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1312: Among the Ultras, A journey with the world's most extreme fans
You can see us, but you don't know us.
Ultras are football fans like no others. Fiercely loyal, organised, political and violent, they are a hugely visible and controversial part of the global game, their credo and aesthetic replicated in almost every league everywhere on earth. Their global movement of extreme fandom and politics is also one of the largest youth movements in the world, yet they remain enigmatic: 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, emerging from the terraces of post-war Italy, the Balkans and Brazil, and how it has become a global phenomenon that now dominates the stadiums of Madrid, Munich, Moscow and Buenos Aires. With unique insider access, the book explains how ultras have grown into a fiercely political movement that embraces extremes on both the left and right; fighting against the commercialisation of football and society, the resettlement of refugees, the rise of fascism, opposition to dictators and the attempts to control them by the authorities who both covet and fear their power.
It’s an unforgettable look at the volatile new forces in football, at a time when people power and anti-establishment voices are redefining politics – sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.
Ultras are football fans like no others. Fiercely loyal, organised, political and violent, they are a hugely visible and controversial part of the global game, their credo and aesthetic replicated in almost every league everywhere on earth. Their global movement of extreme fandom and politics is also one of the largest youth movements in the world, yet they remain enigmatic: 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, emerging from the terraces of post-war Italy, the Balkans and Brazil, and how it has become a global phenomenon that now dominates the stadiums of Madrid, Munich, Moscow and Buenos Aires. With unique insider access, the book explains how ultras have grown into a fiercely political movement that embraces extremes on both the left and right; fighting against the commercialisation of football and society, the resettlement of refugees, the rise of fascism, opposition to dictators and the attempts to control them by the authorities who both covet and fear their power.
It’s an unforgettable look at the volatile new forces in football, at a time when people power and anti-establishment voices are redefining politics – sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.
400 pages, Paperback
Published March 12, 2020
138 people are currently reading
1715 people want to read
About the author
James Montague
21 books90 followersJames Montague is an author and journalist from Chelmsford, Essex.
He has reported for the New York Times, BBC World Service, Delayed Gratification and The Blizzard, amongst others, and has reported from over 100 different countries and unrecognised territories.
He is the author of four highly-praised football books - When Friday Comes, Thirty One Nil, The Billionaires Club and 1312: Among the Ultras - and is a two time winner of Football Book of the Year at the British Sports Book of the Year awards.
His fifth book, Engulfed: How Saudi Arabia Bought Sport, and the World, will be published in the spring of 2025.
He has reported for the New York Times, BBC World Service, Delayed Gratification and The Blizzard, amongst others, and has reported from over 100 different countries and unrecognised territories.
He is the author of four highly-praised football books - When Friday Comes, Thirty One Nil, The Billionaires Club and 1312: Among the Ultras - and is a two time winner of Football Book of the Year at the British Sports Book of the Year awards.
His fifth book, Engulfed: How Saudi Arabia Bought Sport, and the World, will be published in the spring of 2025.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
October 5, 2022
I was loath to read this, holding onto long term distrust of 'outsiders' (not necessarily journalists either) writing about a youth culture that means a lot to me. The tendency is to either overhype, moralise, or just miss the point completely. Montague, perhaps by virtue of his own local terrace experience, did none of these.
1312 surprised me, it even managed to articulate the energy of terrace culture I've always struggled to put into words- the things that make it one identifiable culture despite an array of political and stylistic contrasts - to FEEL football not just to watch it, to fight for your community, to reject authority and commercialisation, and to test the boundaries of state and society.
Despite the culture's origin in passion, drama, and the values mentioned above, it's fair to say that the picture of modern ultras scenes painted in the book isn't particularly romantic, nor optimistic. There is the ugliness of the far-right and their connections with nationalist elements of the state (practically acting as police in several instances, so much for 1312!) and with capital (profiteering, merchandising, connections with suspect businessmen, even extortion).
Then there's the loud, cringeworthy virtue-signalling of groups (particularly in Germany and the USA) who call themselves left-wing. Groups who aren't able to simply live their values, but have to wear them as a badge for self-promotion and moral superiority in such a way as to render them plastic, insipid. It's so disappointing, embarrassing even, to read about these groups calling the police on and pressing charges against their political enemies (again, so much for 1312). The way that fans uncritically support the commercialisation of liberal values in America was particularly unsettling to me.
So yes, it's true, three quarters of the book did not paint a nice picture of a culture that I love. But the honesty of this book is what makes it stand out. Besides, much like the process of one generation replacing another on each individual terrace, new scenes in new regions emerge as the most subversive, innovative, and exciting- it's the same process on a macro, global scale. These new scenes are almost always derided as copycats by the old guard, just as younger generations of ultras are dismissed by their elders, but they bring new energy and new life to the culture.
Montague could've stayed euro-centric, as most covering this topic do, but to his credit he takes a broader approach and the book is far more interesting for it. North Africa, Indonesia, Turkey and Greece seem to be among the most interesting scenes at the moment and there were encounters in the book that left me with real hope for the future of this culture and the integrity of its anti-authoritarian, anti-corporate, localised values.
It's worth mentioning too that there is appeal in Montague's level-headed honesty, he doesn't feel the need to hype up every scenario. In recollections of high-energy moments he describes them as such, but when things fall flat as they so often do in football (flop, as we say here) he delivers these recounts with deadpan, and often comical, honesty.
I didn't expect to, but I loved this book.
1312 surprised me, it even managed to articulate the energy of terrace culture I've always struggled to put into words- the things that make it one identifiable culture despite an array of political and stylistic contrasts - to FEEL football not just to watch it, to fight for your community, to reject authority and commercialisation, and to test the boundaries of state and society.
Despite the culture's origin in passion, drama, and the values mentioned above, it's fair to say that the picture of modern ultras scenes painted in the book isn't particularly romantic, nor optimistic. There is the ugliness of the far-right and their connections with nationalist elements of the state (practically acting as police in several instances, so much for 1312!) and with capital (profiteering, merchandising, connections with suspect businessmen, even extortion).
Then there's the loud, cringeworthy virtue-signalling of groups (particularly in Germany and the USA) who call themselves left-wing. Groups who aren't able to simply live their values, but have to wear them as a badge for self-promotion and moral superiority in such a way as to render them plastic, insipid. It's so disappointing, embarrassing even, to read about these groups calling the police on and pressing charges against their political enemies (again, so much for 1312). The way that fans uncritically support the commercialisation of liberal values in America was particularly unsettling to me.
So yes, it's true, three quarters of the book did not paint a nice picture of a culture that I love. But the honesty of this book is what makes it stand out. Besides, much like the process of one generation replacing another on each individual terrace, new scenes in new regions emerge as the most subversive, innovative, and exciting- it's the same process on a macro, global scale. These new scenes are almost always derided as copycats by the old guard, just as younger generations of ultras are dismissed by their elders, but they bring new energy and new life to the culture.
Montague could've stayed euro-centric, as most covering this topic do, but to his credit he takes a broader approach and the book is far more interesting for it. North Africa, Indonesia, Turkey and Greece seem to be among the most interesting scenes at the moment and there were encounters in the book that left me with real hope for the future of this culture and the integrity of its anti-authoritarian, anti-corporate, localised values.
It's worth mentioning too that there is appeal in Montague's level-headed honesty, he doesn't feel the need to hype up every scenario. In recollections of high-energy moments he describes them as such, but when things fall flat as they so often do in football (flop, as we say here) he delivers these recounts with deadpan, and often comical, honesty.
I didn't expect to, but I loved this book.
November 8, 2020
Montague draws us into the unpredictable world of the Ultras, where choreo, pyro, tifos and politics come as standard. We see how terrace subculture, the punk scene and political extremism combine with a deep distrust of journalists and police and merge and develop in many surprising and colourful ways. We witness the power and influence of football fans and how they are so often closely linked to various political movements or politicians and some cases even genuine war fare, with notable connections to the likes of the Maidan and the Balkan wars.
We get a fascinating and sometimes disturbing array of stories from across the global football landscape, like during a 2004 Roma – Lazio derby, the game was called off after a false rumour spread through the stadium that a child had been run over and killed by the police. “Three of Roma’s capotifosi entered the pitch in the second half to tell their captain Francesco Totti that the match had to be abandoned. And it was.”
We are also told that since 1922, 332 people have died in football related violence in Argentina, which gives us an idea of how violent and serious it can get. “In 2008, there was six weeks of anti-police rioting after a Panathinaikos fan was killed by two Greek police officers.” Even a stabbing occurred March 07 when Olympiacos and Panathinaikos clashed before a women’s volleyball match. We learn that the Ukrainians, Russians and Poles have developed a different way of engaging in heated conflict, through so called Okolofutbola or forest fighting, which is exactly what it sounds like.
