POEMS FOR 'THE FIRST CLUB'

CHRIS TOWERS TELLS US ABOUT HIS FRESH CHALLENGE WITH SHEFFIELD FC...

IT WAS an unusually cold and windy July day in a district of Sheffield in the summer of 2023. I was there at the site of the former Sheffield Transport Sports Club at Meadow Head in a suburb of the city to write for Sheffield FC - this is where their new ground will be.

Nevertheless, it was the sort of day you feel cheated upon, aghast at how summer could be so cruel to conjure up a day like this. I was there as club poet, given the role by an adventurous club who were clearly open to something new.

They are the oldest football club in the world, and I was endeavouring to pen some words on this place where ‘The Club’ and ‘The First’, as they are known, will play.

Standing there in this less than salubrious place, with the long grasses and the left-sight screens from cricket games past nestling along with other random objects, made it hard to picture a brand-new, purpose-built stadium, with rugby and cricket too, rising from these pastures. But that is the plan.

My poem was composed for the club web pages on a day when I saw the future for ‘The Club’ and was proud to speak of it. In doing so, I was again expressing my passion for the game and for connections with times and places long forgotten or never considered.