Steaming in: The Classic Account of Life on the Football Terraces

by Colin Ward

Colin Ward spent much of the 1970s and 1980s on the terraces of football grounds around the country, and following England across the continent. It was a time when passionate support of your team did not mean wearing the team shirt and subscribing to your club's TV station. Instead, it often meant having to defend your part of the stadium against attacks from opposition fans, confrontations with the police, and some decidedly hair-raising encounters.Although, post-Hillsborough, this seems like a vanished era, the world of the football hooligan still has the power to fascinate. No one has captured the atmosphere with the same authenticity as Ward, who reveals the truth behind the easy the camaraderie, the unexpected friendships between rival groups, the characters who attained near mythical status. Controversial, provocative and above all brilliantly told, Steaming Intakes the reader right to the heart of the action.

Genres: Football, Nonfiction

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 18, 1989

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining and fairly light read. This is the story of 70’s and 80’s ‘terrace culture’ as told by Colin Ward, a supposed veteran of Arsenal, Chelsea, Leatherhead and England scraps at home and abroad. While I don’t believe everything Colin tells us in the book I suspect it’s mostly a case of him making certain embellishments to his experiences rather than dreaming the whole thing up from his leafy north London suburb. There are some good little stories and anecdotes in the book and it’s well worth a read for someone even remotely interested in the area but don’t expect to learn anything new or gain any new perspective on football violence. There were a few parts that really grated on me, for example I can’t imagine anyone outside of an Enid Blyton novel hurling some of the insults supposedly said. Nothing though, was more irritating than seemingly every single ‘scouser’ Colin encounters on his travels being a thief. That said, very enjoyable. Liverpool and Everton fans be warned!

[Shane C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this one. Badly written but there is some progress of maturity towards the end. No real discussion on his life and what brought him to enjoy this fairly reprehensible behaviour. The death of his mother was given one line, which I thought was interesting.

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steaming In by Colin Ward (Simon & Shuster 1989)(nonfiction). This is widely regarded as the definitive book about the thugs and hooligans who inhabited the terraces of British British football clubs of the 1970s and 1980's. They showed up to drink nonstop for a weekend, to puke, to fight, to shock, to destroy, and to bleed. The book features Arsenal and Chelsea at home and on the road. My rating: 7.5/10, finished 2007.

[Jonathan Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better books of this genre. It's a weak genre.