On a marginally lighter note, we learn the finer detail surrounding a drone incident planned and carried out by Ismail Morina, back in 2014, this otherwise unknown Albanian’s stunt led to a jail sentence, global attention and folk hero status. Elsewhere there is a whole number of interesting tit bits for football fans, like the origins of the founding of Hajduk Split (Hajduk repeatedly turned down more lucrative offers from abroad in order to remain at home in Dalmatia and a team was named after him), or that it was a Scotsman, Charles Miller, who first brought football to Brazil back in 1894. We learn that the true fanaticism of the modern day football fan can trace its origins back to the rather eccentric Miguel Reyes, a Uruguayan who was famed for his over enthusiastic pitch side behaviour, which quickly gained him a reputation within his country and beyond.
But we also see the other side of the coin here too, Montague doesn’t try to paint a shallow or sensationalist view, he shows that many of the Ultras in clubs around the world, can also contribute many positive aspects too like keeping ticket prices down and other costs lower than you would find in the hyper-commercialised, over gentrified climate, such as the English Premiership. Another bright aspect is found in the hugely inspiring and encouraging scene in German football, where fans have a huge say in part due to the 50+1 system. We see that the same system is used in Sweden too though the standard of football is far inferior, with the league regarded as only the 19th best in Europe at the time of printing.
So overall this was a highly informative and at times a deeply engaging read, which covers many of the better known Ultra hot spots from South America and Western Europe as well as giving us a telling insight into some of the lesser known domains found in Indonesia, Sweden and North Africa. Montague really tries to get beneath the surface of these movements, and more often than not he succeeds.
Although there is no one, accepted or clear definition of the Ultra, most of them share many of the same values or hopes, they have an inherent distrust of authority, and long for more authentic relationships with their club teams, and are against the rampant gentrification which has swept through the modern landscape. Montague shows that this has come with some positives, such as largely making stadiums safer and more family friendly, but it has also squeezed out the terrace culture and diluted much of the atmosphere and nears ever closer to elite corporatism as it gets increasingly further away from its working class origins. I would highly recommend this to any football fans out there.
May 5, 2021
James Montague w 1312 zabiera czytelnika w fascynującą i wyczerpującą podróż w świat opraw meczowych, pirotechniki i ustawek. Razem z dziennikarzem poznajemy ludzi, którzy stanęli do nierównej walki z dzisiejszym homogenizującym się światem wielkiej piłki, gdzie kibic coraz częściej traktowany jak subskrybent kontentu, plastikowej rozrywki, którego zaangażowanie ma kończyć się na zakupie biletów i licencjonowanych gadżetów.
Montague pokazuje różne oblicza ruchów ultras. Na kartach książki poznajemy na przykład Diabolica - szefa kibiców rzymskiego Lazio, znanego z ultraprawicowych poglądów i ... głowy do biznesu (nie zawsze legalnego), czy Hugo, kibica szwedzkiego Hamarby IF, który odnajduje spełnienie w leśnych ustawkach z kibicami innych drużyn. Zaglądamy do najgorętszych miejsc na mapie kibicowskiego świata: Stambułu, Salonik, czy znajdującego się w strefie wojny ukraińskiego Mariupola. Poznajemy faszyzujących ultrasów - weteranów batalionu Azow walczącego na Krymie z separatystami i "lewackich" sympatyków poczdamskiego SV Babelsberg 03.
1312 pozwala nam zerkać w zróżnicowany świat młodych ludzi tworzących kulturę kibicowską na całym świecie od Los Angeles po Dżakartę, na ich życiowe motywacje, na outsiderską subkulturę, którą tworzą, a która nie mieści się w ramach dzisiejszego, obsesyjnie wszystko kontrolującego systemu.
Montague pokazuje różne oblicza ruchów ultras. Na kartach książki poznajemy na przykład Diabolica - szefa kibiców rzymskiego Lazio, znanego z ultraprawicowych poglądów i ... głowy do biznesu (nie zawsze legalnego), czy Hugo, kibica szwedzkiego Hamarby IF, który odnajduje spełnienie w leśnych ustawkach z kibicami innych drużyn. Zaglądamy do najgorętszych miejsc na mapie kibicowskiego świata: Stambułu, Salonik, czy znajdującego się w strefie wojny ukraińskiego Mariupola. Poznajemy faszyzujących ultrasów - weteranów batalionu Azow walczącego na Krymie z separatystami i "lewackich" sympatyków poczdamskiego SV Babelsberg 03.
1312 pozwala nam zerkać w zróżnicowany świat młodych ludzi tworzących kulturę kibicowską na całym świecie od Los Angeles po Dżakartę, na ich życiowe motywacje, na outsiderską subkulturę, którą tworzą, a która nie mieści się w ramach dzisiejszego, obsesyjnie wszystko kontrolującego systemu.
November 29, 2020
I really enjoyed this. Reminded me of Simon Kuper’s ‘Against the Enemy’. Though bearing in mind that I read that over 20 years ago, and read this during various sleepless nights looking after our new-born daughter, the comparison may not be wholly accurate.
What I do remember thinking – and I finished it a couple of months ago – was that each chapter, though admirably in-depth, felt so self-contained that the whole thing resembled a succession of long magazine articles. That’s an observation rather than a criticism; imposing links between chapters for the sake of it would have felt artificial.
I was going to pick out various countries whose ultra culture, and the experience of the author when visiting there, stood out. But to be honest I don’t quite remember. Still, it’s vividly and intelligently written, and probably the best football book I’ve read in quite a while. Please don’t tell Roy Keane, though.
What I do remember thinking – and I finished it a couple of months ago – was that each chapter, though admirably in-depth, felt so self-contained that the whole thing resembled a succession of long magazine articles. That’s an observation rather than a criticism; imposing links between chapters for the sake of it would have felt artificial.
I was going to pick out various countries whose ultra culture, and the experience of the author when visiting there, stood out. But to be honest I don’t quite remember. Still, it’s vividly and intelligently written, and probably the best football book I’ve read in quite a while. Please don’t tell Roy Keane, though.
July 25, 2020
Note: I plan to write a full review of this book at bundesligafan.com.
For now, I'll just say that this book is sensational. Deeply reported -- both on-the-ground and with academic and other sources. Montague also identified arguably the most interesting ultra scenes to document.
Personally, I want to thank Montague for this book. I get the sense that he wrote it at great personal cost. Thank you, James!
For now, I'll just say that this book is sensational. Deeply reported -- both on-the-ground and with academic and other sources. Montague also identified arguably the most interesting ultra scenes to document.
Personally, I want to thank Montague for this book. I get the sense that he wrote it at great personal cost. Thank you, James!
February 13, 2022
A fascinating dive into the world of football Ultras from around the world. How they began, what their motives are, their politics, relationships with politicians, even their relationship to football itself (surprisingly a few of the major leaders have said they don't even like football or have much afinity with the players in their team).
Montague travels around the world and immerses himself with different groups which takes some doing in itself as journalists tend to be distrusted and not often welcomed amongst Ultras. The far-right, nationalism, racism, the far-left, fundraisers, protesting for justice and political change - Ultras groups tend to be groups of extremes and are all represented in this book. Starting off in South America in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, the author then travels to Europe to Italy, Serbia, Greece, North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Ukraine, Germany, Sweden, Turkey before moving to Egypt and North Africa, Los Angeles and Indonesia.
I did think there was a bit of inconsistency with the structure between chapters, with some a lot less interesting, and a bit aimless, compared to others. But overall a good body of work.
Montague travels around the world and immerses himself with different groups which takes some doing in itself as journalists tend to be distrusted and not often welcomed amongst Ultras. The far-right, nationalism, racism, the far-left, fundraisers, protesting for justice and political change - Ultras groups tend to be groups of extremes and are all represented in this book. Starting off in South America in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, the author then travels to Europe to Italy, Serbia, Greece, North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Ukraine, Germany, Sweden, Turkey before moving to Egypt and North Africa, Los Angeles and Indonesia.
I did think there was a bit of inconsistency with the structure between chapters, with some a lot less interesting, and a bit aimless, compared to others. But overall a good body of work.
July 2, 2025
Verzameling van landen en culturen.
Dit boek is voor de liefhebbers, als je niks met ultra's (of voetbalsupporters) hebt dan kan je hem laten liggen.
De auteur gaat langs bijna twintig landen en omschrijft wat zij daar de definitie van "ultra" vinden. Er zit nogal wat verschil tussen, maar de gemeenschappelijke noemer is dat het voetbal ondergeschikt is aan de tribune.
In het ene land is het in ontwikkeling en doen clubs/besturen moeilijk over spandoeken. In andere landen vechten ze tot de dood en kijkt de politie er niet naar om. Je kan je wel voorstellen dat de radicale landen beter weglezen.
Minpunt is, misschien mijn pijnpunt, dat je dat hele boek leest. Na 10 landen ben je er wel klaar mee. Wees dus niet bang halverwege te stoppen, lees de landen die je leuk vindt en lees de epiloog als eerst. Die geeft wat teasers waardoor je weet welk land je leuk gaat vinden.
