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Demise of the Fanzine

Interesting article in todays Times about Fanzines

The children of the revolution were always going to grow old, but they might have hoped to leave a heritage. Instead, they are beginning to retire from the battle, muttering in disgust, the fight sucked out of them.

This month Red Issue, one of the oldest and best-selling fanzines, announced that its latest edition would be its last. It was first published in February 1989, born into a rather different football world. It became a Manchester United institution, an evil twin to official publications and the catalyst in the creation of FC United of Manchester. It lampooned the heroes and delighted in the game’s absurdities. For the fanzine, winning was all about glory and the adventures that came with it, while the club delighted in the profits that success produced.

The relationship between clubs and fans — especially the sort of supporters who produce fanzines — is complex. They need each other but do not have to like each other.

Red Issue could no longer coexist, though. Its parting shot was characteristically frank. Its editorial said: “The game we’ve been clinging on to is gone. Football now is happy-clappy families, half-and-half scarves, tourists and selfie sticks . . . The bull***t industry’s become overbearing, and we can’t stand the stench any longer.”

Supporters of other clubs tend to shed few tears for their rivals’ fanzines. The opinions expressed are frequently raw, viciously biased and verging on bad taste. Red Issue was an authentic voice of a large proportion of United’s fan base. It was extremely well-informed, too. Its Word on The Street column was at least as accurate in transfer rumours and gossip as the mainstream media. Its disappearance has wider implications, though, and for that reason fans around the country let out a collective groan.

Fanzines grew out of the post-punk landscape of the late 1970s. At a time when supporters’ culture was considered violent and nihilistic by most people, the uprising of creativity was surprising and inspiring. The voiceless found a voice in these cheap, photocopied pamphlets. They were part of a counter-reformation against football’s commercialism, which began long before the marketing of the game had got into its stride.

Across the league, fanzines are struggling to exist. Their core readership is committed match-goers. At the big clubs with international support, matchday is increasingly becoming a tourist attraction, with people flocking from across the globe. Souvenir-hunters are more likely to spend their money in the club shop.

What does it matter? From the clubs’ point of view, fanzines generate no income and their pages feature as much criticism as praise. They are a magnet for malcontents, whose cynicism balances any cheerleading.

Anyone in the football industry who thinks that their disappearance is a good thing is mistaken. Only those who really care about a club would go to the effort of creating a fanzine. They are printed proof that clubs have deep cultural and personal ties with a section of the support. The type of people who produced Red Issue supported United through the barren years would do the same again. When these people turn away from the game, it is a dangerous portent.

It may be that the nature of support is in a transitional phase and is mutating with each new television deal. The future may be one of multinational fans making occasional pilgrimages to grounds. It may be that fan-dom will be linked more with viewing on a screen and expressing passion through blogs and social media. However, there is a distinct feeling that the game is letting its core audience slip away, that those most committed fans, those who create the atmospheres that enhance the experience of watching football, are walking away from the sport.

Not everyone has reached Red Issue’s point of despair. Around Old Trafford, United We Stand will continue the fight and fanzines such as A Love Supreme in Sunderland show the vibrancy of the genre.

Yet almost everyone within the fanzine world has suffered similarly dark thoughts about the future of the game and their place in it. If they turn their backs on football, the game will lose their creativity, but so will the generation coming up behind them. If the grandchildren of the revolution have no interest, either, football will come to regret the loss.

Tony Evans

Comments

  • Very interesting, thanks for posting. But of course @Airman Brown will have more relevant things to say. Personally I wondered whether the reborn Voice had a chance to survive, but so far, so good.
  • Interesting piece.

    The first proper fanzine was of course the legendary Foul - set up in the 70s by my old man and a couple of others

  • Interesting piece.

    The first proper fanzine was of course the legendary Foul - set up in the 70s by my old man and a couple of others

    Is your old man Chris Lightbown?
  • I think with the current situation at Cafc the voice will be ok for a while yet.

  • Interesting piece.

