A welcome in June 2009
In June 2009, we welcomed the following new contributors to this site :
And we welcome back, a blast from the past :
Clare Farrell who last posted in July 2005.
A welcome to all our contributors from Ecton Village Primary, Northants school :
Ashley, Vincent, Connor, yr 3,4
And :
Eroll, Lauren, Willow
Click on the names above to see that person’s poem(s), or browse some selected first efforts below :
NOTHING RHYMES WITH HALF TIME
So welcome back to the second half of this stanza
If you were with us in the first half you’ll have seen how close both teams came to completing this set of verse. So near, and yet so far, it
seemed. Always just that little bit short of a line ending. Perhaps, on reflection the substitution in the closing moments of a relatively unexciting first half of IAMBIC PENTAMETER (recently signed on a record transfer fee from the Greek side) will surely lend a big question mark, or maybe, dare I say, a full stop to the proceedings. Two bookings in that half, sorry to say. One in a slim pamphlet, the other in an expensive leather-bound volume. Injuries too, I hear, one player stretchered off with a wrenched syntax, the other with a metrical foot.
Don’t forget the winners of this game go on to meet Spondee in the second round play off, should be quite a game.
By the way we hear now that FC Canto are going down at home to Anapest Town, bit of a disappointment there, they haven’t conceded a set of verse since last season. Right, I think we’re ready to start the second half. Incidentally, we hear that during that Canto/Anapest derby one player sent off for using free verse . If you’ve just come in the score is Literature 0 Football 5. Just to remind you you can watch edited highlights of this poem on Match of the Day starting at 10:15 tonight. But if you don’t want to know the ending of this poem, LOOK AWAY NOW
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© JOHN CALVERT
Have to confess, i’m not a footie fan, however thought it might be fun to try and marry football and literature. I perform this regularly at gigs, and fingers crossed, it seems to work!! hope you like it. John
Ode to Eric Cantona
Eric by name
exciting by nature,
but above all creative through the spirit.
Enough so to have an army
follow him through the battalions
of confused referees and officials.
How I’ll weep the day you depart,
my eyes no longer rumpled
by your sheer magical flicks.
The ground is left unharmed.
The turf has lost its predator.
© Clare Farrell
Back at the Top
I’m a Leeds fan, that much ’tis true
And I’ve got a message for all of you
The haters, instigaters who scream and who shout
They label us ‘dirty’ they want us kicked out
One day, I say, we’ll be back at the top
And every Tom, Dick and Harry will STILL have a pop
For living the dream (whatever that means)
But the ‘dirty Leeds’ slogan will run out of steam
No heartbreak in the playoffs, no ‘sleeping giants’
Just look at Billy’s statue if you need to be inspired
The East stand, the West, the South and the Kop
Will be ‘marching on together’ back to the top
© Dan Jackson
A fun day for football
The sun is shining
The birds are singing
The ball is rolling
Into the NET!
Its been an hour
I’ve scored a hat-trick
I think i’m winning
Victory
is on its way
The sun is shining
The birds are singing
The ball is rolling
Into the NET!
© Ecton village primary : Eroll, Lauren, Willow
we wrote by singing it like a football chant.
Teamwork
One touch, two touch
Teamwork means so much
Football is great
You play it with a mate
Football is such fun
When you play it in the sun
One touch, two touch
Teamwork means so much
Balance on your foot
Balance on your head
Balance like a chicken
Well done ” he said ”
One touch, two touch
teamwork means so much
The first time I scored
It was so great
I scored one more
Then scored another eight
One touch, two touch
Teamwork means so much
© Ecton village primary : Ashley, Vincent, Connor
Ashley,Connor,Vincent wrote this after a football lesson by a visiting footballer.
somebody suggested I should get off my bike…
not unreasonably, as my scribbles don’t do justice to the beautiful countryside of County Galway…
I’ll take solace from the fact they didn’t suggest I should get on my bike…. 😉
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!
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Latest Poems
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Mike Bartram
15th April 2025
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Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
24th April 2025 at 1:05 pm
Hey Denys..love this
“You may be a miner working down a pit.
You may be a rock star playing sold out gigs.
You may be a fireman putting out a blaze.
You may be an inmate chalking off the days. ”
Not just Dylan but maybe an unintentional nod to and shades of Ian Dury’s enigmatic ‘What A Waste’ rhythmic scanning..eg:
I could be the driver in an articulated lorry
I could be a poet I wouldn’t need to worry
I could be a teacher in a classroom full of scholars
I could be the sergeant in a squadron full of wallahs
What a waste
What a waste
Was lucky enough to meet and interview him twice.
Best wishes from Forest Green to Genoa C
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8th March 2025 at 2:34 pm
Thanks Crispin
I’ve been to FGR a couple of times in the past – great food! Barnet look like they have the NL sewn up for this season, but I wish you well for promotion next season.
Regards, Beth
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11th January 2025 at 8:13 am
TO ADD THIS TO THIS POEM’S COMMENT:WELCOME BACK DAVID MOYES!!!
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27th November 2024 at 5:55 am
‘You’re Supposed To Be At Home’ is an excellent and moving poem Denys.
You start off thinking it’s just about another oft-sung chant, one we personally heard a lot last season throughout our second relegation in a row here at Forest Green(FGR) ! I always love poems where you think they are saying one thing and then they suddenly pull you deeper to somewhere or something else else.
I’m currently helping in a local school for FGR in a voluntary capacity using football to help young students with reading. At an upcoming session we will tackle racism, just like we did in workshops at football schools and grounds when we first started this site 24 years ago. I’m gonna try and weave your poem into a session.
We’ve added it to the Anti- Racism/Kick It Out section under Crispin’s Corner.
Best C
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26th November 2024 at 1:59 pm
Great poem and great to see you back Wyn.
Don’t leave it so long next time my friend!
More please.
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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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