Hail The Ball - Maddy Prior

They’re gathering at Cloffocks

In the late afternoon

Testosterone in T shirts

The game’s beginning soon

An ancient war-like struggle

For the Park or harbour wall

The Uppies and the Downies

Wage a battle for the ball

Hail, hail the ball

Hail the barbarians

Running along the Harbour Wall

The ball is up, they’re in the beck

The scrum is hard and tight

The ball flies out away they run

The beat the failing light

They’re ploughing up the cricket pitch

And allotments of the town

Stand back, stand back, bystander

Or the scrum will run you down

Laughing, pushing flexing style

Dark determined eyes

Thousands crowd the high-ground

Murmuring asides

They think the ball is the pack

In the blood and muck and dirt

But there are no rules in this game

It’s stuffed up Millican’s shirt