    The first proper fanzine was of course the legendary Foul - set up in the 70s by my old man and a couple of others

    Fascinatng, @kinveachyaddick - do tell more?
  • There's a lot more stuff available these days online, so it's not great surprise. In bygone days, there was no news coming out of The Valley or any other club, so fanzines provided a new level of info/behind the scenes/criticism etc. etc.
  • LenGlover said:

    Interesting piece.

    The first proper fanzine was of course the legendary Foul - set up in the 70s by my old man and a couple of others

    Is your old man Chris Lightbown?
    I don't think Chris Lightbown as one of the founders - perhaps a writer or regular contributor?

    The three founders were Stan Hey, Andrew Nickolds and Steve Tongue (my Dad)

    They launched it from Cambridge while they were students there in 1972.

    It's regarded as the inspiration for When Saturday Comes, which amazingly is still going.

    The best of Foul is still around and well worth tracking down if you are into fanzines.

    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17287161-foul-best-of-football-s-alternative-paper-1972-1976
  • Love the comment about "half-and-half" scarves. I have never managed to get my head around why anyone would want a scarf with another clubs name on it, unless it's the only game you ever attend and even then I can't see it.
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  • The challenge to fanzines is much more to do with Sky Sports, the Internet and social media than changes to the make-up of supporters. It's the same issue that has confronted local and national newspapers, in that the availability of information and the way people consume it has changed and continues to change.

    Fanzines can also be very dependent on the enthusiasm and availability of the people who produce them. I am lucky to have the support of a very talented group of contributors and some other good mates who muck in.

    However, there's no one else going to give you 5,000 word interviews with Mike Norris (which got a really positive response from readers) and now 6,000 about 50s Charlton with Derek Ufton. You might not be interested or want to read something that long, but some do and I think we need to keep our history and culture alive.

    Yep, and good luck to you and the publication.
    Personally I am all for views and opinion, but as you stated yourself Airman in my post earlier today the 'media has changed'.?. Correct, but there is still the place for articles that can persuade and be part of the information process, and sometimes they do need more than a twitter comment.
    Nothing wrong with Social media, just it is not the complete answer to all communication messages to all parts of the community.
  • LenGlover said:

    Interesting piece.

    The first proper fanzine was of course the legendary Foul - set up in the 70s by my old man and a couple of others

    Is your old man Chris Lightbown?
    I don't think Chris Lightbown as one of the founders - perhaps a writer or regular contributor?

    The three founders were Stan Hey, Andrew Nickolds and Steve Tongue (my Dad)

    They launched it from Cambridge while they were students there in 1972.

    It's regarded as the inspiration for When Saturday Comes, which amazingly is still going.

    The best of Foul is still around and well worth tracking down if you are into fanzines.

    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17287161-foul-best-of-football-s-alternative-paper-1972-1976
    Steve Tongue is your Dad...I always really liked listening to him. A good footie day if he was covering Charlton. A good radio voice too, unlike some of the modern era, such as Emma Jones, and indeed of his era, Scoop:-)
  • I can understand the general trends, but I think there's still a place for them if kept relevant and done well. I personally hope that VotV keeps going strong. I think it's found a niche doing things that no-one else is. I was amazed at the depth of the recent Derek Ufton interview, and really pleased when I got to the end and found that that was only part 1 of 2. Marvellous stuff and not available anywhere else!
  • LenGlover said:

    Interesting piece.

    The first proper fanzine was of course the legendary Foul - set up in the 70s by my old man and a couple of others

    Is your old man Chris Lightbown?
    I don't think Chris Lightbown as one of the founders - perhaps a writer or regular contributor?

    The three founders were Stan Hey, Andrew Nickolds and Steve Tongue (my Dad)

    They launched it from Cambridge while they were students there in 1972.

    It's regarded as the inspiration for When Saturday Comes, which amazingly is still going.

    The best of Foul is still around and well worth tracking down if you are into fanzines.

    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17287161-foul-best-of-football-s-alternative-paper-1972-1976
    You would know better than me.

    As others have said I used to enjoy listening to your dad's radio reports.


  • Evokes memories of visits to Sportspages? just off Charing Cross Road. What a terrific shop that was.
  • edited January 2015
    Stig said:

    I can understand the general trends, but I think there's still a place for them if kept relevant and done well. I personally hope that VotV keeps going strong. I think it's found a niche doing things that no-one else is. I was amazed at the depth of the recent Derek Ufton interview, and really pleased when I got to the end and found that that was only part 1 of 2. Marvellous stuff and not available anywhere else!