Dit boek is voor de liefhebbers, als je niks met ultra's (of voetbalsupporters) hebt dan kan je hem laten liggen.
De auteur gaat langs bijna twintig landen en omschrijft wat zij daar de definitie van "ultra" vinden. Er zit nogal wat verschil tussen, maar de gemeenschappelijke noemer is dat het voetbal ondergeschikt is aan de tribune.
In het ene land is het in ontwikkeling en doen clubs/besturen moeilijk over spandoeken. In andere landen vechten ze tot de dood en kijkt de politie er niet naar om. Je kan je wel voorstellen dat de radicale landen beter weglezen.
Minpunt is, misschien mijn pijnpunt, dat je dat hele boek leest. Na 10 landen ben je er wel klaar mee. Wees dus niet bang halverwege te stoppen, lees de landen die je leuk vindt en lees de epiloog als eerst. Die geeft wat teasers waardoor je weet welk land je leuk gaat vinden.
October 13, 2025
Fascinating, and unexpectedly rich (also) for non-football fans. Well-written, funny, and with better (and shorter) political context than many books on politics. Exhaustive, which would be it's only down-side
September 14, 2025
veľmi informačne a zážitkovo bohatá a veľmi žurnalisticky inšpiratívna kniha; aj keď som si myslela, že ma téma až tak nechyti tak chytila
March 13, 2025
Bijzonder boek met een mooi inkijkje in een subcultuur waar ik nul verstand van heb. Montague schrijft ook nog eens heel prettig!
October 21, 2022
4.5 stars.
Earlier this year, I found myself in Prague with all of my closest friends from school. The vast majority of us are huge football fans; it's been a constant point of connection throughout the years, no matter how far removed from each other we've been, no matter any changes in circumstance. Naturally, then, buying tickets to see probably Prague's most (in)famous football team, Sparta Prague, and experience Czech football culture first-hand, was something of a priority.
Buying tickets wasn't tricky. Like most things in Prague, they're super cheap and the Sparta stadium rarely fills itself. The lack of a distinct away fan culture, plus a dwindling interest due to perceived corruption, is the main cause of that. But there was a reason to be nervous. Anyone with more than a passing interest in football will know and be wary of the terrifying reputation of Sparta's 'Ultras' groups. They've frequently been linked with severe violence and racism; as a Leicester City fan I met recently said, 'they are full-on Ultras, no question'.
So infamous is Sparta's horde that even the club website issues a warning when purchasing tickets. With no interest in being in the mix with them but having a sort of morbid curiosity, we purchased tickets just two stands away. Though the game itself (against FC Zlin) ended as a completely unremarkable 0-0 draw, the atmosphere provided by the ultras was what we'd been told to expect; constant singing, flag-waving, martial drums and flare-centric choreography were all on show. It added something to the experience, even if I'm still not entirely sure what that is.
It's not difficult to dismiss ultra culture. As he says at the beginning of this wonderful book, James Montague was frequently uncomfortable while interviewing the ultras and mining their origins stories. Ultras are famously distrustful of any outsiders, but most particularly journalists. And despite all their protestations of unity and identity, from the outside looking in there's no real silver lining to many of these groups. That becomes particularly clear when Montague talks with members of Lazio's openly Neo-Nazi ultras group 'The Irreducible', or the Ukrainian ultras enlisted in the far-right Azov Battalion.
But in terms objective political, social, and historic sport writing, this is one of the best books I've read for some time. Drawing frequently on literary, musical and cinematic references and carrying out exhaustive research, Montague gets beneath the filthy fingernails of Ultra culture and offers probably one of the most in-depth and nuanced perspectives committed to print. Covering the most famous ultras movements in the world, from South America to Italy and the Balkans, to more unexpected places like Sweden and Indonesia (home to one of the most violent fan scenes in the world), he gives problematic people just enough room to unashamedly crucify themselves, all the while situating the culture in a deep socio-political understanding.
And he tells some incredible, scintillating stories along the way. Like the one of the legendary fan who painted banners for fierce Argentinian rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate, or the extraordinary story of Ismael Morina in Kosovo, and his now world-famous on-pitch antics.
And he makes one thing explicitly clear throughout - ultra culture, and football, is deeply political. As much as he interviews sketch-balls on the far-right, he also explores the left-wing, pro-LGBT, anti-fascism, anti-racism activism at German clubs like Freiburg, Werder Bremen, Babelsburgh and St. Pauli, or Turkish giants Besiktas. Political posturing, the involvement of organised crime and campaigning are all a frequent part of the picture, adding depth to what can seem utterly senseless from the outside.
He also does some earnest soul-searching, touching on his troublesome past in the chapter about Sweden, and how for him there might still be a rush in some of the ultra's violent unification. He also ponders his own complicity in allowing detestable figures a platform.
On that note, the only complaint I might have is that he doesn't always go quite far enough in terms of condemnation. That's to be expected when speaking to the ultras directly; oftentimes these are intimidating people in extremely intimidating circumstances. I feel like he could be a little stronger in the prose, but then this is pure objectivism; Louis Theroux-type reporting that lets people present themselves however they wish.
It's a wonderful book about a culture that's far deeper and more misunderstood than one might expect. I'd recommend it to non-football fans as, in many cases, ultra culture isn't actually very much about football at all. It's all about the history and the feeling, two things Montague has in spades. It's an electrifying read.
Earlier this year, I found myself in Prague with all of my closest friends from school. The vast majority of us are huge football fans; it's been a constant point of connection throughout the years, no matter how far removed from each other we've been, no matter any changes in circumstance. Naturally, then, buying tickets to see probably Prague's most (in)famous football team, Sparta Prague, and experience Czech football culture first-hand, was something of a priority.
Buying tickets wasn't tricky. Like most things in Prague, they're super cheap and the Sparta stadium rarely fills itself. The lack of a distinct away fan culture, plus a dwindling interest due to perceived corruption, is the main cause of that. But there was a reason to be nervous. Anyone with more than a passing interest in football will know and be wary of the terrifying reputation of Sparta's 'Ultras' groups. They've frequently been linked with severe violence and racism; as a Leicester City fan I met recently said, 'they are full-on Ultras, no question'.
So infamous is Sparta's horde that even the club website issues a warning when purchasing tickets. With no interest in being in the mix with them but having a sort of morbid curiosity, we purchased tickets just two stands away. Though the game itself (against FC Zlin) ended as a completely unremarkable 0-0 draw, the atmosphere provided by the ultras was what we'd been told to expect; constant singing, flag-waving, martial drums and flare-centric choreography were all on show. It added something to the experience, even if I'm still not entirely sure what that is.
It's not difficult to dismiss ultra culture. As he says at the beginning of this wonderful book, James Montague was frequently uncomfortable while interviewing the ultras and mining their origins stories. Ultras are famously distrustful of any outsiders, but most particularly journalists. And despite all their protestations of unity and identity, from the outside looking in there's no real silver lining to many of these groups. That becomes particularly clear when Montague talks with members of Lazio's openly Neo-Nazi ultras group 'The Irreducible', or the Ukrainian ultras enlisted in the far-right Azov Battalion.
But in terms objective political, social, and historic sport writing, this is one of the best books I've read for some time. Drawing frequently on literary, musical and cinematic references and carrying out exhaustive research, Montague gets beneath the filthy fingernails of Ultra culture and offers probably one of the most in-depth and nuanced perspectives committed to print. Covering the most famous ultras movements in the world, from South America to Italy and the Balkans, to more unexpected places like Sweden and Indonesia (home to one of the most violent fan scenes in the world), he gives problematic people just enough room to unashamedly crucify themselves, all the while situating the culture in a deep socio-political understanding.
And he tells some incredible, scintillating stories along the way. Like the one of the legendary fan who painted banners for fierce Argentinian rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate, or the extraordinary story of Ismael Morina in Kosovo, and his now world-famous on-pitch antics.
And he makes one thing explicitly clear throughout - ultra culture, and football, is deeply political. As much as he interviews sketch-balls on the far-right, he also explores the left-wing, pro-LGBT, anti-fascism, anti-racism activism at German clubs like Freiburg, Werder Bremen, Babelsburgh and St. Pauli, or Turkish giants Besiktas. Political posturing, the involvement of organised crime and campaigning are all a frequent part of the picture, adding depth to what can seem utterly senseless from the outside.
He also does some earnest soul-searching, touching on his troublesome past in the chapter about Sweden, and how for him there might still be a rush in some of the ultra's violent unification. He also ponders his own complicity in allowing detestable figures a platform.
On that note, the only complaint I might have is that he doesn't always go quite far enough in terms of condemnation. That's to be expected when speaking to the ultras directly; oftentimes these are intimidating people in extremely intimidating circumstances. I feel like he could be a little stronger in the prose, but then this is pure objectivism; Louis Theroux-type reporting that lets people present themselves however they wish.
