|

God 1 Satan 4

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 October 1955 and Dalymount was packed,
Despite the fervent protests that were made.
The clergy in their wisdom tried to get the friendly blacked,
Led by the Archbishop, John McQuaid.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 The Yugoslavs were communist, and therefore ‘twas a sin
To play them in a football international.
Why should God-fearing people have to take it on the chin?
The game was both immoral and irrational.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Outside the ground, before the game, there was much demonstrating,
As Cath’lic Ireland vent its moral spleen,
And Philip Greene, for just one match, gave up his commentating,
And Dev was called upon to intervene.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 But soccer fans are often quite an atheistic breed,
Except when football miracles are needed,
And Dalymount that afternoon was very full indeed,
As the pleas of the Archbishop went unheeded.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 The Yugoslavs had little horns and strangely cloven feet,
[An accusation Tito had refuted]
They smelled of fire and brimstone and gave off an eerie heat,
And transformed into serpents when it suited.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 And so it came as no surprise, the Yugoslavs scored four,
‘Gainst just a solitary Irish goal.
The march of Christianity was shaken to the core,
And the late Archbishop wept for Ireland’s soul.

Notes

Dev = Eamonn Devalera, Ireland’s Taoiseach at the time.
Curiously, one of the Yugoslav goalscorers on the day was called Vaselinovic. By all accounts, he was a bit of a slippery customer, though when under pressure, he tended to go to jelly.

Source: https://footballpoets.org/poems/god-1-satan-4/