We’d won the World Cup

But they wanted it back!

So the games that we played

Would last all day.

There’d be big kids

And small kids

At different times

But the games that we played

Would never end.

And maybe we won

Or maybe we lost

I can’t really

Tell you and that’s

Because

We’d each keep the score

There’d be more than one

We each had our own

And believed we’d won.

Three figure scores

Would be the norm.

With jumpers for goal posts

Or maybe a tree

We’d fight to defend

That victory.

They couldn’t speak English

We couldn’t speak Deutsch

The game did the talking

And that was enough.

It didn’t get nasty

It didn’t get rough

But agreeing on rules

Was sometimes tough.

We still thought a shoulder barge

Quite okay

And didn’t leave goalies

To have their own way.

‘Englander fussball’

Is what we would say.

They’d say ‘Deutschlander football’

And tug on your shirt.

We played against Germans

From miles around.

Aggrieved by that goal

And with scores to settle

The Germans were out

To test our mettle.

So I played for my country

And in a small way

I feel like part

Of that history.

Not quite through yet. Where will this end?