Book Review: Chris Towers finds right mix

Return to the Hinterlands, by Chris Towers, published by Big White Shed, Price: £10

A follow-up to ‘Hinterlands’, Chris Towers once again combines his love of football and poetry to good effect.

This time, his poems cover games around England’s Non-League grounds in the 2023-24 season. As in the first edition, he covers 24 matches.

You can’t say there isn’t plenty of variety. While encounters like Tamworth v Buxton, Marine v Bradford Park Avenue and Dover Athletic v Maidstone United cover off some of Non-League’s higher echelons, there are others a little more niche, such as The Duck v Holy Trinity, Cadbury Athletic v Alcester Town and Smethwick Rangers v Hinckley Leicester Road.

In addition, Towers, a regular contributor to our sister publication The Non-League Paper, dips into the women’s game to witness Newark Town Ladies take on Teversal Ladies and age-group football to watch Basford United U19s host AFC Rushden & Diamonds U19s. It all makes for an interesting mix.

As previously, Towers gives brief game and venue details before his poem, while there are excellent illustrations by Robert Lever on this occasion.

The poems, again in free verse, are by no means all about the games themselves. Sometimes it’s the setting, the surroundings, the sounds and smells – and the people – that give the author inspiration.

There is no doubt that Towers gets a real buzz about combining two of his real passions.

“I write when the ideas come, often late at night,” he says. “I recall phrases, images and sounds and seek to craft them into a poem.

“It is a labour of love. I love words and poetry and I love Non-League football, the two marry together. There are themes to explore and stories to tell, and this collection tells them.”

It’s hard to argue with that.

John Lyons

Rating out of 10: 7