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Fanzine

The story of football's alternative press

Fanzine cover

Fanzine

The story of football's alternative press

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Pre-order. Available Sep 10 2026
$18.00

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

Description

A history of how fanzines redefined football and amplified supporters' voices.

When the matchday many were treated as the hooligan few, football supporters didn't react with violence or vandalism, but with typewriters, staple guns and Tippex. The fanzine movement of the 1980s transformed a bleak time into a hopeful one, re-humanising spectators in the process.

Producing DIY zines and selling them outside football grounds from Middlesborough to Torquay, supporters offered authenticity, humour and criticism written from the terraces and not the press box, with truths that their clubs and the footballing authorities found uncomfortable.

From Heysel and Hillsborough to anti-racism and the women's game, this book is a people's history of football and wider Britain in the late 20th century. It is an alternative version of our national game's narrative, encompassing themes that still matter now from social class and club ownership to the dubious nature of pie contents.

Through exhaustive archival research, interviews with those who were there, nostalgic illustrations and Gray's familiar vivid writing style, the book documents why football fanzines mattered so much. Whether you support Manchester City, Hibernian, Bournemouth or one of many other clubs, big or small, the club is sure to have been honoured by a funnily named fanzine.

Table of Contents

Timeline
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 Sep 10 2026
Format Audiobook
Duration 7 hours and 0 minutes
ISBN 9781399431699
Imprint Bloomsbury Sport
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

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