It's a wonderful book about a culture that's far deeper and more misunderstood than one might expect. I'd recommend it to non-football fans as, in many cases, ultra culture isn't actually very much about football at all. It's all about the history and the feeling, two things Montague has in spades. It's an electrifying read.
March 13, 2022
Fascinating book and well written.
While some chapters were definitely better than others, the book is a fascinating and serious look at defining and exploring ultra culture in all its myriad firms.
Interestingly, and like one of the author’s main arguments about ultras, football is actually discussed very little. This book at its best roots various national ultra movements in their political and social contexts and makes for fascinating reading.
A highlight was the chapters on the ultra groups across the former Yugoslavia. Montague explored the break of Yugoslavia and explains how ultras across the region were fertile recruiting grounds for paramilitaries, perhaps most famously Arkan and the Delije, and how the ultras are still heavily linked to political machinations today (Red Star, Partizan and Vucic, and ultra groups in Macedonia and Greece and their opinions on the bitter renaming referendum).
Another interesting theme that emerged is how ultras over the last decade or so have often been at the vanguard of protest movements and mobilisation against the stage (the Maidan Revolution in Ukraine, the revolt against Mubarak in Egypt, protests against Erdogan at Gezi park, amongst others) mostly because of their experience of mass organisation and fighting against the police. Montague really stresses the anti state, anti authority and in particular the anti police (1312) sentiments that unite ultra movements across the world who differ hugely in political opinions.
A weakness of this book is perhaps that some chapters are better than others. I found the chapters on Egypt and Serbia to be the strongest, perhaps rooted in the author having the strongest personal connections to both places, but the book was exactly what I was looking for. A serious and pretty comprehensive tour of the global ultra movement.
While some chapters were definitely better than others, the book is a fascinating and serious look at defining and exploring ultra culture in all its myriad firms.
Interestingly, and like one of the author’s main arguments about ultras, football is actually discussed very little. This book at its best roots various national ultra movements in their political and social contexts and makes for fascinating reading.
A highlight was the chapters on the ultra groups across the former Yugoslavia. Montague explored the break of Yugoslavia and explains how ultras across the region were fertile recruiting grounds for paramilitaries, perhaps most famously Arkan and the Delije, and how the ultras are still heavily linked to political machinations today (Red Star, Partizan and Vucic, and ultra groups in Macedonia and Greece and their opinions on the bitter renaming referendum).
Another interesting theme that emerged is how ultras over the last decade or so have often been at the vanguard of protest movements and mobilisation against the stage (the Maidan Revolution in Ukraine, the revolt against Mubarak in Egypt, protests against Erdogan at Gezi park, amongst others) mostly because of their experience of mass organisation and fighting against the police. Montague really stresses the anti state, anti authority and in particular the anti police (1312) sentiments that unite ultra movements across the world who differ hugely in political opinions.
A weakness of this book is perhaps that some chapters are better than others. I found the chapters on Egypt and Serbia to be the strongest, perhaps rooted in the author having the strongest personal connections to both places, but the book was exactly what I was looking for. A serious and pretty comprehensive tour of the global ultra movement.
December 21, 2020
Der Autor nimmt den Leser mir auf eine Reise in eine (den allermeisten) völlig unbekannte Subkultur. Viele kennen Ultras nur von den bunten Choreographie in Stadien oder als prügelnde Hooligans, die insbesondere im Rahmen von großen Turnieren für Schlagzeilen sorgen.
Im Rahmen dieses Buch reisen wir von den Anfängen der Bewegung in Südamerika (wo die Macht der Ultras heute bis in die Politik reicht und deutlich mehr als "nur" Fussball auf dem Spiel steht) über die "alte" Welt bis hin zu marodierenden Horden auf Autobahnen in Indonesien. Der Autor bewahrt dabei in den allermeisten Fällen eine ausreichend große emotionale Distanz, so dass die sehr intimen und nahen Einblicke nicht verherrlichend wirken.
Es fällt mir schwer, eine genaue Zielgruppe für das Buch auszumachen. Reinen Fussballfans könnte der ausführliche Blick in Geschichte und politische Zusammenhänge abschrecken, während das Feuilleton-Publikum mit dieser Welt vermutlich wenig anfangen kann. Sobald man sich aber für Fussball UND Politik/Geschichte interessiert, hat man hier eine wahre Goldgrube gefunden.
Im Rahmen dieses Buch reisen wir von den Anfängen der Bewegung in Südamerika (wo die Macht der Ultras heute bis in die Politik reicht und deutlich mehr als "nur" Fussball auf dem Spiel steht) über die "alte" Welt bis hin zu marodierenden Horden auf Autobahnen in Indonesien. Der Autor bewahrt dabei in den allermeisten Fällen eine ausreichend große emotionale Distanz, so dass die sehr intimen und nahen Einblicke nicht verherrlichend wirken.
Es fällt mir schwer, eine genaue Zielgruppe für das Buch auszumachen. Reinen Fussballfans könnte der ausführliche Blick in Geschichte und politische Zusammenhänge abschrecken, während das Feuilleton-Publikum mit dieser Welt vermutlich wenig anfangen kann. Sobald man sich aber für Fussball UND Politik/Geschichte interessiert, hat man hier eine wahre Goldgrube gefunden.
November 25, 2021
Fantastisk bok att få dyka in i för ett fotbolssfan som mig, den berättar om de flesta hörnen av jorden och dess livskraftiga supporterkultur. Dessutom väldigt intressant hur författaren går in på de starka kopplingar mellan fotbollsfirmor och högerextrema. Det är som en dubbelhet med fotbollsfans, där det både finns en dragningskraft åt de högerextrema men också en nästan inbyggd kritik av kapitalismen. Folk vill bli respekterade som passionerade fans av fotboll och inte som kunder som konsumerar en produkt, det är väldigt tydligt, över hela världens fotbollsfans. Det kompromisslöshet och mod som fans visar när myndigheter eller polis försöker tygla supporterkulturen är verkligen beundransvärd. Nördig bok! Riktig härlig! Rekommenderas!
October 21, 2024
Eigentlich 3,5 Sterne, aber ich runde mal auf, da der Autor sich wirklich sehr sehr viel Mühe mit der Recherche gemacht hat.
Fand es total spannend zu erfahren, woher Ultra Bewegungen kommen und dass ihre Ursprünge aus dem politischen (meist linken) Widerstand hervorgehen. Auch die (oft negative) Entwicklung mit der Zeit wurde ausgewogen erläutert. Leider werden im Buch so viele verschiedene Vereine und Namen genannt, dass ich oft den Überblick verloren hab und mein Interesse zum Ende hin schwand. Deswegen der Punkteabzug. Aber Allgemeine Empfehlungen für alle, die sich für das Thema interessieren!
Fand es total spannend zu erfahren, woher Ultra Bewegungen kommen und dass ihre Ursprünge aus dem politischen (meist linken) Widerstand hervorgehen. Auch die (oft negative) Entwicklung mit der Zeit wurde ausgewogen erläutert. Leider werden im Buch so viele verschiedene Vereine und Namen genannt, dass ich oft den Überblick verloren hab und mein Interesse zum Ende hin schwand. Deswegen der Punkteabzug. Aber Allgemeine Empfehlungen für alle, die sich für das Thema interessieren!
August 7, 2020
Uncompromising. Violent. Anti-establishment, Frequently Racist. Nationalist, bordering on Fascist. Just some of the most frequently-applied terms to label the hardcore football supporter groups known as ‘Ultras’. But it would be a huge mistake to dismiss ultras as mere cranks and malcontents, no matter how objectionable they might be. In “1312: Inside the Ultras”, the reporter and writer James Montague shows how Ultras have become one of the key driving forces behind the hyper-partisan populism that dominates global politics in the 2020s. In many ways, our political mainstream has more and more come to resemble the bile-flecked tribalism of football fanaticism. “1312” is an investigation that takes Montague to over 20 countries, across 5 continents, from the favelas of Brazil and backsteets of Cairo, to the ‘fight clubs’ of Ukraine and Sweden over the course of a fascinating journey.
Montague expertly shows presents how ultras have over time evolved (or regressed?). Where once they were merely fringe hyper-partisan fanatics, now they are frequently enmeshed with far-right nationalism and, in the case of South America, now operate as organised crime cartels. The chapters in “1312” on Argentina and Brazil most lucidly illustrate how ultras can sometimes more resemble mafia groups than footballer supporter organisations. In Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo, such is the power and reach of the ultras that they are now routinely hired as goon squads by political parties to attack their opponents. In Argentina, the players the ultras purportedly support can be forced to pay a percentage of their wages directly to the ‘Tifosi’. Ultras now communicate and cooperate across country lines and even across continents; the militant hooligan groups at Boca Juniors have even established a ‘University for Ultras’ to globally disseminate their philosophy.
