It’s Coming (to Our) Home

It’s coming (to our) home! As Euro 2020 prepares to kick off, we’re excited at the prospect of Scotland co-hosting with England the Group D matches. And to mark the occasion, poetry is stepping up. The SPL will be building up to each of Scotland’s group fixtures at this summer’s tournament with three special LIVE poetry gigs that you can watch online.

Get your diaries out. On Saturday 12, Wednesday 16 and Monday 21 June at 5.30pm, you can enjoy performances by two poets in a show hosted by Alistair Heather. The poets will read their work and poems about football, community, family ties, the agony and the ecstasy, as well as sharing plenty of great fun chat. All the poets are football fanatics, and we’ll hear their stories of supporting their teams and following Scotland, as well as drawing on their excitement as the National Team prepares for kick off.

The three events will all be FREE and live-streamed at 5.30pm. Check back closer to the first show when we’ll have update the blog with details of how to watch the shows.

The line-ups are:

Saturday 12, we’ll build up to our clash against the Czechs with Erin Boyle & Thomas Clark. You can watch the show below.

Wednesday 16th will see us buzzing ahead of the Scotland v England game with Victoria McNulty & Kevin Williamson. You can watch the show below.

Monday 21 gives us a final chance to cheer on Scotland ahead of the crucial Croatia game, with Julie McNeil & Jim Mackintosh. You can watch the show below.

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Erin Boyle is a Glaswegian poet who’s had great success with poems about Celtic and the Scottish National Teams.

Thomas Clark is an award-winning writer who is currently Scots Ambassador at the Scottish Poetry Library. In 2015, he became Scottish football’s first ever poet-in-residence when he was appointed to the role by Selkirk FC. His poetry runs the gamut from half-time pies to Pat Nevin.

Alistair Heather is a writer and presenter fae Angus, and a season ticket holder at Tannadice.

Jim Mackintosh is a Perth-based poet and has authored six collections of poetry, most recently Flipstones (Tippermuir Books, 2018). He is poet in residence at St Johnstone football club.

Julie McNeil is a writer of poetry and short fiction. She is the Makar of the Scottish Women’s National Team Poets Society and Bairn’s Bard for the Hampden Collection. She works with children with special educational needs in education settings and is the author of a book for children with dyslexia which was published earlier this year through JKP books, Mission Dyslexia. Her first poetry pamphlet Ragged Rainbows is coming out later in the year with Dreich Publishers.

Victoria McNulty is a performance poet and community educator from Glasgow. She has two collections published by Speculative Books, and has toured regularly in the UK and Ireland. Her film collaboration Exiles has recently been released through Fair Pley.

Kevin Williamson is an author; founder of Rebel Inc publishing house; co-founder of Bella Caledonia; and Artistic Director at Neu! Reekie! Originally from Thurso, Caithness. Now lives in Leith and is a season ticket holder at Easter Road.