I’ve never ‘got’ football,
always felt like a bruise
I wasn’t sure how I’d got 
or a changing room joke that involved
small ***** or arcane bullying

Perhaps my tutelage was bad 
but the pattern in my head
is gammon woven
with misogyny, bigotry
and misunderstood pride

But these boys,
with unhappiness and graft built in,
with ‘other’ credibility, 
broad shoulders, tough chins,
make me think that with my time again
I’d have listened

So to them, I opine:
you’ve earned a win,
and have one