100 Favourite Scottish Football Poems

ALISTAIR FINDLAY has had a diverse career, from clay miner to social worker. He has published four previous collections of poetry, including Sex, Death and Football (2003), The Love Songs of John Knox (2006), Dancing with Big Eunice (2010) and Never Mind the Captions (2011).Read Alistair’s profile by Angus Reid in the Morning Star.

Perhaps verse is the ideal field for football’s dreams to be realised. It certainly works wonders on the pages of this effort collected up by Alistair Findlay THE LISTIn other countries, football is taken seriously enough, but only in Scotland is the game woven into the warp and weft of cultural life so seamlessly. That becomes clear when you read Findlay’s latest work, 100 Favourite Scottish Football Poems, an edited odyssey through the nation’s cultural history, seen through the prisms of poetry and football. THE TIMESAs an ex-senior oleyer, he kin descrieve the airt o fitba lik nae ither poet I ken o. LALLANS MAGAZINE

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction1 Scotch Soccer Alexander Scott2 The Bewteis of the Fute-ball Anonymous c 15803 Glasgow, 1960 Hugh MacDiarmid4 Dad Before the Match Derek Bowman5 Unrelated Incidents (4) Tom Leonard6 May 1967 Raymond Friel7 Ball Brian McCabe8 Edwin Muir’s Furst Fitba Liz Niven9 First Gemme Derek Ross10 James:Fitba Daft Janet Paisley11 Herts James T. R. Ritchie12 Twisted Knee George Gunn13 The Best Goal I Ever Scored Angus Peter Campbell14 The Difficulties of Disciplineon the Football Field Brian Whittingham15 St Mirren 3 Aberdeen 1 Angus Peter Campbell16 from The Christmass Bawingof Monimusk, 1739 Reverend John Skinner17 from Boys: In a Crowd George Bruce18 The Coming of the Wee Malkies Stephen Mulrine19 ‘there was that time charlie tully’ Tom McGrath20 from Kynd Kittock’s Land Sidney Goodsir Smith21 from The New Divan (86) Edwin Morgan22 Fitbaaer Duncan Glen23 The Sportsmen Douglas Dunn24 from Oban 1955–1982 Iain Crichton Smith25 Two Skills William Neil26 Alex Young Parry Maguire27 Billy Bremner Parry Maguire28 from Elegy, On The Death Of MrDavid Gregory Late Professor ofMathemetics in the University ofSt Andrews Robert Ferguson29 Jimmy Johnstone Alan Bold30 Composers of music Norman MacCaig31 Parish Football Christopher Salvesen32 Long Ago the Goalie’s Fear Billy Hunter33 Robbie Donny O’Rourke34 Jim Leighton Matthew Fitt35 Johnny Thompson William Hershaw36 from 25 January George MacKay Brown37 Golo, the Gloomy Goalkeeper Adrian Mitchell38 Penalty In Memoriam Jock Stein Colin MacKinnon39 Cothrom Peanais MarChuimhneachan air Jock Stein Cailein MacFhionghain40 Jock Stein Raymond Vitesse41 Penalty G. F. Dutton42 Men Monologue: Annemarie Liz Lochead43 Don’t Cry For Argentina For Me Alastair Mackie44 Argentina 1978 Ron Butlin45 from World Cup 1978: Andy Gray Alan Bold46 Scotland v Argentina, 2/6/79 (amonth after the General Election,3/5/79) Derick Thomson47 Alba v Argentina, 2/6/79(mois as deidh Taghadh naParlamaid, 3/7/79) Ruaraidh MacThomais48 What the Crowd Said William McIlvanney49 John Kennedy, steelwarker,1939–1975 Duncan Glen50 The Good Thief Tom Leonard51 I Think Jesus Would Have Been AtIbrox (Scottish Minister) Alastair Mackie52 Crack Tom Leonard53 Fid. Def. Dennis O’Donnell54 The Fields of Athenry Pete St. John55 The Sash My Father Wore Anonymous c190556 John Knox is Watching theCeltic Match Alistair Findlay57 Identity League Robert Crawford58 Tartan Barmy(tune: ‘Bonnie Dundee’) Alasdair MacIver59 The Big Yin Mike Dillon60 from situations theoretical andcontemporary Tom Leonard61 The Barber-Surgeons toKing James iv Stewart Conn62 The Scottish Junior Cup Final John McCaughie63 Wan Thing Leonard S. Quinn64 The Football Tom Pow65 The Half-Time Dancer James Aitcheson66 After the Game Maurice Lindsay67 Song of the Sub-Welshian W. N. Herbert68 football god Rob Paraman69 Directions Jim Kay70 Bag-men Alistair Findlay71 Anglophobia Hugh McMillan72 The Day That Britain Split Robert Alan Jamieson73 Daddy Edgar’s Pools Mike Harding74 Football Haikus Lorna Waite75 The Oldest Game(from Men on Ice) Andrew Greig76 Girl Footballer Jackie Kay77 The Blues Lilian Anderson78 Scottish League Cup Final, 1959Hearts 2 – Third Lanark 1 Anonymous79 I. M. Davie Cooper, d. March 95 Angus Calder80 In the Bill Nicholson Suite Sarah Wardle81 from The Visitor D. M. Black82 Fi’baw In The Street Robert Garioch83 Green Pairk Days Raymond Vitesse84 Do’ care Bashabi Fraser85 World Cup Summer Julia Darling86 Match of the Day Ken Morrice87 Euro 96: A fan’s farewell John Burnside88 Pittodrie Winter, 4.45 pm Tom Bryan89 Football! Football! Football! Sean O’Brien90 5-a-sides (Bathgate Sports Centre) Alistair Findlay91 from Dunino Stephen Scobie92 from Donald Gorm’s Lullaby Anonymous c 165093 4 football haiku Tom Leonard94 Referee? No Me! Kelty Primary School95 Reserveations(the number 12’s lament) John McGilvray96 Nil Nil Don Paterson97 Denis Law Parry Maguire98 The Entry of ShanklyInto Liverpool Parry Maguire99 Somewhere on theSouth China Sea in 1938 Ian McMillan100 Echaler Ian Stephen101 Fitba Cliché(the ba’s no for eatin) Alistair Findlay102 Glasgow 2015 James Robertson103 Flood-lit Alistair FindlayNotesIndex of Poets