Walt Whitman said: “To have great poets, there must be great audiences’” -  so a rugby international crowd should do nicely. Although sport and poetry might seem unlikely teammates, the spoken word will be in the starting lineup at a rugby league World Cup match in November, thanks to 100 poets. Community radio station East Leeds FM was invited to organise an event to kick off the New Zealand v Papua New Guinea game  at Headingly Carnegie stadium on 8 November. Rising to the challenge, the community radio’s head of spoken word, writer and poet Peter Spafford, is calling for 100 people to create an “avenue of poets” and to take part in a mass reading to greet spectators.

Spafford says he sees it as more of an art installation, an exploration of the links between art and sport, and points out that leading poet Ian McMillan put in sterling service as poet in residence for Barnsley football club.

ELFM,  part of the Heads Together creative communities project, has a reputation for championing local musicians, writers and performers. The poetry extravaganza  follows successful 100 Buskers events in Briggate and at Seacroft gala. It is backed by the city council’s Leeds Inspired programme. 

Spafford and his fellow poets will stand outside the gates at Kirkstall Lane end and along the walkway into the ground reading different poems in cycles, with themes of victory and defeat, international co-operation, physicality and one fascinating  challenge – new words for each participating country’s national anthem.

The grand finale will be what he calls “a Mexican wave of words” with the orchestrated recital of a 100-word work by Leeds-based poet Matthew Hedley Stoppard. There is bound to be a reading of Kipling’s If – the go-to poem for inspiration and challenge – but he anticipates visitors will run the gauntlet of plenty of other writers’ words along with self-penned poems and prose by those taking part. He hopes spectators will stop and listen or simply enjoy the wall of poetic sound as they walk past.

About 30 poets have already come forward and Spafford wants to hear from other northern scribes who are up for the unusual challenge. And there is a perk for the poets too – 50 per cent off the price of a ticket for the game. There will be a rehearsal on 4 November. On match day the readings will kick off at about 6.55pm and last for 25 minutes. The game begins at 8pm.

Mark Foster, the Rugby League World Cup 2013 marketing manager, said: "The Rugby League World Cup 2013 is the global sporting event of the year.  We need to use it to reach out to new audiences and create events of all of the games. This is absolutely perfect for doing both of these things and I cannot wait to see what happens on the night."

To take part or find out more contact Peter Spafford at peter@headstogether.org or call 07590 028 327. More details