Sports in Songs.

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: GUEST,Tom Patterson
Date: 07 Aug 25 - 09:49 AM

There must be thousands - I've written 4 myself:
Harry Clasper (Rowing)
Legend of The Game - about Hughie Gallacher (Football)
Bella Reay - (Football)
Sailing Away - Richard Norris Williams (Tennis)

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: GUEST,James E
Date: 07 Aug 25 - 07:29 AM

OP mentioned bike racing - there's Beryl, by O'Hooley & Tidow, about the great Beryl Burton.

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 06 Aug 25 - 02:25 PM

They roll left and right
With the greatest of ease
Those lovely old Grannies
With arthritic knees.

With movements so graceful
Their Skips they do please
But my Grandma
They've stolen away.

Once I had cookies with milk
And pie and ice cream
Now I'm so angry
I just want to scream
She spends all her time
On those Lawn Bowling Greens
I'll tell you quite frank
It just is obscene
The things that they shout
To g-ma on those lawn bowling greens


"Draw to my back"
Or, "take Jack to the ditch"
It is enough to make any child sick.
"Get your Kitty off the middle
And we score four more."

We are listening
And know what those
Vulger terms mean!

It would be quicker
If she was sicker with liquor
Than her addiction to them
Lawn Bowling Greens.


Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: Jack Campin
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 07:26 PM

Chariot racing? The very funny Irish guy, Con O'Driscoll I think?

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 06:39 PM

OFF THREE JOLLY HUNTSMEN

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

. The endearing sport of British Fox Hunting ... which gave us the-paper-chase (aka "Hare and Hounds" ... which gave us Mr.G who spawned over 7,000 kennels of the Hash House Harriers.

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: GerryM
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 06:27 PM

Tom Lehrer, Fight Fiercely, Harvard, https://youtu.be/5m9OA4v2uls?si=Up0imH7NCQyIQKgh

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: cnd
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 06:09 PM

See also: Gospel Songs with Sports Metaphors

Twenty Swedes Ran Through The Weeds (US Football)

Just a few previous contributions off-hand. I'll see if I can think up more.

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 05:44 PM

Help: Camptown Races (Stephen Foster) Background

DTStudy: Stewball / Skewball (Roud 456)

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 01:21 PM

From the great lamented buttonbox box player (and sports physiotherapist by other profession), Fergie McDonald - The Shinty Referee”. He set it to one of Phil Cunningham’s tunes. The last verse is quite a mouthful!

THE SHINTY REFEREE                                                        Fergie Macdonald

In the rugged Highland Mountains in the land where men are men,
Where red deer roar and eagles soar, you’ll find him in the glen,
Chorus
With his whistle and his stopwatch and the kilt above the knee
He’s the roughest, toughest man around – the shinty referee.

When sticks go whack and bones go crack, these clansmen have no fear,
No squealing prima donnas will get adulation here,
The goal judge and the linesmen, they get pelters rude and crude,
It’s plain to see the referee has a dodgy parenthood.
Chorus

Fort William and Kingussie played a cup tie at The Dell,
The fighting up and down the pitch was like a scene from hell,
Big Jimmy Clark ran up the park and clattered Ronald Ross,
The referee gave both the knee, and shouted “I’m the boss”.
Chorus

Cup final day near Oban Bay was Newtonmore v Kyles,
That ancient feud again renewed was vengeance with no smiles,
With thirty red and yellow cards, the match was just a mess,
The referee just gave the “V” and called the SAS.
Chorus

In winter when the Jubilee is covered white with snow,
They re-enact the massacre that happened in Glencoe,
The Campbells and Macdonalds fight with shinty stick and ball,
When skin and hair begins to fly, the ref shouts “Free for all”.
Chorus

His wife one day said with dismay, “It’s changed you as a man,
Why don’t you join the ALBA crew with Gary and Hugh-Dan,
Or better still, we’ll take the boat from Mallaig o’er the sea,
And with some luck, we’ll get to Muck, and watch it on TV”.
Chorus

Fort William, Ballachulish, Oban, Camanachd and Kyles,
Kilmallie, Skye, Lochaber – yes – he travels many miles,
Glenurquhart, Inveraray, Kinlochshiel and Newtonmore,
Kingussie, Beauly, Lovat and Lochcarron by the shore.
Glenorchy, Oban, Celtic, Ardnamurchan and Strathglass,
Kilmory, Bute and Lorn and all around the Brander Pass,
There’s mid-Argyll, Boleskine, and Glengarry near Loch Ness,
Strachur and Lochside Rovers, Caberfeidh and Inverness.

