Do You Remember Your Old Cup Final Days?

Do you remember your old Cup Final days,

the only live match all season,

that you could watch on the television,

instead of wall to wall

blanket coverage,

the pull out special in the pages

of your newspaper of choice,

the pencil drawings

and the managers looking on

with pride having achieved mortality

for a few weeks and the songs

from the terraces as the day grew closer,

the interviews on the bus

and the poet, always one,

coming up with a piece that

emulated a popular song of the day

and for a while he would be the go to man

with scarf round his head

but being intellectually different

to the ones being honest

as they cheered c’mon Arsenal

three finals in a row, or the 100th when

the cockerel sang to the tune of Ossie,

when Ipswich and Southampton

made the big boys blush

when West Ham and Brooking were the talk of the town

that night

and kids would disappear at half time

as the Watney’s party seven would mingle

in the box with mother’s glass of sherry,

only to shake as the window became a goal

and granddad would appear raging

for the noise

and yet as soon as the second half started

he would be banging the sides of his trusty armchair

and bring the neighbourhood into disrepute

as he called the referee every colourful name

under the blue Wembley skies from

a hundred miles away.

The pen pictures, the build up and excitement,

the media on the team bus as they approached Wembley Way,

this was the point of the Saturday in May,

before the cricket got into full swing,

one last hurrah

for the foot of Liam Brady,

the knowledge of Pearson,

of Tommy Caton in bubbled hair

and Steve Mackenzie’s volley

be still my beating heart,

of half time brass band and Abide With Me…

all memories of the Cup Final Day.

 

Ian D. Hall 2017