january 4, 2004

OH DEAR. It appears I made a bit of a boo-boo last week by not actually writing about a website, so I've been packed off to the dungeon with a piece of slate, a stick of chalk and a copy of The Internet for Dummies. Of course, this means the sportsdesk will have to make their own tea, but that's their lookout.

There are lots of things you associate with soccer: overpaid prima-donna players, rip-off ticket and replica shirt prices, and the occasional good match. One thing that doesn't always go hand-in-hand with the round-ball game is poetry, which is where footballpoets.org comes into its own.

Launched to coincide with the start of Euro 2000, it's a site where fans can submit their own poems about their favourite team, player, incident, or anything else soccer-related that takes their fancy.

Now I'm not an expert on poetry. I hated it during my A-levels and usually sat at the back of the class reading Stephen King novels cunningly disguised to look like a volume of Shakespeare's sonnets. But there's no doubting the strengths of this site.

It's full of top stuff, from the fanatical to the poignant, the funny to the dead serious, with plenty of irreverence chucked in for good measure. The poets - who between them are responsible for about 1,000 pieces of work on the site - also contributed to the Kick Racism out of Football initiative and are hoping one of their number will be named Terrace Poet of the Year. Given the body of work here, that shouldn't be too difficult.

ANOTHER kind of footie now, in the shape of that God of tabletop games, Subbuteo.

There are plenty of sites devoted to this already, including the official one, but Peter Upton's (www.peter-upton.co.uk/sub1.htm) is among the best. There are even pages with pictures of every plastic player ever made, plus a rundown of the international strips, accessories, history of the game and its future. He's put a ton of effort into a very comprehensive site, and it's a must-see for any Subbuteo fan or those nostalgic for their younger days.