Football at Slack
Between plunging valleys, on a bareback of hill Men in bunting colours Bounced, and their blown ball bounced. The blown ball jumped, and the merry-coloured men Spouted like water to head it. The ball blew away downwind – The rubbery men bounced after it. The ball jumped up and out and hung in the wind Over a gulf of treetops. Then they all shouted together, and the blown ball blew back. Winds from fiery holes in heaven Piled the hills darkening around them To awe them. The glare light Mixed its mad oils and threw glooms. Then the rain lowered a steel press. Hair plastered, they all just trod water To puddle glitter. And their shouts bobbed up Coming fine and thin, washed and happy While the humped world sank foundering And the valleys blued unthinkable Under the depth of Atlantic depression – But the wingers leapt, they bicycled in air And the goalie flew horizontal And once again a golden holocaust Lifted the cloud’s edge, to watch them.
Football at Slack - meaning Summary
Play Against the Elements
The poem presents a football match on an exposed hill as a struggle against immense weather and landscape. Players and ball seem light, unstable, and almost elemental, while wind, rain, and darkening valleys make the game appear tiny yet defiantly alive. Hughes turns ordinary sport into a vision of communal energy: the players continue leaping and shouting despite a world that seems to be sinking around them.
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