"Football for a Fiver"

The billboards say "Twenty's Plenty"
Do they know the value of a score
For tonight at Holmesdale
It would have paid for four.
Sitting in the ramshackle stand
That would fail a health & safety test
I couldn't be more comfortable
That's why I love non-league best.
Before kick-off I speak to their chairman
Catching up chewing the fat
Sharing snippets of gossip
How can you argue with that.
The only thing that stinks
Is the wafting of manure
This might be South London suburbia
But there's horses in fields next door.
A few miles from what I'm used to
And three levels below
But beggars can't be choosers
Where else is there to go.
In truth I'm happy to be here
It's the way I chill
Pre-season v. a Bromley XI
Certainly fits the bill.
No pretence of a programme
Not a groundhopper in sight
Less than a hundred locals
Here for football tonight.
We're not here to tick a box
Or touch a corner flag
Not bothered there's no bit of paper
To place in our plastic bag.
Simply here foe the match
That's what makes me tick
If you want to laugh at me
Go on take the mick.
This might not be Dulwich Hamlet
But I'm easy to please
Contented here at Oakley Road
No "Twenty's Plenty" Premiership sleaze.

Dulwich Poet 26th July 2017

(I wrote this sat in the stand at a pre-season friendly between Holmesdale & Bromley)