Poem ~ Football at the Front - Wednesday, 20 January 1915

Source: File: Football in air.jpg, 2015. 9 Facts About Football In The First World War By Amanda Mason, Historian. 18 January 1915. [online] Available at:< http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/9-facts-about-football-in-the-first-world-warImperial War Museum > [Accessed: 20 January 2015].

A father of two soldiers received letters

From his sons, in their frontline postings

Of January days - talking of eagerness,

For football and their frontline games.

On 15 January one son tells how a good

Day was had on the 14th - that afternoon

They beat another brigade battalion,

Three nil in a soccer game - the day being

Concluded by an enjoyable boxing match.

Among the attendees had been a dignitary

By name of General Sir Douglas Haig -

On that day,15 January, made a mixed own

Team with some chaps of the Flying Corps

Set to play 'rugger 'against West Ridings.

The son says how he organises one side,

While brother Jack in organises the match -

To gain support from the major for a lorry,

To carry the eager rugby players both ways.

Mention is made of one man - now absent

Being lost – young Freddy Turner a player

Who would have enjoyed seeing the contest;

A Sunday letter explains the rugby result.

The lad told how himself and Toggy Kendall

Played half - the game seemed a hour-play

Was actually only 25 minutes each way -

He notes how the West Ridings were in fact,

Undertaking a lot of training - playing many

Matches - and admits to his team loss, 10 nil.

The son went to state how the football game

Turned out to be’ rotten’ - butit gave good

Exercise with the result was that he could

Hardly move the next day – luxury came

In a lunatic asylum, by the gaining of a bath.

Afterwards they dined at six pm with Liverpool

Scottish - then a concert whose entertainers

Were better than usual regimental crowds

At the end a return to quarters was marked

By facing into gales and rain for the whole

Desperate walk back - getting there for 2 a.m.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. Sport at the Front –‘ Rugger’ Behind the Lines. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 20 Jan. P.13. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11345903/Daily-Telegraph-January-20-1915.html [Accessed: 20 January 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 20 January 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11345903/Daily-Telegraph-January-20-1915.html

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