Forest Green v Dover Athletic

COYFGR

My seat was down the front, right by the pitch,

With a view right out to open fields, new leaf trees,

Scudding clouds, a grand sky horizon, and two billboards

That tried to send their message down to the New Lawn:

‘Neil Carmichael, A Better and More Secure Future’,

But David Drew was oblivious to this as he walked around the pitch,

As was Dale Vince, applauding the manager at the end,

After the news came through that Macclesfield had only drawn,

And so this team from the little market town of Nailsworth,

Was definitely through to the play-offs.

The afternoon was a great reminder of why football still counts:

The awards to the women’s team denoting some equality of status,

The name Ecotricity, the union jacks in green,

The banner referencing Martin Luther King,

The ground on a street called Another Way,

The vegetarian cuisine in a meat free zone,

The minute’s silence remembering the fire at Bradford City,

Broken only by the sound of a solitary aircraft flying high above,

The boys walking around, rattling their buckets:

‘Any spare change for the youth teams?’

When it’s like this, I can like football again.

See you Wednesday.

COYFGR