    Glad you liked that, Stig. All the credit belongs to Derek, of course, because he is a great storyteller as well as a really decent bloke. That said, something like that is about a week's work for me so it's really helpful to get some feedback, which I don't always get until people buy the next issue. Hence lots of kind comments about the Mike Norris stuff before the Brighton game. I also fully appreciate that a piece as long as these two is not to everyone's taste.
  • couple of weeks ago was telling a mate in the Lib that i had binned loads of fanzines (100+) as getting ready to move. He was most upset and told me people collect em now.

    They were Viz before most people had herd of Viz. Great titles as well---wasnt Gillighams " Brian Moores Head Looks Like The Huston Astro Dome " or something like that.

  • So Steve Tongue of LBC from back in the day
    I spent many a night and day shuffling around my bedroom waiting to hear your old man ooooo errrr report or preferring if they didn't go to him because it was usually a goal against!

    was/is he a Charlton fan ?
  • couple of weeks ago was telling a mate in the Lib that i had binned loads of fanzines (100+) as getting ready to move. He was most upset and told me people collect em now.

    They were Viz before most people had herd of Viz. Great titles as well---wasnt Gillighams " Brian Moores Head Looks Like The Huston Astro Dome " or something like that.

    Brian Moore's Head Looks Uncannily like The London Planetarium I think it was.
  • i actually enjoyed the singing in the pub, I think that's what away games should be like. Don't get me wrong there is a knob head element to some of it. The 'off to work we go song' what's that all about?
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  • Oops wrong thread
  • So Steve Tongue of LBC from back in the day
    I spent many a night and day shuffling around my bedroom waiting to hear your old man ooooo errrr report or preferring if they didn't go to him because it was usually a goal against!

    was/is he a Charlton fan ?

    He's a Leyton Orient fan by birth but having lived in Charlton for nearly 40 years is also an Addick and is normally in the North Lower when not working at a game at another ground
  • Think 'when skys are grey' disappeared this season
    Evertons mag
  • Evokes memories of visits to Sportspages? just off Charing Cross Road. What a terrific shop that was.

    What a shop that was eh?? I used to go in their all the time to get various fanzines with Red Issue (Man Utd), Brian Moore's Head (Gillingham) being the best and funniest reads out there, just behind the Voice that is ;-)
  • The post punk sensibilities of a bunch of Man United fans, being offended by modern football's sanitisation. Amazing.

    That said I used to find them a fascinating insight into the minds of fans. I used to write for a Thistle zine and religiously pored through Voice when I came to london. Also used to enjoy reading oppo fanzines too. It's a shame it has waned but as Airman says the landscape has changed. If I want to know what fans think on any subject there's any number of forums and other media. It's a pity because they more effectively bridged the gap between formal publications and internet spew, than anything else.

  • LenGlover said:

    couple of weeks ago was telling a mate in the Lib that i had binned loads of fanzines (100+) as getting ready to move. He was most upset and told me people collect em now.

    They were Viz before most people had herd of Viz. Great titles as well---wasnt Gillighams " Brian Moores Head Looks Like The Huston Astro Dome " or something like that.

    Brian Moore's Head Looks Uncannily like The London Planetarium I think it was.
    That's the one. Borrowed from a line in 'Dickie Davies Eyes' by rock music's only Tranmere fans, Half Man Half Biscuit
  • Steve Tongue innovator actually. (kinveachy I also briefly worked with your mun). Foul was a great magazine, seemed to share the same 'platform' as Private Eye. I also remember a kind of spin off play 'And the press box roared' by some of the Foul writers. Foul spawned or inspired WSC but also was a factor in giving confidence to fanzine creators. Foul would be the alternative and the critique to conventional Football propaganda of the time. One or two aspects were a bit sexist, but overall it was excellent. Steve Tongue had or has a long spell with The Independent and I have always thought of him as a friend of Charlton, even knowing he is Leyton Orient which in itself is no bad thing.
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