IM. BOBBY CHARLTON 

                                                                                                                                                  

b. Oct 1937 d. Oct 2023

 

To BOY BASTIN and ALEX JAMES of THE ARSENAL

whom I’ve heard about many many times 

from my dad

To ‘ACE’ HASKOW of BARNET

who had a Wing Commander’s moustache

and flew down the wing like a Spitfire

and was 

‘The best footballer in the world’

for a very short time

To ‘BALDY HOGAN’ of BURHILL UNITED

who never gave up 

and probably still plays every week 

in the pages of the ‘Adventure’ magazine

To FRANK SWIFT of MANCHESTER CITY

who was killed incredibly 

in the Munich air crash

To BILLY STEEL of DERBY COUNTY

who still volleys the ball

from the pages of my

‘Stanley Matthews Football album’

for 1949

To STANLEY MATTHEWS of BLACKPOOL

whom I watched every time he came to London

because I knew he was

‘The Best Footballer in the world’

To the entire SPURS TEAM of 1951

who were my 

‘LILYWHITE BOYS’

and signed my autograph book

at a cricket match

To LEN SHACKLETON of SUNDERLAND

who was magical player

on his good days

and I once saw him on a good day

To FERENC PUSKAS and the HUNGARIAN TEAM 

who toppled our heroes in 1953

and changed everything

To MANCHESTER UNITED

who were slaughtered at Munich

and I couldn’t believe it

’til I got home from junior school

and listened to the radio

To the SPURS TEAM of 1961

who were very nearly as good

as the  SPURS TEAM of 1951 

To EUSEBIO da SILVA FERREIRA of PORTUGAL

who nearly won the World Cup by himself

To BOBBY CHARLTON of MANCHESTER UNITED

whose high-stepping gallop

and thunderbolt shooting

is one of the great sights of English football

 

with

respect

incredible envy

and love

from Jeff Cloves

 

1966

 

 

NOTE

this poem was first published

in the football edition of my magazine Poetsdoos in 1967

to celebrate England winning the World Cup

‘Poetsdoos’ is a Dutch word

(pronounced Pootsdos I believe) 

meaning shoe shine box

and was a nod to The Provos

a bunch of environmental anarchists in Amsterdam

who launched the Free White Bicycles campaign

 

 

 

 

 

 

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