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Thursday 3 January 2013

Football Fanatics

I'd tossed the coin,
the teams had chosen
and changed ends
when there she was:
tall, willowy, with mucky face,
a teenage lass with grubby pram
in which -- it soon transpired --
a grimy, grim-faced child
with grubby dummy in her mouth.
Small sister. Not 
a baby  and not yet visibly
revealed -- as she would be --
beneath the piled-up
objects in the pram.

They'd come to see their brother score a goal.

Ten minutes later he obliged.
As if by magic,
in big sister's hand:
a rattle -- not a baby's rattle,mark you!
One of those old football rattles
that you never see these days.
Its sound was of a flock of geese
at war with robot ducks.
A world of objects left the pram
on trajectories through the air.

And so for the duration of the match
she ran the line,
kept up with play
whilst pushing pram in one direction;
and pulling it the other,
always with one hand.
And all the time, both pram 
and sister bounced and lurched alarmingly
on the uneven turf.
And every time she whirled her rattle
round her head the pram was emptied
of its objects -- liberally provided
for that purpose,as I had
it told to me between the halves.

He loves his football,
sir, she said. Gets so excited,
so he do!

11 comments:

Tabor said...

Sports are really a family affair!

Ygraine said...

Hehehe:D How I love this. It cheered up this rather gloomy afternoon for me!
Thank you Dave.

Brian Miller said...

ha it is so fun to see when a family gets into the game, esp when one is playing...the feel of support, it does make you want to play all the more....fun to watch them in your verse...

Scarlet said...

How fun Dave that the whole family,including the pram and baby are rattling and waving into the sports ~

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

Splendid picture with great finale.

Eileen T O'Neill ..... said...

Dave,

You provided such a wonderful scene, that I wished it was on film!!! It read like the script for a great Northern life setting; familiar in many families of old days, with raw spirit.
A wonderful story with great emotion!!!
All Good Wishes to you Dave, for the New Year,
Eileen:)

Mary said...

Everyone needs such a fan as this, whether in football or in life!

Cloudia said...

slice of life. . . real incident I'm sure. . . . your memory is a cask...



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Haddock said...

One of those old football rattles
that you never see these days.....
I wish they would bring them back.
Better than those irritating trumpets

Elephant's Child said...

Football was an addiction I left to my brothers. You almost (almost) make me regret the lost family solidarity.

Dave King said...

Tabor
I agree - or it should be!

Ygraine
Thanks for saying so.

Brian
Yes, I'm with you re your first observation. Thanks for the comment.

Heaven
Mmm, I was a bit worried about the rather latge "baby" in the pram and the way the pram tilted as she changed course at times! I'm afraid I watched her at times when I should have been watching the play!

Tommaso
Thanks for this.

Eileen
Thank you so much. reading your reamrks and thinking back to the event I could see it as a film, yes!

Mary
True, very true!

Cloudia
Was a real incident, yes. The first time my son came to see me referee - he couldn't believe his eyes - or ears!

Haddock
Welcome to the blog and thanks for commenting.

The Elephant's Child
I shall take the "almost" as a compliment. Thank you!