In the floodlight lit football oval each weeknight after tea <br />I hear the young men shouting as they train diligently <br />As their coach puts them through their training drills their exuberance I hear <br />They sprint about in the chill night air in the coldest time of year. <br /> <br />Some of the young players under twenty they have their dreams of fame <br />That they yet may become famous in Australia's only indigenous game <br />To play in an Australian Football League Grand final would be a dream come true <br />A dream that's dreamt by many and realized by only a few. <br /> <br />In the well lit football oval they kick ball and sprint around <br />And in their endeavour to become match fit they cover miles of ground <br />And they perform push ups and pull ups and natural muscle in this way they gain <br />For one cannot expect sporting success if for success you do not train. <br /> <br />In the local football oval where dreams are born and die <br />The shoutings of the young men echoes to the starry sky <br />In the chill evening air of late Autumn you hear them cheer and shout <br />As they race through the oval and chase the ball about. <br /> <br />I hear them every evening from six thirty till after eight <br />In the local football oval five hundred metres from my front gate <br />The town's young budding football stars not quite yet in their prime <br />And they dream of sporting greatness that will withstand the test of time.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-the-local-football-oval/
