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    The Fanzine Thread

    Getting all nostalgic over WSC's 30th birthday, I decided to have a cursory Google to find any remnants of the fanzine I had been involved in - Manchester City's 'A Million Miles Away'.

    To my surprise I not only found some old copies floating around on eBay, but also a short interview with the then editor (not me) from another site in which he concisely explained the fanzine's ethos.

    How I miss those days of standing in the pissing rain being completely ignored by the majority of fans who headed straight for the "King of the Kippax" seller. Oh, how we laughed when Sportspages went under and took hundreds of our back issues with them.

    Anyway, I'm sure plenty of you have got your own tale to tell.

    http://bitterandblue.sbnation.com/2006/01/fanzine-interview-million-miles-away.html

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nov-2004-Manchester-City-Fanzine-A-Million-Miles-Away-Issue-06-No-obvious-fa-/371536410053?hash=item56814bb5c5

    #2
    The Fanzine Thread

    At one point Shrewsbury had 4. One was pretty much a one man job. One was linked to a fan website that evolved into a message board. One disappeared after the first issue. And one went on hiatus and then became a column in the club programmw. None have been published this season.

    In the case of the two most successful ones, the editorial boards grew older together and eventually didn't have time to keep up with it. There's also the growth of the Internet. In Shrewsbury's case there was quite a bit of fan activism around the ground move but when there isn't a big mobilising issue there's probably less motivation to do the hard work of putting together a fanzine.

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      #3
      The Fanzine Thread

      Orient still have 2 print fanzines going strong.

      One's basically a 1-man vanity effort called Pandamonium (spelling mistake apparently deliberate), but fair play to the fella whose kept at it for 20 years.

      The other is The Orientear (more puntastic spelling) - that's much more of a collective effort and all the better for it - started in '86 and one of the oldest in the country, which E10 was editor of many moons ago.

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        #4
        The Fanzine Thread

        Out of courtesy I bought the Kickers Offenbach fanzine Erwin a couple of weeks ago, stuck it in my pocket and forgot about it, and ended up reading it when I was stranded somewhere with nothing else to do - it's erudite, well-written and very funny too. Generally, I still buy them at any ground I'm at and then never get round to reading them.

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          #5
          The Fanzine Thread

          A new one's just appeared at York called Y-front. It's nothing you wouldn't find on the Internet forum to be honest.

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            #6
            The Fanzine Thread

            Can't recommend Hearts (and music related) fanzine called Unknown Pleasures highly enough. The only downside is I'm sometimes invloved in it.

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              #7
              Just dug out this thread, as a raft of postponed matches in March have meant that the 20th birthday issue of Doncaster Rovers' popular STAND fanzine, is now being sold via post rather than outside the stadium at home games.

              If you want to give it a bash you can order it online here for just £1 plus postage

              I have a vested interest as editor, but it's one of our better issues, and I really don't want to see 200 copies have to go in the recycling bin.

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                #8
                Sounds like North Ferriby's View From the Allotment End may be going to cease in its printed form. Next (and potentially last) issue available to order now.

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                  #9
                  I'm not sure if there'll be an end of season issue of Shrewsbury's Blue and Amber this year. It's been such an unusual season. I'll ask my brother as he's one of the editors. (He's not the editor who included a mocking photo of the chairman's toilet that prompted the tamping chairman to go looking for the editor before a game.)

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                    #10
                    I'm in the closing stages of putting together the first Walthamstow FC fanzine - If I Hadn't Seen Such Riches.

                    I've been editing the club's programme for the last 12 years, but felt it was time to give something a bit more creative (and a little less 'official' a crack). Our increase in support over the last few months has certainly helped stoke the fire.

                    I'm aiming for 3/4 issues a season at the moment, and have had contributions from a few other people too.

                    Editing a fanzine seems to be one hell of a thankless task, and I'm probably setting myself up for a fall, but it'll keep me busy for a while at least.

