Poem ~ Kick a Football to the Front - Thursday, 19 November 1914

A discussion was made,

Between the war Office

Recruiting Department,

And the secretary

Of the Football Association -

The purpose, to create

‘Interesting innovations,’

For future football matches.

Football and recruiting

Seem an ideal situation, 

Where men gather,

To make a captive audience.

The psychology of team

Against another team, should

Capture their fighting attention.

Meetings will most likely

Be held in the grounds,

Where prominent men

Will speak -

At half time Intervals,

And at the end of a match.

Then a band will march,

From the ground,

To a recruiting station -

Like the Pied Piper,

Leading men to join the forces.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1914. Football and the War – Aid to Recruiting. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 19 Nov. p.10. Col.2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11232260/Daily-Telegraph-November-19-1914.html [Accessed: 19th November 2014].

Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 19 November 2014). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11232260/Daily-Telegraph-November-19-1914.html

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