- He Even Makes the Trains Run On Time
- Fascist Football Managers
- Walking away from the Game
- The Rovers
- Pythagoras and Dale Vince are Cool Haiku
- Octopus Haiku
- The End of Illusion
- England 1 Germany 4 Haiku
- England: From Bad to Worse Kick and Rush Haiku
- New England Coat of Arms Haiku
- “So Come On England” Haiku
- World Cup and Refugee Week, 14th-20th June: Haiku
- England v The U.S.A.
- FOOTBALL ON ROBBEN ISLAND HAIKUS
- Chris Waddle Paradox Haiku
- Nil Nil Haiku
- Haiku 9
- Haikus 7 and 8
- “Bloomin’ Football: A Football Pilgrim’s Progress
- World Cup Haikus 1- 6
- One World 2010
- The Usual
- Fulham versus Swindon Town
- On Being a Fan 1 and 2
- On Being a Football Pundit
- From the Pools to a Sea of Debt
- Another Year
- Why do we go even though we know it’s Rubbish?
- The Premiership
- Blue Remembered Quills
- No More Narcissi Anymore
- A Straight Line Through a Revolution
- The Past is a Different Country
- Crewe 0 Swindon 0 Haiku
- Swindon 2 Forest 1 Haiku
- Mr. Mclaren Haiku
- Rodborough Allotments
- Moving Sphere Haiku
- Trade Winds
- Steve Mclaren Freudian Haiku Moment
- Give us back Our Game Haiku
- Cup Final Tickets Haiku
- MEMORIES AND MYTHS
- Alan Ball and his Dad
- Load more
About This Site
Welcome to Football Poets -- a club for all football poets, lovers of football and lovers of (alternative) poetry. Discover poets in every league from respected internationals at the top of their game to young hopefuls in the school playground.
Publish your football poems here and then discuss them with your team mates and fans. We're archived by The British Library, so your masterpieces are in the safe hands of a world-class keeper. What a result!
My Account
Latest Poems
Phil Brennan
21st September 2023
John Gilbert Ellis
20th September 2023
joe morris
20th September 2023
Phil Brennan
19th September 2023
John Gilbert Ellis
19th September 2023
joe morris
17th September 2023
Gacina Bozidar
16th September 2023
joe morris
15th September 2023
Phil Brennan
13th September 2023
John Gilbert Ellis
12th September 2023
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
20th September 2023 at 1:37 pm
Lovely stuff for one of the best.
We love him to death down at the Palace.
I’ll post my Roy poem a bit later. You’ve inspired me to finish it.
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19th September 2023 at 5:06 pm
I’d like to think some of my scarves might get passed down the generations, but can’t see some of the “quality merchandise” I have making much past my son’s generation. They’ll fall apart before he even has kids, I reckon!
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7th September 2023 at 2:43 pm
Very true Crispin. Thanks!
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3rd September 2023 at 6:55 pm
Play Up Pompey indeed Richard .
My first ever proper game when i was 10 was Chelsea 7-4 Pompey on Xmas morning 1959, Greavesie got 4.
First visited Fratton Park with Chelsea (2-2) and stood among loads of sailors back in the old Second Dvision early 60s . That’s when I first heard the Pompey Chimes..
Last visited in the mid 2000s to run a football poetry workshop on racism with local young students in the Study Centre you had then at the time.
Had a great chat with some of your fans when you came here to Forest Green last season…
best wishes
Crispin
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1st September 2023 at 7:17 pm
Cliché heaven or hell..we get it all
Welcome to Football Poets John
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28th August 2023 at 10:54 am
Thanks Crispin – noted re the boxer! Never know, perhaps we’ll get Forest Green in the cup… or Chelsea!
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27th August 2023 at 4:47 pm
Hey Rowan
Tough line up of opening fixtures but werlcome to the National League and to Football Poets.
I’ve often passed your ground but never actually been.
Had to remove the boxert poem , sorry ….only poems about football, though i did read your tenuous link!
best wishes
Crispin -Editor
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6th August 2023 at 3:46 pm
Don’t worry Apollo, I have examined the evidence on YouTube – he looks great, the real deal!
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7th July 2023 at 5:26 pm
Let’s Hope for your sake Denys, that he doesn’t turn out to be from La-la-Land!
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1st July 2023 at 6:33 pm
Lovely imagery in your Blyth poem Greg
C
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