Fanzines?

gimmick

Anyone else a collector?

What clubs zines do you look out for, and which have surprised you by the quality, or dissapointed you of lack thereof?

I have a few hundred fanzines myself. I have most eL ones, though I neevr got a Glenmalure Post, or Bohs recent (ish) effort - 1984.

UCDs Student Til I Graduate is one of the better ones in Ireland at the moment, but that said, there are only four - Cork City "FourFiveOne" of which I was a founding editor, and worked with for 4 years - starting to get back involved again now, "Red Inc" which is Shels effort. Very hit or miss, but generally good. Then there is "One F In Longford" - which is brought out sporadically, and can be good when it doesnt try to be funny.

Of the UK based ones, the worst I have seen is "The Gooner". All style and no substance. "Red Issue", one of Man Us efforts is one of the best, mixing humour and discussion very well. It is also very well put together.

The best fanzines are always from lower clubs in my opinion. My personal favourites, though I havent seen them in quite a while are
"The Pie" - Notts County
"Vale Park Beano" - Port Vale
"Selhurst Echo" - Crystal palace
"Rushin & Rantin" - Rushden & Diamonds
"Deranged Ferret" - Lincoln City
And Cardiff Citys one, whose name escapes me at this time.

While the ones I really dont like are

"Blue is the clour" Birmingham - Rubbish.
"Blue Moon Is A Man City Song" Peterborough.
Sheffield Wednesdays one (its name again escapes me but I think it has to do with Monster Trucks?)
Leyton Orienteer - Leyton Orient.

Fanzines are an essential part of matchday IMO, not all partyline towing like programmes (I know they have to), but basically partizan nonsense written by het up fans. Some have actually made a difference, other have seen the editor banned for life from the home ground (George Reynolds then chairan of Darlington banned and threatned the fanzine editor).

Any other colelctors? What ones do you like, or dislike, and finally if anyone wants to give me theirs, they are more than welcome

Töpher

Don't buy programmes myself (dunno why, not that it matters - we seem to have stopped producing one! :eek: ), but tend to get my hands on the fanzine when I can. The Shels one is generally quite good, mixing articles from older supporters with rantings about Dave Crawley and Nutsy's tactics from the younger crowd. Generally quite humourou (like my spelling!).

Must make more of an effort to get oppositions fanzines where available at away games, but I'm so lazy!

John_C

Cork have a second one, OWOTO or something like that but I've never read it.

There used to be an international Fanzine called the Genesis Reporter which was (I think) made by the same people as FFO in Cork. It was excellent but only ever had a few issues. There's also an international one called You Boys in Green which has very good production standards (full colour and glossy) but very poor content. It has a lot of soft interviews with players and personalities and no controversy.

I think the longford one is very good but a bit steep at 2 euros for what you get.

I remember getting one once in Ballybofea but I've not seen it in a while.

John_C

gimmick wrote:

Any other colelctors? What ones do you like, or dislike, and finally if anyone wants to give me theirs, they are more than welcome

I've a few spare STIG's from this season if you're missing any. We're onto our third issue for the season.

gimmick

The Genesis Reporter was not the same people as FFO.

IWOTO - I Was Out There Once is Cork Citys second fanzine, and occasionally there is a 3rd one called Spreadin The Dirt, which is actually very good, if not completely insane. IWOTO is good too, so as City fans we are spoiled fanzine wise.

Re your offer John, Ive seen all the STIGs this season so far. Thanks.

Benedict XVI

I know it's not a club Fanzine, but i have a few copies of 'You boys in Green' thats handed out a internationals, usually the competitive ones.

It's OK , but all the complaining about 'suits' and 'fair weather fans' and how 'real fans' can't get ticktes etc. is annoying to be honest.

Zebra3

There's loads of articles from Red Inc. (the Shels 'zine) from the last seven years available for free here:
http://www.redsindependent.com/archive.htm

Enjoy!!!!

The best non-Shels Irish fanzine I ever came across was Cork's No More Plastic Pitches. My only ever crib with it was the title!!!! We never had any plastic pitches in Ireland (thank fu(k!!!).

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I contribute to Red Inc myself, and fair play to the lads who produce it, they sent me a few copies over while I've been away.

The articles are great, especially the ones I write.

John_C

I'm going to be a wee bit controversial here and say that I've been wondering about Red Inc's independance since it dropped it's stance against the Ballygonorthside move a year or so ago.

Slash/ED

That's not controversal, it's just wrong, trust me.

John_C

OK fair enough. I only know what I read on the internet which isn't the most relyable source of information.

Zebra3

John_C wrote:

I'm going to be a wee bit controversial here and say that I've been wondering about Red Inc's independance since it dropped it's stance against the Ballygonorthside move a year or so ago.

Well, afaik, the lads had a meeting with Ollie and everything was explained to them.

Unless someone hands the club megabucks Tolka is finished. There's only access to one side of the ground which is a huge security issue for games against top IL sides. DCC have also plans for the area that will see Tolka become high density housing/apartments.

Given the option of owning our own campus (i.e. a new 8,000 all-seater and huge no. of pitches for schoolboy teams) and being co-tennant of the SDCC alongside Shamrock, it would seem to be a no-brainer. And I don't think there were any other options a year ago. Plus with the Metro North going ahead. it doesn't look as isolated now.

Since then talk of co-ownership of Dalyer has come and gone (thankfully).

So where to next for Shels?

RefulgentGnomon

The Harps one I got was called Down To The River (To Pray) and it was excellent

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John_C wrote:

OK fair enough. I only know what I read on the internet which isn't the most relyable source of information.

Yeah, they are definitely independent. I was very vociferous behind my keyboard on the Shels website that time of the "U-Turn" - I go by my real name there, so the lads know who I am, and they still published articles I had written.

I have nothing to do with these lads myself, I only contribute to the 'zine., I'm not an editor, producer, printer or anything else to do with it.