Chorus x 2

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 01:12 PM

Famous Faha sports

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 12:53 PM

There are 69 songs in the Ballad Index with a "sports" keyword. That won't be all of them, but it's a start. Here they are with their Roud numbers if they have one:


After the Ball Was Centered. Roud #4859
Archibald, Certainly Not. Roud #V31310
Barrs' Anthem, The. Roud #
Barry Grenadiers, The. Roud #
Bible Baseball Game, The. Roud #12784
Bill Scrimshaw and the Scotsman. Roud #1089
Black and Amber Glory. Roud #
Bold Thady Quill. Roud #
Boys of Fair Hill, The. Roud #
Bring the Gold Cup Back to Newtown. Roud #17890
Carrigaline Goalers Defeated, The. Roud #
Cavenagh Hill. Roud #17896
Cheer Up Sycamore. Roud #38158
Coat That Was Buttoned Behind, The (An Irishman's Coat It Is Buttoned Before). Roud #24895
Cock-Fight, The. Roud #211
Convict of Clonmel, The. Roud #6993
Cushnie Winter Sports, The. Roud #6071
Day That I Played Baseball, The. Roud #4961
Dear Cork City by the Lee. Roud #
Donnelly and Cooper. Roud #2147
Dungiven Cricket Match. Roud #13539
Echoing Horn, The. Roud #878
Eleven More Months and Ten More Days. Roud #13327
Fair Do, The. Roud #20523
Fast Pair of Skis, A. Roud #
Flying Trapeze, The. Roud #5286
Football Crazy. Roud #6858
Football Match, The. Roud #1291
Fylemore. Roud #
Georgie Best, Superstar. Roud #
Hardy Sons of Dan, The. Roud #17895
Haughs o' Gartly, The. Roud #6070
Heenan and Sayers [Laws H20]. Roud #2148
Hobbies, The. Roud #5632
Humours of Donnybrook Fair (I), The. Roud #V4007
Humours of Glasgow Fair, The. Roud #6260
I Wish I Was a Little Fish. Roud #
Innocent Hare, The. Roud #1216
Interval Was Welcome Too, The. Roud #25376
Johnnie Made a Touchdown. Roud #
Lincolnshire Wrestler, The. Roud #1089
Methody Beat Them All. Roud #25374 and 25378
Morrissey and the Benicia Boy. Roud #9781
Morrissey and the Black [Laws H19]. Roud #1884
Morrissey and the Russian Sailor [Laws H18]. Roud #2150
Napan Heroes, The. Roud #1946
New Market (The Call to the Races at New-Market). Roud #15020
Nine-Thirteen Men, The. Roud #
O'Kelly Brothers, The. Roud #15677
Oh They Tossed Me in the Air. Roud #25375
Our Queen Won the Medal. Roud #19544
Praise of Kinsale, The. Roud #
Race, A. Roud #8852
Rickety, Rackety, Rust. Roud #
Rugby Song, The. Roud #10142
Shores of Coolough Bay, The. Roud #
Southerly Wind. Roud #9442
Stamford Bullards, The. Roud #23378
Swimming, Swimming. Roud #37848
Team Was in a Huddle, The. Roud #
Terra Nova Regatta, The. Roud #
Then Big Black the Loyalists' Custodian. Roud #25377
Toast to Beara, A. Roud #
Tyler and Robinson. Roud #2411
Victorious Goalers of Carrigaline and Kilmoney, The. Roud #
Wednesbury Cocking, The. Roud #23391
When Clon Came Home. Roud #
Willy Coombe (Crantock Games). Roud #3318
Your King and Country Want You (We Don't Want to Lose You). Roud #

A lot of these are pretty obscure, and others involve things we wouldn't really call spots (cockfighting?). But "Bold Thady Quill" and "The Day That I Played Baseball" and all the Morrissey songs and "Heenan and Sayers" are all well-known traditional songs.

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: GUEST,PHJim
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 12:12 PM

Stompin' Tom's The Hockey Song

Hello out there, we're on the air, it's 'Hockey Night' tonight.

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: GUEST,PHJim
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 12:06 PM

Sam Baker - Baseball

Another Saturday comes and goes
Another south wind comes and blows
Another baseball field, another pop fly
Another bunch of boys and another blue sky

Boys laugh
Boys play

Subject: RE: Sports in Songs.
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 11:45 AM

Not curling but hurling, this one. It is extremely big in Ireland (the song):

Kingfishr- Killeigh

Subject: Sports in Songs.
From: GUEST,saulgoldie
Date: 02 Aug 25 - 11:28 AM

I was listening to a bit on NPR about some song (Canadian, I think) that dealt with hockey. And my mind went, as it does, to other sports in folkie songs.

Sure, there's baseball. Several songs. And some songs concerning bicycles, but not bike racing. To that last one, I am not a song writer. But I "hear" a song about Major Taylor, the first big US sports superstar. Not only the first sports superstar, but the first BLACK sports superstar. He dominated bicycle racing in the beginning years of the sport, before cars blew cyclists off the road. So there's two possible themes.

AND...how about...curling! I mean, sure, curling is often a punchline. But it does have a cult following. Like, what are there, maybe 437 fans? And I think it deserves mention if only because of that.

I dunno. I can't write songs. But I sort of "hear" two songs like this in my mind.

Saul