It would be easy to dismiss the ultras as meat-headed, fascist thugs. Easy, but complacent and wrong. The parts of “1312” that focus on Italy and Eastern Europe show how the fringe fuck-you-extremism of ultra culture has been mainstreamed, such that far-right former hooligans have been able to ride the increasingly-powerful movements to make the transition from the terraces to their national parliaments. From their traditional concerns of (supposedly) defending the honour for their town/city/social class, these groups have shifted dramatically to a geo-political level. In an intriguing thread in “1312”, James Montague outlines how the Kremlin have been funnelling money to European ultra groups in order to promote a nationalistic, ‘pro-Christian’, anti-E.U. agenda.
“1312” doesn’t restrict its examination to the political far-right; James Montague also travels from Germany and Turkey to America to Brazil to interview left-wing ultra groups. Rather than degenerating into neo-fascism and nihilistic violence, ultra organisations in these countries campaign against racism, homophobia and authoritarian governments. Despite their obvious ideological divergences, Montague sees both left and right ultras sharing a number of crucial characteristics, namely that they all stand “against modern football, against commercialisation, for solidarity with your allies, scorn for your enemies and, above all, resentment of the police”.
This book also represents an impeccably-researched piece of investigative journalism. The author James Montague gets tremendous access. To give one example, he manages to track down and interview the Kosovan nationalist who piloted a drone draped with an Albanian flag into the cauldron of a Serbia home fixture (causing that game to be postponed amidst a near-riot). He goes undercover in the bizarro world of organised ‘forest fighting’ in Sweden. It is this access that gives a window – and some understanding – into the subversive appeal of ultra culture to misguided, angry youths. As one far-right Macedonian ultra-nationalist explains Montague, “[on the terraces] “You express what you couldn’t do at school, what you couldn’t do with the family, what you couldn’t do in public” (incidentally, I’ve rarely learned as much about the history and political divisions of the Balkans that I have through “1312”).
There is an abundance of trashy titles that try to glamorise or glorify the excesses of ultra culture. Thankfully, “1312” swerves that pitfall completely, and is never sensationalist or salacious; indeed, Montague often wrestles with the dilemma as to whether meeting or even mentioning a particular thug could end up romanticising them or normalising their cod-philosophies.
“1312” maybe loses a little momentum during the later chapters on the U.S.A. and Indonesia (which lack the historical and socio-cultural dimensions as the sections on South America and Eastern Europe). And it could probably do with being a tad shorter, not least because there is a limit to the number of psychopathic neo-nazi bastards that any sane person can stomach listening to.
If football is no mere sport, but rather a lens on the world, then “1312” offers a searing insight into some of the most potent forces (ultra-nationalism, far-right eco-systems, toxic masculinity) that are determining our 21st century global order. One of the myriad fascinating threads contained within “1312” concerns the increasing intersection between fascist/far-right politics and MMA, to the extent that you would think “there might be a book in this”. Over to you, Mr. Montague …
Montague expertly shows presents how ultras have over time evolved (or regressed?). Where once they were merely fringe hyper-partisan fanatics, now they are frequently enmeshed with far-right nationalism and, in the case of South America, now operate as organised crime cartels. The chapters in “1312” on Argentina and Brazil most lucidly illustrate how ultras can sometimes more resemble mafia groups than footballer supporter organisations. In Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo, such is the power and reach of the ultras that they are now routinely hired as goon squads by political parties to attack their opponents. In Argentina, the players the ultras purportedly support can be forced to pay a percentage of their wages directly to the ‘Tifosi’. Ultras now communicate and cooperate across country lines and even across continents; the militant hooligan groups at Boca Juniors have even established a ‘University for Ultras’ to globally disseminate their philosophy.
It would be easy to dismiss the ultras as meat-headed, fascist thugs. Easy, but complacent and wrong. The parts of “1312” that focus on Italy and Eastern Europe show how the fringe fuck-you-extremism of ultra culture has been mainstreamed, such that far-right former hooligans have been able to ride the increasingly-powerful movements to make the transition from the terraces to their national parliaments. From their traditional concerns of (supposedly) defending the honour for their town/city/social class, these groups have shifted dramatically to a geo-political level. In an intriguing thread in “1312”, James Montague outlines how the Kremlin have been funnelling money to European ultra groups in order to promote a nationalistic, ‘pro-Christian’, anti-E.U. agenda.
“1312” doesn’t restrict its examination to the political far-right; James Montague also travels from Germany and Turkey to America to Brazil to interview left-wing ultra groups. Rather than degenerating into neo-fascism and nihilistic violence, ultra organisations in these countries campaign against racism, homophobia and authoritarian governments. Despite their obvious ideological divergences, Montague sees both left and right ultras sharing a number of crucial characteristics, namely that they all stand “against modern football, against commercialisation, for solidarity with your allies, scorn for your enemies and, above all, resentment of the police”.
This book also represents an impeccably-researched piece of investigative journalism. The author James Montague gets tremendous access. To give one example, he manages to track down and interview the Kosovan nationalist who piloted a drone draped with an Albanian flag into the cauldron of a Serbia home fixture (causing that game to be postponed amidst a near-riot). He goes undercover in the bizarro world of organised ‘forest fighting’ in Sweden. It is this access that gives a window – and some understanding – into the subversive appeal of ultra culture to misguided, angry youths. As one far-right Macedonian ultra-nationalist explains Montague, “[on the terraces] “You express what you couldn’t do at school, what you couldn’t do with the family, what you couldn’t do in public” (incidentally, I’ve rarely learned as much about the history and political divisions of the Balkans that I have through “1312”).
There is an abundance of trashy titles that try to glamorise or glorify the excesses of ultra culture. Thankfully, “1312” swerves that pitfall completely, and is never sensationalist or salacious; indeed, Montague often wrestles with the dilemma as to whether meeting or even mentioning a particular thug could end up romanticising them or normalising their cod-philosophies.
“1312” maybe loses a little momentum during the later chapters on the U.S.A. and Indonesia (which lack the historical and socio-cultural dimensions as the sections on South America and Eastern Europe). And it could probably do with being a tad shorter, not least because there is a limit to the number of psychopathic neo-nazi bastards that any sane person can stomach listening to.
If football is no mere sport, but rather a lens on the world, then “1312” offers a searing insight into some of the most potent forces (ultra-nationalism, far-right eco-systems, toxic masculinity) that are determining our 21st century global order. One of the myriad fascinating threads contained within “1312” concerns the increasing intersection between fascist/far-right politics and MMA, to the extent that you would think “there might be a book in this”. Over to you, Mr. Montague …
January 27, 2022
A four, because I enjoyed it, but edges close to a three. This book tries to do too much, and ends up doing too little as a result. It's an admirable effort, but with the net cast so wide, and the cast of characters in each chapter so narrow-focused, you feel like you're missing a lot. I know these aren't the easiest folks in the world to pin down to talk, but still.
January 24, 2022
Well worth a read. Delves deep into the immersive and mysterious underworld of ultra culture. I had no idea counties like Indonesia and Sweden took it so seriously! The only thing stopping me from giving it a 5 is the structure, which sometimes seems a little all over the place.
Ultimately very good though.
Ultimately very good though.
April 2, 2021
Great book!
August 27, 2024
This book is soo good, but I was still left wanting more. You don’t need to be into soccer to read this.
July 13, 2020
Great read and absolutely fascinating book - and I'm not even into soccer 😂😂. But the way James Montague describes the power and politics of the ultra movementd around the world just totally draws you in. I'd recommend it for everybody interested in how subcultures influence society and politics. Goes way beyond being a sports book!
January 1, 2026
‘Wat zie je als je naar een voetbalwedstrijd kijkt? Zie je een collectieve voetbalvoorstelling? Zie je individuele spelers met individuele vaardigheden? Of zie je een schaakspel van getallen, tactieken en patronen? Er is geen goed of fout antwoord, maar er zijn wereldwijd miljoenen mensen die het spel op een heel andere manier zien. Net buiten het veld, op de tribunes achter de goals, bestaat er een andere manier om voetbal te begrijpen, een subcultuur die grotendeels heeft bepaald hoe het voetbal eruitziet en aanvoelt sinds het midden van de twintigste eeuw: de ultra’s.’
Deze “subcultuur van de ultra’s” is het onderwerp van een imposante studie van de bekende voetbaljournalist James Montague die leest als een roman. Het boek dat oorspronkelijk in 2018 verscheen, is nu ook —uitstekend— vertaald in het Nederlands door Caspar Wijers en gepubliceerd als 'Tussen de ultra’s: In het spoor van de extreemste voetbalfans ter wereld'.
