Competition

Competition No 3736

Set by Margaret Rogers on 17 June

You were asked for haikus on the World Cup.

Report by Ms de Meaner

So inspired was Mr David Gibbons, art director and football fanatic, that he inquired as to the rules. On hearing that this comical Japanese verse form should, strictly speaking, contain a word or phrase about one of the seasons, he delivered the following season-rich entry:

I spring into life.

Don't call us, Dave. £5 tokens for the winners. Hon menshes to John Nye, Anne Du Croz, Will Bellenger (Becks: "the least of the Mohicans"), Peter Lyon and Gerard Benson. The vouchers go to R Ewing, who is the overall winner.

Got through the first rounds.

Beaten by a better side.

Our lads done all right.

Gerard Benson

Singing English fans

Embrace the art of haiku -

"Three lines on a shirt".

R Ewing

So England are out.

Well, at least we're spared the sight

Of Blair muscling in.

Keith Norman

Japan could have won

With their proven formation

Of five-seven-five.

Gordon Gwilliams

After the whistle

The players' shirts are exchanged,

But never their shorts.

Basil Ransome-Davies

A stage for two things

That bemuse America:

Football, and the world.

John Bevis

A captain finds worse

Memories to plague his dreams

Than a bad hair day.

Watson Weeks

Autumn is early;

decked in the reds and yellows

from bad referees.

Kevin Smith

Sven's men against ten

Still contrived to blow it.

Better odds next time.

J Seery

The boys from Brazil

Are looking good again to

Win this year's World Cup.

Sid Field

Counting syllables

Makes for good stress management

In golden goal time.

Philip Wilson

World Cup? Not a clue

Or bothered, much - but I cried

For Argentina.

D A Prince

No 3739 Set by John Crick
In the US, signs say "Yield" at road junctions, while in the UK it is "Give way". Could we have imaginative explanations for this, or any other examples you can think of.

Max 150 words by 19 July (to appear in issue dated 29 July) E-mail: comp@newstatesman.co.uk