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Description
'A love letter to an era that needed its story told' – Josh Widdicombe
'This is an absolutely fabulous book' – Duncan Hamilton
The vivid story of the fanzine movement that gave supporters a voice and changed football forever
Demonised and left to watch games in decrepit stadiums, life as a football supporter in the 1980s was a demoralising experience. While some fans turned to violence, many more turned to typewriters, Tippex and staple guns to create a mass movement that transformed a bleak time into a hopeful one.
Adopting a DIY punk ethos, fanzine founders spread their pages across the land. Their funny, articulate and occasionally scandalous creations were sold outside grounds from Inverness to Torquay, with most British clubs covered – sometimes by multiple titles. These inky mouthpieces questioned the old order, frightening those who ran the game and provoking many a banning.
Through extensive archival research and interviews, Fanzine tells the story of the phenomenon during its boom years. It offers an alternative history of football in a monumental period – from Heysel to the Premier League, via Hillsborough and Italia '90 – as witnessed from the stands. Deploying fans' colourful and often sardonic words, Fanzine transports readers back to the terraces of old, for better or
worse – bad Bovril and suspect pies are never far away.
Told in book form for the first time, Fanzine is the poignant, nostalgic and absorbing story of an era that changed going to the match forever.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part One – Origins of the Species
Chapter One: Yorkshire yarns
Chapter Two: Heysel to the FSA
Chapter Three: Toilets, fences and fists
Chapter Four: Lawless policing
Chapter Five: Demonisation and control
Part Two – Make do and mend
Chapter Six: Finding a voice
Chapter Seven: In the beginning
Chapter Eight: Ink, glue and nightclubs
Chapter Nine: Selling and banning
Chapter Ten: A movement builds
Part Three – This is a low
Chapter Eleven: ID cards to Hillsborough
Chapter Twelve: The horrors through fanzine eyes
Chapter Thirteen: Aftermath and all-seaters
Part Four – Turn and face the strange
Chapter Fourteen: Going to the match
Chapter Fifteen: Anti-racism and other causes
Chapter Sixteen: Money talks and World Cup '90
Chapter Seventeen: End of the golden age and football in fashion
Chapter Eighteen: Hello Premier League, goodbye to all that
Endings and new beginnings
Title winners
Bibliography
References
Acknowledgements
Index
Product details
| Published | 10 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Hardback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 288 |
| ISBN | 9781399431705 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Sport |
| Illustrations | Black and white images throughout |
| Dimensions | 234 x 153 mm |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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