Ultraroyalistisch
Ultra’s vormen een essentieel onderdeel van de voetbalcultuur. Hun fanatisme, creativiteit en soms controversiële acties hebben de voetbalstadions in de afgelopen decennia getransformeerd. De term “ultra” wordt gebruikt om een groep fanatieke voetbalfans aan te duiden die zich onderscheiden door hun intense loyaliteit aan hun club, hun creativiteit in het creëren van een sfeer in het stadion en hun bereidheid om hun club te verdedigen, zowel verbaal als fysiek. Ultra’s zijn vaak georganiseerd in groepen met eigen regels, rituelen en symbolen. Ze worden gekenmerkt door het gebruik van spandoeken, rookbommen, vuurwerk en gezangen om een indrukwekkende sfeer te creëren.
De term “ultra” wordt vaak als synoniem gebruikt voor hooliganisme, maar dat is onjuist. Het is een term die oorspronkelijk werd bedacht voor de “ultraroyalistische” factie die de Bourbon-monarchie tijdens en na de Franse revolutie. De term werd eind jaren zestig overgenomen in het Italiaanse voetbal. Deze ultra’s stonden in het goedkoopste gedeelte van het stadion, de curva, achter de doelen, en namen de kleuren en politieke pracht en praal van de pleinen mee naar hun deel van het stadion.
Enorme spandoeken met politieke boodschappen, bekend als choreographia, werden uitgevouwen door de tifosi, de Italiaanse fans. Het woord heeft zijn oorsprong in tyfus, een ziekte die symptomen vertoont van passiviteit en lethargie, gevolgd door manische episodes. De groeperingen waren strak georganiseerd met vlaggen, trommels, liederen en lichtpistolen, die de fans uit havensteden zoals Genua als eersten gebruikten. Montague traceert de eerste hinchas in Argentinië en Uruguay en neemt de lezer mee op een boeiende zoektocht langs stadions, steden en jeugdculturen op vier continenten.
De nieuwe oude wereld
In het eerste deel (“Los Primeros Hinchas”; Uruguay, Argentinië, Brazilië ) beschrijft de auteur de roots van de hedendaagse ultracultuur. Hoe deze voetbalcultuur na de Tweede Wereldoorlog overwaait naar Europa is het onderwerp van het tweede deel (“Geen gezicht, geen naam”; Italië, Servië, Griekenland en Macedonië, Albanië en Kosovo). Deel drie (“Tegen modern voetbal”) brengt Montague naar Oekraïne, Duitsland en Zweden. In het vierde deel (“De nieuwe oude wereld”), tenslotte, staan ultrasubculturen in relatief nieuwe voetballanden als Turkije, Egypte, Indonesië en de Verenigde Staten centraal.
Een puntje van kritiek is dat in dit lijvige boek (463 pagina’s) een personenregister ontbreekt. In zijn volledigheid komen er talloze namen voorbij en begint het na de eerste dertig bladzijden al te duizelen; het zou handig zijn geweest om namen te kunnen opzoeken.
Rebellenstad
Overigens hebben Hajduk Split’s Torcida de eer om Europa’s eerste georganiseerde supportersgroep te zijn. Deze rebellenclub uit de rebellenstad Split werd geïnspireerd door het publiek tijdens het WK van 1950. Brazilië schakelde Joegoslavië uit, maar het publiek, de Torcida, in het Maracanã stadion maakte diepe indruk op Hajduk-spelers Vladimir Beara en Bernard Vukas. Bij terugkomst vertelden zij enthousiaste verhalen aan Hajduk-fans die studeerden in Zagreb. ‘Het leek wel wel een machine die stampte voor hun vaderland en hun nationale team’, aldus Beara.
De oorspronkelijke —Engelse— titel van Montague’s boek was 1312, omdat hij dat getal op de muren van stadions van Casablanca tot Sarajevo, Jeruzalem tot Krakau had zien staan. De alfabetische cijfercode voor ACAB: All Cops Are Bastards. ‘Ultra’s definiëren zichzelf door hun vrienden, maar ook door hun vijanden: de media, die volgens hen voortdurend een verkeerd beeld geven van wie ze zijn, hun directe rivalen, maar vooral de politie.’ Dat ultra’s over de hele wereld de politie niet als hun best vriend beschouwen, moge duidelijk zijn. Het is de verdienste van Montague dat hij als een van de weinige journalisten en buitenstanders toegang kreeg tot ultra’s — van Buenos Aires tot Dortmund. Zijn boek is gebaseerd op honderden interviews met fanatieke supporters over de hele wereld.
Banden met de politiek
Maar de ultra’s hebben niet alleen vijanden. Het bekendste voorbeeld van nauwe en warme banden tussen voetbal en de politiek is natuurlijk de Hongaarse premier Viktor Orbán, die Hongaarse clubs en stadions in binnen- en buitenland subsidieert. De nationalistische president van Servië, Aleksandar Vučić, claimt actief te zijn geweest bij de Delije, de ultra’s van Rode Ster Belgrado. Hij ondersteunt de club waar hij kan. ‘Vučić is de politieke vleugel van hooligans’, aldus de Servische onderzoeksjournalist Slobodan Georgiev, ‘net als met Sinn Féin en de IRA’. De beruchte oorlogsmisdadiger “Arkan” rekruteerde tijdens de Joegoslavische onafhankelijkheidsoorlogen soldaten op de noordtribune.
Montague beschrijft meer voorbeelden van ultragroepen in Oost-Europa die dicht tegen de politiek aanschurken en soms zelfs betrokken zijn bij criminele activiteiten. De Shakhtar Donetsk-ultra’s steunden de Maidanrevolutie in Oekraïne in 2014. En volgens Montague kwam 65% van de Azov-strijders die in 2022 in Marioepol streden tegen de Russische invasie uit de wereld van de ultra’s. Banden van ultra’s met de mafia in Albanië en Kroatië zijn genoegzaam bekend.
Trends
Er zijn de afgelopen jaren enkele trends waarneembaar. Ten eerste de groeiende populariteit van social media. Ultras gebruiken sociale media om te communiceren, te organiseren en om hun boodschap te verspreiden. Dit heeft geleid tot een snellere verspreiding van ultrasculturen en een toename van het aantal nieuwe groepen.
Tegelijkertijd is ook een verjonging van de ultrascene waar te nemen. Steeds meer jongeren sluiten zich aan bij ultrasgroepen. Dit heeft geleid tot een vernieuwde dynamiek binnen de beweging. Bovendien werken ultras uit verschillende landen vaker samen en beïnvloeden elkaar, waardoor de ultrascene steeds meer internationaliseert.
De geschiedenis, trends en invloed van ultraculturen worden door Montague van binnenuit in een meeslepende stijl beschreven. Tussen de Ultra’s is dan ook een absolute aanrader!
Deze “subcultuur van de ultra’s” is het onderwerp van een imposante studie van de bekende voetbaljournalist James Montague die leest als een roman. Het boek dat oorspronkelijk in 2018 verscheen, is nu ook —uitstekend— vertaald in het Nederlands door Caspar Wijers en gepubliceerd als 'Tussen de ultra’s: In het spoor van de extreemste voetbalfans ter wereld'.
Ultraroyalistisch
Ultra’s vormen een essentieel onderdeel van de voetbalcultuur. Hun fanatisme, creativiteit en soms controversiële acties hebben de voetbalstadions in de afgelopen decennia getransformeerd. De term “ultra” wordt gebruikt om een groep fanatieke voetbalfans aan te duiden die zich onderscheiden door hun intense loyaliteit aan hun club, hun creativiteit in het creëren van een sfeer in het stadion en hun bereidheid om hun club te verdedigen, zowel verbaal als fysiek. Ultra’s zijn vaak georganiseerd in groepen met eigen regels, rituelen en symbolen. Ze worden gekenmerkt door het gebruik van spandoeken, rookbommen, vuurwerk en gezangen om een indrukwekkende sfeer te creëren.
De term “ultra” wordt vaak als synoniem gebruikt voor hooliganisme, maar dat is onjuist. Het is een term die oorspronkelijk werd bedacht voor de “ultraroyalistische” factie die de Bourbon-monarchie tijdens en na de Franse revolutie. De term werd eind jaren zestig overgenomen in het Italiaanse voetbal. Deze ultra’s stonden in het goedkoopste gedeelte van het stadion, de curva, achter de doelen, en namen de kleuren en politieke pracht en praal van de pleinen mee naar hun deel van het stadion.
Enorme spandoeken met politieke boodschappen, bekend als choreographia, werden uitgevouwen door de tifosi, de Italiaanse fans. Het woord heeft zijn oorsprong in tyfus, een ziekte die symptomen vertoont van passiviteit en lethargie, gevolgd door manische episodes. De groeperingen waren strak georganiseerd met vlaggen, trommels, liederen en lichtpistolen, die de fans uit havensteden zoals Genua als eersten gebruikten. Montague traceert de eerste hinchas in Argentinië en Uruguay en neemt de lezer mee op een boeiende zoektocht langs stadions, steden en jeugdculturen op vier continenten.
