To celebrate National Poetry Day in the UK, we share with you four sporting themed poems celebrating Big Sam's departure as England manager, an ode to darts legend Jocky Wilson, a homage to cricket by Harold Pinter and St Pauli fan Gunther Grass with his "Stadium by Night".
Allardyce Lost (Jim Dolbear) There was a man called Sam. Who said he was up for a scam. He took the bait, Now it’s too late. The F. A. has told him to scram.
(courtesy of the excellent Football Poets (Swapping shirts with Shakespeare)
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Former England national football team manager Sam Allardyce PAUL ELLIS AFP Jocky Wilson Says If I made it as far as Purgatory, I'd swap Virgil for Jocky Wilson , dark locked Achilles of the dart. Unlike Eros and other gods, he knew what he was throwing at holding the moment like a silver quivered space shot bound for the centre of the universe our it's outer limits, quitting the oche with a who-gives-a -flying-fuck acrylic strut through the gloom to a temple of pints and chasers wreathed in delphic Rothmans. Now in Paradise all they talk about is how many angels sit on the tips of Jocky's tungsten arrows.
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Jocky Wilson prepares to throw a dart during the British Open. Bob Martin Getty Images A Cricket Poem (Harold Pinter) I saw Len Hutton in his prime, Another time, another time.
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Harold Pinter Stadium by Night Slowly the football rose in the sky Now it could be seen that the stands were packed. Alone the poet stood at the goal But the referee whistled; Off-side.
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German author and Nobel literature laureate Guenter Grass signs books and gives interviews at the Leipzig Book Fair. Hermann Bredehorst Polaris