A to Zine

By Peter Reily Source:Global Times Published: 2019/11/28 19:53:40

Football fanzine culture alive and kicking


Remembrance Sunday is marked with a giant poppy outside before the Premier League match at Old Trafford, Manchester on November 10. Photo: VCG



Last weekend marked the 30-year anniversary of Manchester United fanzine United We Stand, making it older than the vast majority of the players that will pull on the club's shirt when they travel to face Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Sunday afternoon.

Described by those who make it as "an independent view of the 20-time champions of England," it is testament to the nature of football fanzine culture despite the advent of the internet and the increasingly globalised, disconnected nature of football fandom.

Where once United were a local football team, supported by the people who went on the same buses as the players to Old Trafford on a Saturday - or in even earlier days those who worked alongside the players at the Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway yard - a number of factors have changed the demographic of supporters over the years.

Long before even the fanzine started, the Munich air disaster had brought the club's fortunes into the hearts of many across the world, while support has been passed down the generations no matter how far away from Manchester that may have taken them.

Nevertheless, printed off a photocopier, the first fanzine was for the matchgoing Manchester United fan, Mancunian or otherwise. Intended to offer an alternative view of the club to the matchday program and the mainstream media, United We Stand is like many other football fanzines before and since.

It was not the first. Arsenal fanzine Gunflash started out 40 years before United We Stand in 1949. Some would argue that as the official magazine of the Arsenal supporters club it is not a true fanzine but it is nevertheless the voice of the fans. The true fanzine mantle for those who favor the Arsenal has been picked up by The Gooner.

That was started by an Arsenal fan who was sent to pick up a Chelsea fan for his then boss. United We Stand was started by a 15-year-old Andy Mitten, who remains the editor to this day as well as building a career as a respected football journalist. It's not all gone so well over the years.

Similar fortunes


The club's fortunes in 1989 and 2019 are strikingly similar. Back then Alex Ferguson's United were ninth in November 1989, with 20 points from 13 matches. This time out Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side are seventh with 16 points from 12 games.

That's not the low point from a fanzine perspective, though. They jumped the gun in the 1991-92 season with a cover declaring "Champions at Last" before the side lost three games to gift the title to rivals Leeds United. Thankfully, for fans of the Manchester side, there would be several more titles to celebrate over the rest of the Ferguson era, starting with the first Premier League title the following year.

There were others around for that period, including Red News (started in 1987) and Red Issue. While the latter continues apace, albeit with less global renown than the now digital subscription model of United We Stand, the former called it a day in 2015 as the club faltered on field under Dutch manager Louis van Gaal.

The former Ajax manager was the second manager to take charge after Ferguson and lasted just two seasons. That is not dissimilar to fanzines who more often than not fail to last more than a few years themselves. 

Life cycle

Given that is the life cycle of these publications it is quite remarkable that United We Stand has stood for three decades.

Others have managed similar feats and more credit to them. The Square Ball, made for the Leeds United fans who so enjoyed United We Stand prematurely celebrating that 1992 title, was founded in the embers of the post-punk music scene of the early 1980s. Several miles and often several divisions await Bradford City's The City Gent has published continuously since 1984.

Across Yorkshire, England's largest county but one with only Sheffield United to represent them in the English top flight, you can find fanzines of repute at Barnsley (West Stand Bogs), Doncaster Rovers (Popular Stand), and Huddersfield Town's Smile A While.  

It's a feature of matches up and down the country. From England's most northerly Football League club Carlisle United's Hit The Bar! - distributed to members of the supporters club since 1974 - to their most southerly league side Plymouth Argyle's Rub of the Greens, there have been fanzines everywhere - although not all have survived in print, even if they have managed cult status in their demise or continued online.

It also goes into Scotland where you will find the likes of the Killie Hippo of Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle's Sick In the Basin rubbing shoulders with the 54-time champions of Scotland Glasgow Rangers' Follow Follow and their Old Firm rivals Celtic's Not The View and more recent fanzine The Shamrock, founded in just 2014. Proof if it were needed that print is not quite dead, despite reports to the contrary.

The phenomenon spans the pyramid, while United We Stand and Red News have covered Manchester United since the club turned 100, A Fine Lung covered FC United of Manchester since the breakaway club was started by fans following the Glazer family's takeover at Old Trafford in 2005. Non league teams such as Chester City (The Blue and White), Dulwich Hamlet (The Moral Victory), Lewes (Knickers To 'Em) and Hereford FC (Talking Bull) all have fanzines that give an alternative take of the grassroots game, no matter how recently the club was founded.

One thing that is shared no matter what level the club is, these fanzines cover the wide range of stories that matter to those going to games and reflect the diversity of the support. It's not uncommon to read viewpoints not seen in the mainstream media.

There's also the humor of the terraces, as per the name of Fulham fanzine, There's Only One F in Fulham. Thank goodness there's still more than one F in football fanzine. 

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