De nieuwe oude wereld
In het eerste deel (“Los Primeros Hinchas”; Uruguay, Argentinië, Brazilië ) beschrijft de auteur de roots van de hedendaagse ultracultuur. Hoe deze voetbalcultuur na de Tweede Wereldoorlog overwaait naar Europa is het onderwerp van het tweede deel (“Geen gezicht, geen naam”; Italië, Servië, Griekenland en Macedonië, Albanië en Kosovo). Deel drie (“Tegen modern voetbal”) brengt Montague naar Oekraïne, Duitsland en Zweden. In het vierde deel (“De nieuwe oude wereld”), tenslotte, staan ultrasubculturen in relatief nieuwe voetballanden als Turkije, Egypte, Indonesië en de Verenigde Staten centraal.
Een puntje van kritiek is dat in dit lijvige boek (463 pagina’s) een personenregister ontbreekt. In zijn volledigheid komen er talloze namen voorbij en begint het na de eerste dertig bladzijden al te duizelen; het zou handig zijn geweest om namen te kunnen opzoeken.
Rebellenstad
Overigens hebben Hajduk Split’s Torcida de eer om Europa’s eerste georganiseerde supportersgroep te zijn. Deze rebellenclub uit de rebellenstad Split werd geïnspireerd door het publiek tijdens het WK van 1950. Brazilië schakelde Joegoslavië uit, maar het publiek, de Torcida, in het Maracanã stadion maakte diepe indruk op Hajduk-spelers Vladimir Beara en Bernard Vukas. Bij terugkomst vertelden zij enthousiaste verhalen aan Hajduk-fans die studeerden in Zagreb. ‘Het leek wel wel een machine die stampte voor hun vaderland en hun nationale team’, aldus Beara.
De oorspronkelijke —Engelse— titel van Montague’s boek was 1312, omdat hij dat getal op de muren van stadions van Casablanca tot Sarajevo, Jeruzalem tot Krakau had zien staan. De alfabetische cijfercode voor ACAB: All Cops Are Bastards. ‘Ultra’s definiëren zichzelf door hun vrienden, maar ook door hun vijanden: de media, die volgens hen voortdurend een verkeerd beeld geven van wie ze zijn, hun directe rivalen, maar vooral de politie.’ Dat ultra’s over de hele wereld de politie niet als hun best vriend beschouwen, moge duidelijk zijn. Het is de verdienste van Montague dat hij als een van de weinige journalisten en buitenstanders toegang kreeg tot ultra’s — van Buenos Aires tot Dortmund. Zijn boek is gebaseerd op honderden interviews met fanatieke supporters over de hele wereld.
Banden met de politiek
Maar de ultra’s hebben niet alleen vijanden. Het bekendste voorbeeld van nauwe en warme banden tussen voetbal en de politiek is natuurlijk de Hongaarse premier Viktor Orbán, die Hongaarse clubs en stadions in binnen- en buitenland subsidieert. De nationalistische president van Servië, Aleksandar Vučić, claimt actief te zijn geweest bij de Delije, de ultra’s van Rode Ster Belgrado. Hij ondersteunt de club waar hij kan. ‘Vučić is de politieke vleugel van hooligans’, aldus de Servische onderzoeksjournalist Slobodan Georgiev, ‘net als met Sinn Féin en de IRA’. De beruchte oorlogsmisdadiger “Arkan” rekruteerde tijdens de Joegoslavische onafhankelijkheidsoorlogen soldaten op de noordtribune.
Montague beschrijft meer voorbeelden van ultragroepen in Oost-Europa die dicht tegen de politiek aanschurken en soms zelfs betrokken zijn bij criminele activiteiten. De Shakhtar Donetsk-ultra’s steunden de Maidanrevolutie in Oekraïne in 2014. En volgens Montague kwam 65% van de Azov-strijders die in 2022 in Marioepol streden tegen de Russische invasie uit de wereld van de ultra’s. Banden van ultra’s met de mafia in Albanië en Kroatië zijn genoegzaam bekend.
Trends
Er zijn de afgelopen jaren enkele trends waarneembaar. Ten eerste de groeiende populariteit van social media. Ultras gebruiken sociale media om te communiceren, te organiseren en om hun boodschap te verspreiden. Dit heeft geleid tot een snellere verspreiding van ultrasculturen en een toename van het aantal nieuwe groepen.
Tegelijkertijd is ook een verjonging van de ultrascene waar te nemen. Steeds meer jongeren sluiten zich aan bij ultrasgroepen. Dit heeft geleid tot een vernieuwde dynamiek binnen de beweging. Bovendien werken ultras uit verschillende landen vaker samen en beïnvloeden elkaar, waardoor de ultrascene steeds meer internationaliseert.
De geschiedenis, trends en invloed van ultraculturen worden door Montague van binnenuit in een meeslepende stijl beschreven. Tussen de Ultra’s is dan ook een absolute aanrader!
March 8, 2021
This book is a study in which the author shows how the concept of “ultras” differs across countries and continents.
Even though the book is an interesting read the quality of individual chapters differs. Some are really insightful while others seem to just skim the surface.
Altogether I found it hard to understand what the author wanted to convey. If it is just to show the diversity across different groups then he has succeeded although in a rather chaotic way.
I feel the book lacks a deeper analysis of what drives the fans to do what they do. He seems to come from a liberal, politically correct background which prevents him from looking at both sides of certain situations - for example forming of the Kosovo state or why Germans might be not totally happy with the migrant situation. He is happy to blame it on xenophobia or nationalism without analyzing the root causes. An example of how it is done right is “The City of Knives” by Wojciech Mucha in which the author tries to explain what motivates the hooligans in Cracow and manages to do it without placing himself as someone superior.
Also, calling neonazis far right is incorrect. Nazi is taken from NSDAP which is “National Socialist Labour Party” - therefore a leftist entity.
Anyway, I recommend this book. Especially the chapters about Sweden and Turkey.
Even though the book is an interesting read the quality of individual chapters differs. Some are really insightful while others seem to just skim the surface.
Altogether I found it hard to understand what the author wanted to convey. If it is just to show the diversity across different groups then he has succeeded although in a rather chaotic way.
I feel the book lacks a deeper analysis of what drives the fans to do what they do. He seems to come from a liberal, politically correct background which prevents him from looking at both sides of certain situations - for example forming of the Kosovo state or why Germans might be not totally happy with the migrant situation. He is happy to blame it on xenophobia or nationalism without analyzing the root causes. An example of how it is done right is “The City of Knives” by Wojciech Mucha in which the author tries to explain what motivates the hooligans in Cracow and manages to do it without placing himself as someone superior.
Also, calling neonazis far right is incorrect. Nazi is taken from NSDAP which is “National Socialist Labour Party” - therefore a leftist entity.
Anyway, I recommend this book. Especially the chapters about Sweden and Turkey.
September 16, 2020
I first heard about this book in the Caught Offside podcast when they interviewed the author for one of their segments. James Montague has done some crazy stuff to even step foot amongst the ultras. It’s so hard to describe what I exactly think about the book. As someone who has traveled to several games around Europe, I’ve never felt personally in danger. The most unsafe I felt was maybe at Inter Milan (someone had actually been shot before the game near the stadium). I always like to see the ultras displays and it makes the crowd exciting to watch, but at the same time, as you see through the book, they aren’t always about soccer/football. Some don’t even like the sport. Plus, I don’t know how some of them would even view me going to these matches.
The books covers a variety of countries. Each chapter could be its own book. I wish there had been chapters about Spain and England, but I also think those two countries are on the way out of having ultras and hooligans. It’s an interesting read, and James really put himself into danger to write this book.
The books covers a variety of countries. Each chapter could be its own book. I wish there had been chapters about Spain and England, but I also think those two countries are on the way out of having ultras and hooligans. It’s an interesting read, and James really put himself into danger to write this book.
March 25, 2020
This is an absolutely amazing - a completely different & unexpected perspective on the beautiful game.
March 17, 2021
“The football was incidental, the great dirty secret at the heart of football’s obsessive fan culture.”
WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT?
- Ultras tells the story of how the football (soccer) fanatic movement began...and how it has become a global phenomenon. The book explains how ultras have grown into a fiercely political movement that embraces extremes on both the left and right.
TITLE OF THE BOOK
- I had chosen 1312 as the book’s title after following football fan culture around the world for the past decade... At first I had thought it was a year, commemorating a historically significant battle. Instead I discovered that it was an alphabet number code, corresponding to ACAB, ‘All Cops Are Bastards’.
‘DISPET’
- a fierce opposition and resistance to any outsiders. There’s even a word for it in the city: dišpet, a term of defiance that roughly means to oppose something no matter the consequences. ‘Dišpet means to be anti-everything,’
- The closest definition [of Ultras] I’d heard was in Split. Dišpet. Anti-everything, a kind of noble morality that you followed to the end, even if that sometimes led to your own destruction.
