Walter Tull and Family History
It was a typically dank Remembrance Day,
When I biked out to Lydiard Millicent,
Through Wiltshire lanes and sodden yellow leaves;
I went to see Mr. Arthur Tull, a relation of my mum’s,
Who had a family tree going back, he reckoned,
To the 18th century seed drill Tull, good old Jethro.
We didn’t discuss the fact that 4% of white Britons
May well have black slave ancestry,
Nor did the TV show any West Indian or Asian old soldiers
Marching beneath the umbrellas, laying any wreaths,
And when we talked football and the good old days,
We didn’t mention Walter Tull, Tottenham inside left
Until he was traumatised by Bristol City bigots,
Back in those imperial golden days before the Great War.
Walter, the London grandson of a slave,
Transferred to Northampton Town,
Then courted by Grimsby and Glasgow Rangers,
Until he joined the 1st Football Battalion,
The Middlesex Regiment,
Fighting on the Somme and maybe meeting my footballing granddad,
Becoming a sergeant, and then 2nd lieutenant Tull,
The 2nd ever black professional footballer,
And the 1st ever black officer in the British Army.
2nd Lieutenant Walter Tull,
Once a printer, grandson of a slave, orphaned son of a joiner,
KIA 25th March 1918, aged 29,
Eulogised by his Commanding Officer,
“The battalion and company have lost a faithful officer
and personally, I have lost a friend”,
And so popular with his men,
That they repeatedly tried to get him back,
As he lay dead in No Mans’ Land,
He must have had the common touch, Walter,
Even though he was an uncommon man.
But I didn’t discuss any of this with Arthur,
How could I? I hadn’t heard of Walter 20 odd years ago –
But next season, when Swindon play at Northampton,
I’ll visit his Garden of Remembrance,
And I’ll take a poppy from me and one from Arthur,
And one from my dad and my grandad
And one from my brother-in-law,
And his dad from Bristol City,
So the future can reclaim the past
And so the past can redefine the future,
A future of comradeship way beyond the confine of colour.
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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!
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Latest Comments
19th November 2023 at 1:45 pm
Thanks Gacina, glad you liked it, and I have just posted a new one about our points deduction…
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7th November 2023 at 6:34 pm
Today B.B.C post on F.B was titled:Premier League reduced to 18 clubs? I really think it may be interesting to see if this would be Everton’s nightmare and this poem is well suited for this concern.If there would be more difficult battle to stay if there were 18 teams.Great poem and somehow true.
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6th November 2023 at 4:43 pm
Ashington FC have launched a £50,000 Crowdfunder appeal to meet the increased costs of winning promotion last season, to pay for urgent stadium improvements, travel costs and equipment
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31st October 2023 at 4:26 pm
‘Three Teams Worse Than Us’ from our Toffee friend Denys in Italy, also sums up how FGR fans currently feel. Yes, in our case, with two going down to the Conference, it could be entitled ‘Two Teams Worse Than Us’, but three would make us feel even safer.
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6th October 2023 at 11:49 pm
Enjoy it while you can, although I’m sure Mbappe could well be bound for St James
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2nd October 2023 at 1:52 pm
There still remains a magic about the early rounds of the FA Cup that the premier league / internationals can never match.
Coventry Sphinx v Leicester Nirvana sounds so much more than a tale of two cities etc. etc.
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24th September 2023 at 5:14 pm
Very accurate indeed!
Palace home for me is always a tough journey as well. From the wilds of west London to Selhurst is a random journey into the unknown.
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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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