On Opposite Banks
Beneath the smoke of a London sky,
Where river tides would ebb and sigh,
Two clubs were forged from iron and flames,
And East End streets would learn their names.
One rose where shipwrights toiled way up high,
Where hammers rang out and sparks would fly.
Thames Ironworks formed 1895,
That’s where West Ham’s colours came alive.
The other grew by Millwall Dock,
Among the labour, rope and lock,
Where workers toiled through rain and cold,
With hearts as fierce as forged on gold.
They lived not worlds but miles apart,
Yet carried rival East End hearts.
The same hard roads, the same rough trade,
The same long shadows labour made.
Then years would pass and fortunes bend,
But neither side would ever mend.
For pride remembers what time forgets,
And old wounds leave their silhouettes.
Some speak of strikes and dockyard lore,
Of jobs and loyalties before,
Of neighbours split by work and creed,
And grudges planted like a seed.
The river watched as decades rolled,
As tales grew larger, stories told.
Each meeting fed the legend’s fire,
Each chant became a funeral pyre.
For peace that might have one day grown
Had history left the past alone.
Instead the echoes still remain
Along the tracks and down the lane.
Yet beyond the anger, beyond the noise,
Beyond the boasts of men and boys,
There stands a truth both clubs still share:
The East End spirit lingers there.
For both were born beside the tide,
With working people as their guide.
Two branches from a common tree,
Divided by their history.
And when the crowds begin to roar,
Recalling every score and war,
The Thames still flows as it has done,
Beneath the moon, beneath the sun.
It knows the tale, both harsh and grand,
Of rival hearts in London’s land.
Two clubs, one river running through,
Forever old, forever new.
Under The Hammers 