Once Upon a Rhyme in Football, by John J O’Connor, available on Amazon
IN 1980, John O’Connor went to the United States for a holiday and liked it so much that he stayed.
The south Londoner, an ardent Crystal Palace fan, settled in New York City and spent the next 40 years working as a bricklayer.
But his love of football never waned and one outlet for him has been in the form of poetry.
He has had plenty of poems published over the years and has also written articles, including for Late Tackle.
It’s no great surprise therefore that he has put a collection of his various works together in Once Upon a Rhyme in Football.
There’s a tongue-in-cheek reference that it’s ‘nostalgic soccer stories in verse or worse’ and it’s true that there are plenty of tales about players from days gone by.
“Like a lot of football fans around my age, I yearn for the good old days, when players took public transport, lived in the manor and were approachable when you saw them down the
“Like a lot of football fans around my age, I yearn for the good old days, when players took public transport, lived in the manor and were approachable when you saw them down the local pub the night before a match,” writes O’Connor, who now lives in Nashville and is currently working on a fi ctional football novel set in early 1970s Manchester. “Sure, players are faster and fi tter now, pitches are like bowling greens and fans sit down quietly, rarely get rowdy, and have no problem strolling back to their seats with a pizza ten minutes into the second half. All very civilized – but come on, admit it, wasn’t it better back in the day?”
With little write-ups ahead of the poems, there is plenty to enjoy. O’Connor’s rhyming style reads well and will give you a chuckle or make you think.
A couple I particularly liked were ‘Aw ay alone at City-eh’ and ‘Football Quiz Nite’.
But there’s loads to read and it’s the kind of book that you can easily dip in and out of at your leisure.
Whether the subject is Malcolm Allison, Pat Jennings, Peter Osgood, Sir Tom Finney, or an assortment of others, this book will bring back memories.
Rating out of 10: 7
