INNER GOAL Crispin Thomas ~ the poetry of football..a journey in rhyme ~
Published 2007 on Football Poets Books (Paperback)
From rattles, rosettes, women’s football and the trenches to fantasy salaries, racism and mobile phones for goalposts. Inner Goal spans 50 years in a perceptive nod to the People’s Game in verse. 75 poems and 65 haikus with illustrations from football’s maverick performance poet.
“One of the pioneer of football poetry…who ate all the pioneers?
Attila The Stockbroker.
This book sold out on Amazon @ £7.99 I still have some copies left for £5 + P&P. You can pay by Pay Pal . Email me : crispinctm@gmail.com
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The qwerty-something Forest Green Rovers/Chelsea fan is part of Stroud’s stanza squad, the only known collective of football poets in the world. “We’re Swapping Shirts with Shakespeare, that’s how we see it. There is poetry in everything, Football is a fantastic outlet. It’s a release. And writing about it is a release too.” Crispin Thomas ~ ‘Blokes with Balls’ Jeremy Clay
Poems by Crispin Thomas
- Passion Pride & Style ~ Kevin Keegan RIP
- We’ve Been Here Before ~ WC26
- The Man Who Beckhamed Everything ~ WC 26
- England’s Stubborn Wonderwall ~ Mexico WC 26
- hand of Jord haiku ~ Mexico 2-3 England WC26
- Harry Kane Limerick WC26
- unconvincing England haiku WC26
- When England Take On Panama WC26
- England 0-0 Ghana haiku WC26
- intensity haiku ~ England 4-2 Croatia WC26
- Brazil Morroco Haiti Scotland haiku
- world cup hosts haiku
- My New Free World Cup Wall Chart 2026
- Are You Here To Be Part Of It All ? World Cup 26
- What Have You Done To Our World Cup (FIFA) ?
- Suave Marv haiku ~ Marvin Hinton RIP
- When Football Belonged To The Fans
- A Footballer’s Life
- This Is Where It Starts….. Again
- Tell The Rest This : Lionesses Never Stop Believin’
- Winging It Again (Just !) ~ England 2-1 Italy
- Through the Mill & Back Again ~ Euro 2025
- Six Of The Best for Lionesses
- When Your Mojo’s Back ~ England 4-0 Netherlands
- Just Not Your Day~ France 2-1 England
- Women’s Euro Time
- 25 Years On~Football Poets Jun 2000-Now
- The Times That I Saw Denis Play
- Clawing Our Way Back
- This Old Turnstile
- Rave On Sven RIP
- Back For The Start
- Walking Through Woods To A Game
- Caught Up In A Dream (It’s Over)
- Not Quite Full -My Euro 24 Wall Chart (Part 2)
- If This Is Our Time
- Messi’s Baptised Boy
- Straight To Penalties
- When England Take On Switzerland
- To Be An England Fan (After Slovakia)
- England Nil ~ England (Slovenia) Nil
- Scots Dream Over
- The Frankfurt Shuffle (How Low Can We Go)
- England & Netherlands Win E24#3
- Switzeland Spain & Italy Triumph E24 #2
- Germans Set The Bar E24 #1
- My Euro 24 Wall Chart
- David Beckham – Ambassador of Greed
- Remembering Bob ~ Bob Hunt /FGR Match Commentator RIP
- The Poetry of Euro ’24 & Fooball Poets 2000-2024 (Revisited)
- What Did We Do Before 5 Live 1994-2024
- Just To Be A Fan
- One Christmas In The Trenches 1914 (Revisited)
- Terry Venable – The Rock The Fuse RIP
- Brave Bobby Charlton ~ RIP
- When You Win at Last
- Ruined By A Kiss
- Spain Triumph ~ WWC23
- Time To Bring it Home ~ WWC 23
- England & Australia Next WWC ’23
- England & Australia Last Eight Bound ~ WWC ’23
- Morocco & Columbia Make The Last 16 WWC ’23
- England- Denmark- Netherlands & USA (just!) Advance – WWC ’23
- Australia Nigeria Japan & Spain Through WWC ’23
- I’ll Write On My Own~ WWC ’23
- England France & Jamaica Triumph – WWC ’23
- One More Legend Gone -Trevor Francis RIP
- Lionesses Underwhelm haiku~WWC’23
- Winter Dreams in Sydney ~ WWC ’23
- New Zealand 1-0 Norway WWC Haiku
- Within The Women’s Game
- Getting Closer Now
- Come So Far – Women’s World Cup 2023
- Calling Gambling Time
- I Was There : FGR 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday
- You Don’t Know What You’re Doing (BBC)
- Motty
- John Motson ~ The Man The Coat The Mike
- When It’s Time To Go
- Forza Vialli ~ Gianluca Vialli RIP
- The Man Who Designed The Beautiful Game (Pelé )
- One Club Man ~ George Cohen RIP
- Stopping By The Ground On A Snowy Morning
- The Ball~ 2002 to Now
- Let’s Boycott Qatar
- Qatar ~ Not In My Name
- On Running Down The Clock
- No-one Loves It When You’re In The Danger Zone.
