"Once An Enemy..."

Non-League football it's all a changing
New divisions brought in
Traditional footprints
Dumped in the bin.
But no matter where you play
No matter where you travel
Football would be all the poorer
If rivalry began to unravel.
Right now we're the squatters
Evicted from our Champion Hill home
Supposed to be grateful to the Thugs & Muggers
Where we have to roam.
Don't get me wrong I'm grateful
And some of their fans are ok
But they're our traditional bitter rivals
Who I hate at the end of the day.
We belong in East Dulwich
Home is SE22
Stuck in the Mitcham Surrey borders
Is not where we should take a pew.
Hand on heart their ground is half decent
Venereal Fields is good for a fan
But softening towards Tooting & mitcham
Is like the Irish mellowing to a Black & Tan.
Last night they sang 'We hate Dulwich'
I wouldn't expect anything less
And even though they won the game
I took delight in them being a mess.
Two divisions below us
Honest guv I'm not going to gloat
Sing about us as much as you like
Whatever floats your boat.
Crystal Palace and Brighton 
Millwal and west Ham
Where would football be if it was friendly
And no-one gave a damn?
We'd all be following the Rugger
With the 'After you Claude' brigade
It's the bitter hate of your rivals
On which the magic of football is made.
It's a depressing afternoon
When you're beaten out of sight
Only your local rivals not winning
Is what gets you through the night.
I've no idea why I hate them
Just the way I was brought up as a child
The bottom line is singing 'We hate Tooting'
In truth is rather mild.
Local rivalry not going anywhere
When push comes to a shove
So fuck off any new-veau fan
Who suggests we should hug and love.
Don't mention it again
Go take a running jump
Misjudge it at your peril
And you'll get a bleedin' clump!
 
Dulwich Poet 25th August 2018

(The football team I support are currently exiled at our arch rivals Tooting & Mitcham United home of Imperial Fields. Some of our fans suggest we should be nicer to them as they've let us play at their ground. I saw Tooting play Horley Town in an FA Cup game last night, on a Friday, and wrote this the next day)