Theme: Society & Culture | Content Type: Journal article

The Future of Football Fanzines: Have they Lost their Voice in this Digitalised and Deregulated Age?

Paul Breen and Paddy Hoey

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Nathan Rogers

| 1 min read

Football fanzines once stood at the vanguard of fan activism. Historically, they have served as the voice of supporters, largely independent of the clubs they are associated with. Indeed, a recurring characteristic of these fanzines is that they often challenge and question authority. In the halcyon days of past decades, they proliferated and often acted as a powerful vector of change within football. Increasingly though, they have been pushed to the margins, for a number of reasons, ranging from the increasing digitalisation of media to the growing distance between fans and club owners as a consequence of the money that's now in the game. Football's inexorable drift towards deregulation means that fanzines alone can no longer act as agents of change and challenge. They need to work in synch with supporters’ groups in order to make their voices heard. More than that, this needs to happen not just at a local, but a national level, so that supporters from top to bottom of English football's shaky pyramid are seen to speak with one voice. Perhaps above all, there is a need for independent regulation of the game's governance.

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    Paul Breen

    Paul Breen is a Senior Lecturer and Digital Learning Developer at University College London, author of books including The Charlton Men.

    Articles by Paul Breen
  • Screen_Shot_2016-03-04_at_12.47.54.jpg

    Paddy Hoey

    Paddy Hoey is a Senior Lecturer in Media Culture and Communication at Liverpool John Moores University.

    Articles by Paddy Hoey
Volume 94, Issue 3

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Volume 94, Issue 3

Includes a commentary by Colin Crouch on the dark heart of today's Conservative party, an article by Stewart Lansley tracing the history of ‘crowding out’, and its use as a justification for austerity and state deflation; and Tim Vlandas and Kate Alexander-Shaw debating the political economy of age. In our reports and surveys section, Deborah Mabbett asks where next for curbing London's emissions? The issue also includes a selection of book reviews such as Andrew Gamble on The Culture of Accountability: A Democratic Virtue by Gianfranco Pasquino and Riccardo Pelizzo, and Leila Simona Talani on Europe's Coming of Age by Loukas Tsoukalis.

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