Now let me take you back in time to 1974.
City versus Sunderland, 3-1 the final score.
The first goal: Scorer: Hawley. Hear the North Stand roar.
The greatest goal the Boothferry Park faithful ever saw.
It was like watching Brazil. It was poetry in motion,
Scored for us by a man who played with talent and devotion.
An amateur. The last there was. John Hawley was that man.
Can I name another like him? I don’t think that I can.
Forty years before Delap, he had a mighty throw.
The last amateur to play the game; we had to let him go,
But folk like us remember. Folk like us recall.
He may be a bit of an antique now, but he could smack that ball!
So, raise a glass to our John Hawley. Last of a famous line.
I wish I had a time machine to travel back in time.
I’d go back under the North stand clock to watch that goal again,
To dwell in football pleasure, and forget about football pain.
By David Osgerby
Copyright © 2017.
