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The football scores

The early April afternoon was glorious.

The daffs were out, I felt Wordsworthian.

You’d come down from York to look

at houses. We caroused that evening

with old friends in the Railway Tavern –

they used to serve a lovely drop there,

now apartments handy for the station –

talking football as usual,

about our bankrupt team’s past triumphs,

and how we’d probably never fight in a war.

 

Went back to your parents’ place for coffee.

Your dad had seen placards in the tube

ordering Paras to return to Aldershot.

We switched on the BBC at midnight;

Argies 1, England 0. Where in the world …?

And then, heads swimming,

the final straw; Chelsea football club

had been bought for £1 by the vice-chairman

of Wigan. For one beer-befuddled moment

I wasn’t sure which news was more serious.   

◄ The morning after

The news from Ukraine ►

Comments

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Greg Freeman

Fri 4th Mar 2022 09:42

Thanks for your comments, Steve and John. The Roller Hockey World Cup, eh? And for the Likes, Graham, JC, Stephen, and Holden. The other strange parallel is that we're planning to move back up north again, for the first time in almost 40 years. But that's taking things too far ...

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John Botterill

Thu 3rd Mar 2022 21:11

I love the style of your reminiscence, Greg. All football fans will know your pain and confusion. I think I've been in The Railway Arms,,,

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Stephen Gospage

Thu 3rd Mar 2022 17:16

Everyone has memories of that time, Greg. I was in Portugal, where Argentina beat England 8-0 in the Roller Hockey World Cup. A certain amount of celebration, you may imagine.

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Greg Freeman

Thu 3rd Mar 2022 08:09

I wrote this poem several years back, about an event that happened almost 40 years ago ... the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands. Ownership of Chelsea football club changed hands on the same day back then ... for £1. The purchaser was a Mr Ken Bates. By an odd coincidence of war and football the same thing is happening again now ... although this time the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who bought Chelsea from Bates in 2003 for £140m, wants several billions to sell the club, it is said.

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