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                      #11
                      Ipswich had three at one stage, "A Load of Cobbolds", "Dribble" and the most successful, "TWTD" (or "Those Were The Days") which is still going in a digital form.

                      As a young fan who lived in London and wasn't able to get to every home match I used to buy all three from "Sports Pages" in London (just off the Charing Cross Road) and then later in the Manchester branch when I was at University.

                      Pre-internet they were a fantastic way to keep up to date with the club and what the fans were actually thinking.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Forest Gump View Post
                        I'm in the closing stages of putting together the first Walthamstow FC fanzine - If I Hadn't Seen Such Riches.

                        I've been editing the club's programme for the last 12 years, but felt it was time to give something a bit more creative (and a little less 'official' a crack). Our increase in support over the last few months has certainly helped stoke the fire.
                        Good to hear the support is increasing, especially as I know the club faced some difficult times in recent seasons. What do you think has brought that about, partly the name change?

                        I was always impressed by the club’s online & social media presence and programme before so will look out for the fanzine.
                        Last edited by Ray de Galles; 12-10-2018, 08:10.

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                          #13
                          I currently write for a fanzine, and have been approached to do a column in another, more famous 'zine. Which I probably won't do, for boring political reasons, but it was nice to be asked.

                          This thread has served to remind me that today was the soft deadline for a piece I promised. So thanks for the bump.

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                            #14
                            Good on you Forest Gump, and welcome to the boards. Do please let us all know your favourite biscuit in due course, and best of luck with your labour of love.


                            As a teenager I loved reading the directory of fanzines in each issue of WSC more than just about anything else in the magazine. It felt like all human life was there, in a way: a whole universe just adjacent to yet somehow not quite of the professional game.

                            I'm sure Norwich had a good five usually listed, as I recall – I'm trying to remember them all now off the top of my head, but can only get as far as The Citizen, Ferry Cross The Wensum and Liverpool Are On The Tele Again. If anyone can fill in any others that would be marvellous.

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                              #15
                              I need to post my recurring note any time discussions of zines re-appear: If you're doing autumn, winter, spring, or summer cleaning, please do not bin your old zines. Please donate to a local zine library, a university library that has a zine collection, or a football research archive.

                              Oh, and I'm still looking for some issues of Rigore (an English language zine about Italian football). If you have any, please pm me.

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                                #16
                                Good to hear the support is increasing, especially as I know the Club faced some difficult times in recent seasons. What do you think has brought thar about, partly the name change?
                                The name change certainly hasn't done any harm, but it was mainly a combination of a few things.

                                A few locals started coming towards the end of last season and making a bit of noise. Then they brought a friend, and a friend brought a friend and so on. Combined with a good run to fend off relegation at the end of last season and a good start to this season; our average attendance has jumped from 30-40odd to 70-80odd. We also now seem to have a squad who are beginning to forge a connection with the supporters. Most of them are locals, and at the end of last season they bought the fans a few crates of beer for the last game of the season. The little things are making a difference.

                                Good on you Forest Gump, and welcome to the boards. Do please let us all know your favourite biscuit in due course, and best of luck with your labour of love.
                                Cheers VA, the pressure's really on now.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  I haven't told him - I want it to be a surprise - but I'm dedicating my next book to the former editor of Where Were You At the Shay? Without the work that he and his contributors did, I'd never have felt confident to write anything at all about Bury.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by danielmak View Post
                                    I need to post my recurring note any time discussions of zines re-appear: If you're doing autumn, winter, spring, or summer cleaning, please do not bin your old zines. Please donate to a local zine library, a university library that has a zine collection, or a football research archive..
                                    Do you have addresses for any of those?

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                      Do you have addresses for any of those?
                                      I'm in the US so probably a little more difficult for most people on OTF, but the top link in this search shows a variety of options in the UK.

                                      This search pulls up football research centers and this search for university programs in football studies.

