Prose & Poetry - The Muse in Arms - Rugby Football
First published in London
in November 1917 and reprinted in February 1918 The Muse in Arms
comprised, in the words of editor E. B. Osborne:
"A collection of war poems, for the most part written in the field of action, by seamen, soldiers, and flying men who are serving, or have served, in the Great War".
Below is one of eight poems featured within the Chivalry of Sport section of the collection.
You can access other poems within the section via the sidebar to the right.
Rugby Football
by Eric Wilkinson
(Written on receiving the
football match list from Ilkley Grammar School)
You came by last night's mail
To my strange little mud-built house,
At a time when the blues were on my trail
And I'd little to do but grouse.
For the world seemed a-swim with ooze,
With everything going wrong,
And though I knew that we couldn't lose,
Yet the end of it all seemed long.
The sandbag bed felt hard,
And exceedingly cold the rain,
But you sang to me, little green card,
And gave me courage again;
For at sight of the old green back
And the dear familiar crest,
I was off and away on memory's track,
Where Rumbold's Moor stands bleak and black
And the plaintive curlews nest.
Then, thin and clear, I seemed to hear -
Now low and sweet, now high and strong -
A note of cheer to banish fear;
The little card sang thus his song.
The Song
There's a broad green field
in a broad green vale,
There's a bounding ball and a straining pack;
There's a clean cold wind blowing half a gale,
There's a strong defence and a swift attack.
There's a roar from the "touch" like an angry sea,
As the struggle wavers from goal to goal;
But the fight is clean as a fight should be,
And they're friends when the ball has ceased to roll.
Clean and keen is the grand old rule,
And heart and courage must never fail.
They are making men where the grey stone school
Looks out on the broad green vale.
Can you hear the call? Can you hear the call?
Now, School! Now, School! Play up!
There's many a knock and many a fall
For those who follow a Rugger ball;
But hark! - can you hear it? Over all -
Now, School! Now, School! Play up!
She makes her men and she
sends them forth,
O proud old mother of many sons!
The Ilkley breed has proved its worth
Wherever the bond of Empire runs;
But near or far the summons clear
Has sought them out from town and heath,
They've met the foeman with a cheer,
And face to face have smiled on death.
They are fighting still to the grand old rule,
That heart and courage must never fail -
If they fall, there are more where the grey stone school
Looks out on the broad green vale.
Can you hear the call? Can you hear the call
That drowns the roar of Krupp?
There are many who fight and many who fall
Where the big guns play at the Kaiser's ball,
But hark! - can you hear it? Over all -
Now, School! Now, School! Play up!
So when old age has won the
fight
That godlike youth can never win,
The mind turns from the coming night,
To boyish visions flooding in;
And by the hearth the old man dreams
Of school and all it meant to him,
Till in the firelight's kindly beams
The wise old eyes grow very dim.
But he's lived his life to the grand old rule
That heart and courage must never fail;
So he lifts his glass to the grey stone school
That looks on the broad green vale.
Can you hear the call? Can you hear the call?
Here's a toast, now! Fill the cup!
Though the shadow of fate is on the wall,
Here's a final toast ere the darkness fall -
"The days of our boyhood - best of all!"
Now, School! Now, School! Play up!
The financial cost of the war is said to have amounted to almost $38 billion for Germany alone; Britain spent $35 billion, France $24 billion, Russia $22 billion, USA $22 billion and Austria-Hungary $20 billion. In total the war cost the Allies around $125 billion; the Central Powers $60 billion.
- Did you know?
