On First Looking at English Football

[TranquillityBase]

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Hi TqB,

like the new title (yay you!), but I think it's a bit overwritten.

(If you'll allow, the last line sounds very English )

Thanks Knot for the read and the critique.  I'm thinking about just excising the elements about my age vs the game, but at least I've got a title down.  Although that will relegate my English line    Both you and Mark seem to like the goalie part, so maybe that's what I should be concentrating on.

TqB

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Hi, read this again after a couple of weeks (and a couple of defeats and a step closer again to relegation). I like it more now, I think  I preferred elements of the other one that weren't in this but overall this is a better poem. 
Really like the third stanza -

and I know it's not a critique forum, so forgive me for 

I admire the stoic goalie,
and dread the penalty kick,
- seems too much like an execution;
I follow commentators’ strange poetry
and thundering chants from massed spectators, 
like cinematic Zulus 
who threaten with distorted hymns.

I think this is an excellent short poem in itself 

Mark, thanks for the re-read.  As I said above, maybe I should be focusing on one aspect of the game, the goalie, one of the few elements I understand, even after watching 30 or so games on TV.

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For more football poems:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/202...ot-everton

And a great one about a goalie:

https://medium.com/poem-of-the-day/simon...1b64e8dc04