Football Poets

Southend win the FA Trophy

So let’s hear it for the
Oppressed and downtrodden
The voices rarely heard
In any reference to
Football’s daily conversations
Southend United, yes indeed
The Shrimpers from the balmy
Essex Riviera
The seaside boys are back
Winners of the FA Isuzu Trophy
Yes, you heard it correctly
Football is on first name terms
With pick up trucks
Sponsored by Land Rovers?
Or maybe you were imagining it
You really couldn’t make it up
But yesterday good, old
Southend, who once
Dropped into the game’s desolate
Wastelands and then were seemingly lost
In the frozen wilderness
Of the unknown and going
Nowhere and obscurity
But on Sunday the limelight
Beckoned again
Bouncing back into the public domain
National League now, sadly
But at Wembley over the weekend
The Kursaal was spinning
Flashing its approval and
The Adventure Island
Theme park, bursting
With childhood joy
Southend, recapturing its
Nostalgic youth
The cockles and welks
Traditional fish and chips
Still defining the Essex coast
Football was their therapy,
It was the ultimate release
The boys in yellow had done it
Southend on Sea
The place we embraced
As kids and adults
Since the game and Southend
Are timeless charms
In our imagination
On Sunday, Wealdstone
Were wiped from the
Sporting map
Put in their place
Getting their comeuppance
Because Southend said so
Quite categorically
This time it went to penalties
It always did
Coats for goalposts
Those were the days
Time to blow the trumpets
For dear, lovely Southend
Sing their praises
We do love to be beside the
Seaside, there they go
Those plucky promenaders
Strolling towards the pier
With a whistle and song
In their hearts and minds
Southend, the club we once
Mocked and forgot
Trophy winners at Wembley
Now that was the sentence
We never thought we’d utter
So the next time you’re
Down Southend way
Perhaps nearby Leigh on Sea,
Your second home as a child
Westcliff, an ice cream please
Your lovely, obliging mum and dad
Always remembered their
Precious offspring
Or even Chalkwell and
Never overlooking Canvey Island
Who once caught the headlines
Sunday lunchtime with
BBC cameras trained
On heaving, teeming terraces
But for Southend on Sunday
It was fleeting fame for
Just a while, it was a
Fond throwback to the past
When Southend played their game
On mud, snow and rain
But not the sandy beaches
Of salubrious Southend
The bucket and spade brigade
Were ready to sample the candy floss
Of victory
And then lifted the FA trophy
Never underestimate the Shrimpers
They were always in the mood music
Far away at times, but
Unmistakably here and now
Back in the big time
Always on our mind

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