Do We Need A National Stadium/ Another Wembley & Where?
Hi -re the poem that follows this………….
i’m sitting here on a deserted and beautiful beach here in Pefkos on Rhodes,Greece having- alone – just watched the sun spectacularly and majestically set as it will have done every ‘night’ for millions and millions of years….here it performs this nightly miracle to empty houses.. regularly..(.in spite of all the atrociites that will have been endlessy committed by man to his fellow man….) and i’m reminded of a poem by the author of that wonderful ode Desiderata..and about how the sun-sets no longer pack them in.. and how sun-rises no longer puts bums on seats …and it got me to thinking about about a place that always used to pack them in…well nearly always (Internastional Hockey and Auto Windscreen Cup Finals excluded)…and so by way of helping me forget about current deep deep fears that make all football poems pale into insignificance…i’ve put this down in the hope one or two out there might share their views….
Originally en-titled Bye Bye Wembley Bye Bye …I finally got to write and be-grudgingly condense this into a sensible length on this quiet beach far away from the sadness and madness around us… it’s taken from countless facts and anecdotes and historical moments (far too many to include)…..and also comes from a long-researched idea and was also kick-started again in Greece this week by an overheard argument among exiled fans here in Pefkos Rhodes …all loudly pontificating and be-moaning the demise and expense of any future national stadium (650 million the latest?)…a raging drunken debate that took place within ear-shot ironcally in-between the relentless and terrifying“Striking Back” Sky News up-dates. so .i’m not sure if the facade of a national staium is much a government priority right now (!) in light of current events… but the place has a place in my heart and maybe more importantly .. be aware that today in Tesco Garage in Stroud you can now buy key-rings made from bits of the old stadium that they’ve dismantled…and that is sad!
the poem follows this….
any thoughts..???? replies to the guest book
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Latest Comments
13th September 2024 at 6:14 pm
Welcome to Football Poets Beth
Great evocative poem Beth….
More please !
Haiku always welcome.
Hope we (FGR) get to play you again soon
Best
Crispin
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26th July 2024 at 6:25 pm
Great poem Mike Bartram. Eddie was a legend, affectionately known in Liverpool as, “the first hooligan.” Even the hoolies were well dressed in those days. The amazing thing was he was only 26 when that picture was taken. He’d played for Everton youth team and was well known to the players. He never got arrested. They threw him out and he climbed back in, just in time for Derek Temples winner.
I used the picture of him being tackled to the ground on the front cover of my book, “Once Upon a rhyme in Football.” It’s worth looking on youtube and finding the re-enactment of the Wembley scene. Frank Skinner and Baddiel went around to Eddies home in the 1990’s and acted it out on the green outside. It’s hilarious, especially all the effort they put in to get Eddie sober enough to shoot the scene.
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10th July 2024 at 6:07 pm
Hi Crispin,
I don’t know if you’ve see the picture in social media today…
a picture of a teenage Lionel Messi cradling a baby in Africa as part of a photoshoot…. the family had won a lottery to have their baby pictured with him….
the photographer has just revealed that the baby is actually in fact Lamine Yamal!!!!
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26th May 2024 at 2:30 pm
Hi Denys…
Re Man City:
OK it was 20 years ago but Criag Wilson did write this and a few others on them back in 04/05.
BTW I’m more Forest Green Rover since 2014 (and Chelsea) these days . I drum and am a standing season ticket holder .
Best
Crispin
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29th April 2024 at 2:47 pm
Hi Denys,
Yes Richard Williams you’re a brilliant wordsmith, my friend. When I first saw your football poetry I thought it was the superb Guardian sports and music writer. I once had the honour of sitting next to Richard Williams while at the Independent on the sports desk. He writes about music and sport with immense knowledge and authority. I’ve read a couple of Richard’s books recently. Great writer rather like you Richard Williams the Pompey fan. Congratulations on promotion.
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28th April 2024 at 5:59 pm
Thanks Denys. Yes your replay poem was superb.
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26th April 2024 at 4:46 pm
Nice work, Joe. You were quick off the mark with that! Good one from Richard Williams too I see.
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25th April 2024 at 7:33 pm
Hi Denys,
Thanks mate. I’ll do it now.
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25th April 2024 at 1:56 pm
Thanks Joe,
you might like to write a poem yourself on the same subject…
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23rd April 2024 at 4:03 pm
Hi Denys
With you all the way on the abolition of FA Cup replays. What are they doing to the game?
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