                                      I know that local libraries are generally underfunded and facing cuts and assume the same issues are faced by public libraries in the UK. However, I assume that zines tied to specific cities/regions, would be of interest to those libraries as well as local university archives (e.g., a zine about football in Bolton will be of interest to university archives at Bolton's universities).

                                      Again, I'm in the US and there has been a major increase in interest among special collections and archives for independently published materials. The university where I teach has a zine archive. I donate all my zines to them when I finish reading. I'd be happy to receive materials that I can forward on, but I assume the cost of shipping wouldn't be ideal for anyone outside the US.

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by Forest Gump View Post
                                        Editing a fanzine seems to be one hell of a thankless task, and I'm probably setting myself up for a fall, but it'll keep me busy for a while at least.
                                        The positive here is that you've discovered this incredibly early on. It takes most a few issues.

                                        Looking forward to seeing the first edition, due to the reasons RdG has mentioned elsewhere on thread. If you want to exchange issues then get in touch on twitter - I know you already follow popular STAND.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Used to write for Follow Follow when it was still a print fanzine. I wrote for it pretty late in the day - from about 2003 through to maybe 2006.

                                          Glasgow Rangers had a few zines over the years but the big 2 were Follow Follow and Number One. FF was always the one with the better football content whilst No 1 was by far the funnier of the two. I know somebody tried to get a Dumbarton fanzine up and running in the 90s but it didnt last long. Fanzines could be fantastic platforms for history buffs to share their encyclopaedic knowelde of the club or to print the kind of sharp and biting articles that official publications can't. They could also unfortunately be an outlet for mouth-frothing loonies to let rip.

                                          A lot of really great music writers progressed from fanzines to mainstream magazines. Has the same happened with football to the same extent? Probably not. I have a lot of respect for zine writers and editors who keep the format going in tough times. Newspaper readership is falling and people expect to get their news online or in short bites from social media. Being able to produce a zine with a decent standard of writing on a regular basis is no mean feat.

                                          Best fanzine title has to be the now defunct publication "One F in Falkirk".

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                                            #22
                                            I have an urge to post my back catalogue of Shrewsbury Town fanzines to Danielmak so he can donate them to his local university, just so that a future social studies researcher will pick up a stack of them and ask "How the fuck did we end up with these?"

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                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                              I have an urge to post my back catalogue of Shrewsbury Town fanzines to Danielmak so he can donate them to his local university, just so that a future social studies researcher will pick up a stack of them and ask "How the fuck did we end up with these?"
                                              Trinity college Dublin and the national library of Ireland both have a complete set of the fanzine I co edited in the early 90s,in fact they both sent threatening letters stating that we were legally obliged to send them a copy of each one,I was wondering now has anyone in either place has ever read them

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                                I have an urge to post my back catalogue of Shrewsbury Town fanzines to Danielmak so he can donate them to his local university, just so that a future social studies researcher will pick up a stack of them and ask "How the fuck did we end up with these?"
                                                Send them my way. You can add a note if you want to help quickly clarify the "what the fuck?" response. I had posted a similar note that I posted in this thread to another OTF thread a few years back and a woman contacted me who had her father's zines. We included her letter with the zines and included the note in the finding aid for researchers who would want to see what is in the collection under my name, which I am pasting here:

                                                In January 2015, Claire Jacobs sent Daniel the issues of Aux Armes! that her father, Robert Jenkins collected. Robert Jenkins died tragically in November 2013 when a police helicopter crashed into The Clutha pub in Glasgow, Scotland. Claire connected with Daniel on one of the online soccer message boards. In her note to Daniel, dated January 3, she wrote, "He was very passionate about both Scottish and European football, and collecting magazines. I think he would be happy that these magazines will go to DePaul University." A review of the zines during processing revealed that Robert Jenkins was a regular contributor to Aux Armes!, a zine devoted to French football (soccer).

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                                                  #25
                                                  After going exclusively digital for a few years truefaith is re-launching in traditional printed format at this afternoons game.

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