- Qatar ~ Will We Watch Or Not?
- The Classifieds Must Stay
- Lionesses Roar As One
- Goodbye Mike’ It’s All About You’ Dean
- This Is How It Feels To Win The League
- What It Means To Be A Refugee
- The Half Time News From Ukraine
- When Floodlights Shine
- Children At A Game
- Football Love Actually ’22
- Fogged if You Do Fogged if You Don’t
- Load more
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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!
Latest Poems
joe morris
8th August 2026
Phil Brennan
3rd August 2026
joe morris
2nd August 2026
Phil Brennan
30th July 2026
joe morris
30th July 2026
Jason Prasad
28th July 2026
Denys E. W. Jones
26th July 2026
joe morris
26th July 2026
Jason Prasad
22nd July 2026
joe morris
21st July 2026
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
28th July 2026 at 9:40 pm
Hi Denys. Thanks for your kind words. I could have mentioned Dixie Dean but decided not to.
Best wishes, mate
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26th July 2026 at 3:47 pm
Great knowledge of Everton history, Joe.
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23rd July 2026 at 6:54 pm
Hi Jason,
Sorry I forgot to congratulate you on your excellent poem as well.
Keep well
Joe
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23rd July 2026 at 6:43 pm
Hi Jason,
Thanks so much for your kind words about Kevin Keegan, a footballer of legendary status and deeply missed.
Best wishes
Joe
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23rd July 2026 at 12:01 pm
Thank you, Crispin. I will defo encorage my bunch to contribute and will of course clear it with staff room.
Many thanks
Jase
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22nd July 2026 at 6:48 pm
Great poem Jase.
You are a man of my own heart …
And great to hear that you your students poems from our site.
Keep on and more please
if ever some of your students write anything suitable for here and most importantly they give you permission to publish them, you can always do so under your name referencing their names and the school..and year.
Best Crispin
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22nd July 2026 at 10:29 am
I think this is best thing I have read so far about the legend. Thanks
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22nd July 2026 at 10:22 am
One of the greats, inspired my generation of school kids in the 80s
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23rd May 2026 at 3:35 pm
Hi Crispin,
Thanks for the featured poem for the Arsenal Premier League victory. I love that photo showing the Arsenal ladies and fans in full rattle and rosette mode. I’ve seen it before quite a few times and, I think, a bit iconic. I think it was before the Gunners victory against Liverpool in the 1950 FA Cup Final. Great photograph.
Thanks
Joe
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8th May 2026 at 4:21 pm
Thanks for that Joe. Yes it’s been some season we had a blip but came out of it and finished strong. A mate of mine supports West Ham here in Coventry and my next door neighbour is a Spurs supporter, and both are getting edgy ! I like the Championship though as it’s competitive and has some good teams, players, and fans. Anyway we are back in the top flight and who knows what will happen ?
Cheers. Kev.
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