IN APPRECIATION OF LYE TOWN'S FOOTBALL GROUND: A FAVOURITE VENUE...

The Lye…

From the grassy knoll,

The raised earthwork bank,
Lye’s stadium fascinates and

Captivates

And like an emporium of vintage or brocante,

Never fails to cause the eyes

To raise in rather mild surprise…

Beyond the evening gloom

Of a roped off cricket square,
Lye’s pavilion hides and

Chides

The onset of autumn’s

Littered, leafy montage,

Its Black Country football profanities

And another season of the game’s insanities…

Above the squat facilities

A sunset smudges amber;

Lye’s glum stage is thus silhouetted and

Feted

By history and nostalgic, fading memories,

As floodlights sprinkle their gleam

Upon the Flyers, the quite unique Lye Town team… 

Behind the distant goal-frame

A shelter, open-sided, sits:

Lye’s ageing enclosure, rising and

Surprising…

Its curved, corrugated metal roof hunching and rusting

Over regular fans and odds and ends;

A structure which into the general chaos blends…

Beneath the grandstand’s roof,

Scratched white benches seat

Lye’s loyal, die-hard supporters and

Reporters,

Alongside the contents of a shed or a house clearance

And a wooden whitewashed section:

A makeshift cricket sight-screen, not quite perfection…

Across the grassy mound,

 A rough space lies in wait, for here

Lye’s November bonfire burns and

Turns

The stadium into a sparkling extravaganza,

Leaving behind its damp debris, charred

And my wondrous grassy bank fittingly scarred…

Pete Ray

September 2017

Lye Town’s football ground.

A wonderful stadium.

One of my favourite places to visit.

It simply never fails to astound…

Love it.

Some images taken through the years serve to illustrate the quaintness of the ground and they appear below...