1312: Among the Ultras

1312: Among the Ultras
Author: James Montague
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2020-03-12
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1473559650

You can see them, but you don't know them. Ultras are football fans like no others. A hugely visible and controversial part of the global game, their credo and aesthetic replicated in almost every league everywhere on earth, a global movement of extreme fandom and politics is also one of the largest youth movements in the world. Yet they remain unknown: an anti-establishment force that is transforming both football and politics. In this book, James Montague goes underground to uncover the true face of this dissident force for the first time. 1312: Among the Ultras tells the story of how the movement began and how it grew to become the global phenomenon that now dominates the stadiums from the Balkans and Buenos Aires. With unprecedented insider access, the book investigates how ultras have grown into a fiercely political movement, embracing extremes on both the left and right; fighting against the commercialisation of football and society – and against the attempts to control them by the authorities, who both covet and fear their power.

Thirty-One Nil

Thirty-One Nil
Author: James Montague
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2014-05-27
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1408158841

The story of the immense struggle to qualify for the 2014 Brazilian World Cup, Thirty-One Nil roams from American Samoa to Zambia in a remarkable and insightful journey that gets under the skin of world football.

Ultra

Ultra
Author: Tobias Jones
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 439
Release: 2019-09-19
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1786697351

Winner of the Daily Telegraph Football Book of the Year Ultras are often compared to punks, Hell's Angels, hooligans or the South American Barras Bravas. But in truth, they are a thoroughly Italian phenomenon... From the author of The Dark Heart of Italy, Blood on the Altar and A Place of Refuge. Italy's ultras are the most organised and violent fans in European football. Many groups have evolved into criminal gangs, involved in ticket-touting, drug-dealing and murder. A cross between the Hell's Angels and hooligans, they're often the foot-soldiers of the Mafia and have been instrumental in the rise of the far-right. But the purist ultras say that they are are insurgents fighting against a police state and modern football. Only amongst the ultras, they say, can you find belonging, community and a sacred concept of sport. They champion not just their teams, they say, but their forgotten suburbs and the dispossessed. Through the prism of the ultras, Jones crafts a compelling investigation into Italian society and its favourite sport. He writes about not just the ultras of some of Italy's biggest clubs – Juventus, Torino, Lazio, Roma and Genoa – but also about its lesser-known ones from Cosenza and Catania. He examines the sinister side of football fandom, with its violence and political extremism, but also admires the passion, wit, solidarity and style of a fascinating and contradictory subculture.

Football, Fascism and Fandom

Football, Fascism and Fandom
Author: Alberto Testa
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2011-11-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1408166070

Passionate, political and principled, the UltraS are the hardcore subculture of football supporters found in the stadiums of Italy. Amongst the most committed and uncompromising are two such groups who gather in support of the main football clubs of Rome - AS Roma and SS Lazio. Openly proclaiming neo-fascist sympathies, and not afraid of violence against rival supporters and police, these groups (the Boys Roma and the Lazio Irriducibili) are well-organised and determined to bring about social and political change and stamp out those who oppose them. The much-maligned football hooligans of England pale by comparison. Following years of research involving individuals inside these organisations, and drawing on exclusive interviews with each group's leading figures, Alberto Testa and Gary Armstrong present a fascinating account of the world of the neo-fascist UltraS.

The Billionaires Club

The Billionaires Club
Author: James Montague
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2017-08-24
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1472923138

A compelling examination of football club ownership in the era of the super-rich Once upon a time football was run by modest local businessmen. Today it is the plaything of billionaire oligarchs, staggeringly wealthy from oil and gas, from royalty, or from murkier sources. But who are these new masters of the universe? Where did all their money come from? And what do they want with our beautiful game? While almost cloaked in secrecy, the billionaire owner has to raise his head above the bunker when it comes to football ownership – a rare Achilles heel that allows access to worlds normally off limits journalists and outsiders. In the Billionaires Club James Montague delves deeper than anyone ever dared, to tell this story for the first time. He criss-crosses the world – from Dhaka to Doha, from China to Crewe, from St Louis to London, from Bangkok to Belgium – to profile this new elite, their network of money and their influence that defies geographic boundaries. The Billionaires Club is part history of club ownership, part in-depth investigation into the money and influence that connects the super-rich around the globe, and part travel book as he follows the ever-shifting trail around the globe in an attempt to reveal the real force behind modern-day football. At its heart The Billionaires Club is a football book, about some of the biggest clubs in the world. But it is also about something bigger: the world around us, the global economy, where the world is headed and how football has become an essential cog in this machine. The book discusses the dawn European Super League, and the repercussions for the future of the game.

Soccer Vs. the State

Soccer Vs. the State
Author: Gabriel Kuhn
Publisher: Pm Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2011
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781604860535

From its working-class roots to commercialisation and resistance to it - this is football history for the politically conscious fan. Football is a multi-billion pound industry. Professionalism and commercialisation dominate its global image. Yet the game retains a rebellious side, maybe more so than any other sport co-opted by money-makers and corrupt politicians. Soccer vs. The State traces its amazing history.

Casuals

Casuals
Author: Phil Thornton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2003
Genre: Fashion
ISBN: 9781903854143

Phil Thornton explains how the hooligan firms evolved and describes how the working-class fascination with sharp dressing and sartorial one-upmanship crystallised the often bitter rivalries of crews across England.

The Outsiders

The Outsiders
Author: James Corbett
Publisher: Eye Books (US&CA)
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2021-04-29
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1785632612

Lost loves and painful truths against the backdrop of Liverpool's fall and riseLiverpool 1981: as the city burns during inner city riots, Paul meets two people who will change his life: Nadezhda, an elusive poet who has fallen out of fashion; and her daughter Sarah, with whom he shares an instant connection. As the summer reaches its climax his feelings for both are tested amidst secrets, lies and the unravelling of Nadezhda's past. It is an experience that will define the rest of his life.The Outsiders moves from early-80s Liverpool, via Nadezhda's clandestine background in war-torn Europe, through to the present day, taking in the global and local events that shape all three characters.In a powerful story of hidden histories, lost loves and painful truths ambitiously told against the backdrop of Liverpool's fall and rise, James Corbett's enthralling debut novel explores the complexities of human history and how individual perspectives of the past shape everyone's present.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Be Careful What You Wish For
Author: Simon Jordan
Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013-03-15
Genre: Businessmen
ISBN: 9780224091824

Simon Jordan doesn't mince his words. After making millions in mobile phones he decided to buy his boyhood football club, Crystal Palace. At 31, he became the youngest chairman ever.