Denaby Utd – Denaby v Rotherham Town – Poem

December 1905

Mexborough and Swinton Times December 9, 1905

The One Unbeaten Team

Two football teams a while ago,
Could each with justice claim
That so far in the Midland league they hadn’t lost a game,
They neither to a conqueror
The knee had had to bow;
Today, however, things are changed,
But one can boast it now.

For Greek has fought it out with Greek,
And one of them is slain,
And of his undefeated might
He may not speak again.
No more love going through the league
Unchecked may Rotherham dream,
For Denaby are now alone
The one unbeaten team.

That honour it would now appear
They did not like to share,
They thought it fitted them so well
That none was left to spare
They seemed to think the time was due
When they should stand alone
As owners of the conqueror’s crown
And wear it as their own.

And having come to this resolve
That Rotherham Town must fall,
They set to work to take them down,
And more “they did and all”
And not contented, when they met,
The game to merely win.
They set to work with all their might
To rub the laiking in.

When Greek meets Greek,
I’ve always heard and each has vowed to try
His best to take the other down,
Then something’s sure to fly,
And so it was on Saturday,
For caught upon the hop,
Poor Rotherham, ere the battle closed,
Heard something weighty drop.

The record they had proudly held
Was knocked to smithereens,
They got what in their vulgar tongue
Is often described as “beans.”
For Denaby, in style complete
Have carried out their scheme,
And for the present reign alone,
The one unbeaten team.