THINGS ULTRAS HATE
- All of them shared the values that defined ultra groups around the world. Against modern football. Against commercialisation. Solidarity with your allies. Scorn for your enemies. And, above all, resentment towards the police.
-ULTRA’
- What, or who, are the Ultras? The word is often used as a synonym for hooliganism. But this is wrong. The word comes from the latin ultra, which means ‘to go beyond’, to be extreme.
- Even after visiting 25 countries and speaking to hundreds of people, I was still no closer to a single definition...But it was easier to define what it was against: the mistrust in any type of authority. The despair at the commercialisation of the modern world.
- The truth was that there was no all-encompassing definition. Being an ultra was a feeling, an anti-authority urge that found a home in football and could be channelled into myriad of different places. Its appeal was in part due to its adaptability. It could become a focus and a vehicle for revolutionary change against dictatorships. Or be adapted into a money making mafia exercise. Or into an organised, illegal fight club. Or into a huge art collective.
SECRETIVE SOCIETIES OF FANS
- there was an informal honour code between groups around the world. As long as someone could vouch for you, all the the doors were open. But if no one did, everything was closed.
‘12TH MAN’
- In a famous photo of the Uruguay national team from 1914, which contained 11 Nacional players, there was only one other person in the shot. Miguel Reyes [equipment manager; see factoid below], literally the twelfth man.
IRONICALLY, MANY ULTRAS DON’T EVEN REALLY LIKE SOCCER
- ‘I, for example, I do not like football.’ It was Flamengo he loved, not the teams. All that mattered to Cláudio was the red and black.
- Do you like football? ‘I think no,’ Filimonov replied. ‘I don’t know the names of our players at Dynamo.’ It was all about the fighting.
IT’S ALL ABOUT SUPPORTING YOUR TOWN
- The ultras felt like they were, as Contucci put it, ‘the defenders of the city of Rome’. Every other ultra group felt the same; that they too were defending their town and city squares from outsiders, from invaders.
- This meant that most Italians felt a stronger connection to their towns, cities, and regions than to Rome, a concept known as campanilismo. The word is derived from the Italian for ‘bell tower’, as every town or city was built around a Catholic church.
THE POWER OF CROWDS
- In his 1921 monograph Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego Sigmund Freud argued that crowds allowed groups with similar interests, held together by a shared love, to free their unconscious desires.
IT IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST THE SOCCER CLUB
- Like in the European ultras scene, it didn’t matter whether your team was playing football, basketball, water polo, even women’s volleyball. The colours were the same and matches would be treated as such.
DIFFUSION OF IDEAS
- The songs sung here were copied all across South America until they eventually reached Europe, bent and shaped into the local language,
- The business model was so successful that La Doce even started a kind of ‘university for ultras’ around the world. For €5,000, groups could receive an education in how to set up a business like La Doce; from ticket scalping to writing terrace chants to making their own banners.
- ‘As the underbelly of European football beamed into Soviet living rooms,’ Liebenau wrote, ‘Russian youths saw rebellion, escapism and camaraderie in creating their own.’
- The arrival of Italian football on free-to-air television brought the colour and the fire of the curva into every front room. The internet sped up communications, helping to spread ideas and techniques and songs.
SOCCER AS A SPRINGBOARD TO GREATER POWER
- Macri knew what he was talking about. His first position in public life was a 12-year spell as president of Boca Juniors. He was narrowly elected by Boca’s membership – its socios – in 1995 and used the success he enjoyed during that period (including four Copa Libertadores titles) as a springboard for elected office, first as mayor of Buenos Aires and then Argentina’s presidency in 2015.
SOCCER AND POLITICS
- ‘It’s crazy to think that politics have nothing to do with soccer because it has everything to do with it. There are eighty thousand people here right now.’
- Ultras claimed to despise politics yet almost everything they did was political.
USING ULTRAS FOR POLITICAL ENDS
- Unions, businesses, even political parties, often paid the barras to act in their interests against rivals. ‘Politicians need [barras] and use them as violent manual labour,’
- leaders of the groups had been allowed virtual immunity in their black-market activities in return for agreeing to act as muscle for a string of nationalist protests.
- ‘The ultras make up a big interest group for political parties, they make up a constituency that every political party would like to have,’ Grubi explained. ‘They are well organised. They keep together. Function like a group, like an army. They are the engine of a political party in a protest movement.’
- The National Corps was a far-right, ultra-nationalist political party. Its roots came from the Azov battalion, a volunteer fighting force, largely populated by Ukrainian ultras and hooligans, the same ultras who had played an important role in the 2014 Maidan revolution that swept the Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych from power. When the war began in the east of the country, the ultras volunteered in huge numbers and left for the front line.
- Large numbers of ultras from Ukraine’s football teams had joined the activists and protestors in the square... The ultras, Filimonov said, took to the front lines ‘to give the people who were at Maidan a feeling of security and understanding that they are being guarded.
- When Egypt finally revolted in 2011, hundreds of thousands of people filled Tahrir Square demanding that Mubarak step down. When the police attacked, there was only one group that had any front-line experience.
AN INTERRUPTED GAME CAN UNDERMINE IMAGE
- For Ukrainian politicians like Poroshenko, an essential part of projecting normality involved portraying Mariupol as safe and secure under the Ukrainian military. Dynamo’s refusal to travel to the match ran counter to that.
FAN BASE IS A REFLECTION OF THE TOWN
- ‘The curva sud has always been the mirror of the city,’ Contucci explained. As 1970s Rome was seen as being largely left wing, so was the curva sud. The city’s football rivalry exposed both political and geographical differences.
THE SPORT IS AN OUTLET
- The terraces became an outlet for dissent.
- It was even suggested that, at one point, the authorities were considering hosting arranged fighting tournaments between fan groups ‘to blow off steam in the stadium rather than in the streets outside’.
- There was little political space to do anything and the ultras then were staunchly apolitical. The stadium was a release from what was going on in Egyptian society rather than an extension of it. It was too dangerous to do otherwise...What couldn’t be expressed on the street or through the ballot box could be said in the freedom of the curva.
- Most Indonesians are struggling. So football is an expression of freedom from their tough life. So if someone mocks our football club they take it fairly seriously and when we have a clash we have to make them die.’
VIOLENCE AMONG FANS
- The arranged fight scene was now incredibly popular across all of Eastern and northern Europe. Gone were the days of lagered-up British hooligans swarming a city centre in a disorganised brawl. Now highly trained MMA fighters compete in organised mass fights with rules and norms.
- ‘Violence is more important than before,’ he said of the current scene. ‘It’s more important to rob a flag or scarf or to raid another ultra group.’
- Under no circumstances could you use a weapon. The numbers had to be even. When someone was knocked out cold, you had to stop. And, most importantly, the fights took place far away from the football stadiums to avoid the police: forest clearings, railway sidings, farmers’ fields.
*** *** *** *** ***
FACTOIDS
- The Torcida was Europe’s oldest organised supporters group, formed in 1950.
- blue-and-white-striped Uruguayan flag – with its distinctive Sun of May in the top left corner, adapted from the Inca god of the sun
- Andy Capp. The un-PC British cartoon had become a symbol of the global ultras movement.
- burning their main banner, the internationally recognised sign that an ultras group was disbanding.
- Huge banners with political messages, known as choreographia, were unfurled by the tifosi, the Italian word for fans. The word had its roots in typhus, a disease that exhibits symptoms of inaction and lethargy followed by bouts of mania.
- ‘Esposito’, meaning ‘exposed’, is one of Italy’s most common names. Its root is found in Italy’s orphanages, especially in and around Naples, where babies were given the name (although the practice was later outlawed once Italy was unified).
- UEFA has rules preventing countries at war with each other, or with a recent past that would make hosting matches impossible, from being drawn in the same group.
- Kosovo, whilst officially unrecognised as a state, was recognised by FIFA and so had its own national team.
- 1998 Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen were treated as special cases. Both had been formed long ago as, essentially, workers’ teams, the former funded by Volkswagen, the latter by the pharmaceutical giant Bayer.
- [In South America, fans of a football club are called ‘hinchas’] hinchador: the man in charge of manually inflating the heavy, leather balls before and during games... At the time, football in Uruguay was an art form to be savoured, like going to the opera or watching a play. Games of football, tennis, polo and even cricket looked much the same. Supporters would wear their best clothes and watch the game in what Nacional’s Comision de Historia y Estadistica termed an ‘classic Anglo-Saxon style’. In the wooden stands of the Parque Central, football was mostly a game of comportment and restraint where ‘the public who attended matches maintained a certain seriousness.’ The exception was when a goal was scored but ‘the display did not go beyond some applause or an exclamation of joy or disappointment’.... Reyes was entirely different.... During the match, in between blowing up balls, he would charge up and down the touchline, bellowing encouragement at the players... During the first few games he received a puzzled response... Nacional’s El Hincha Pelotas, the ball inflator, was as much a part of the spectacle as the game itself. But he kept shouting and kept running until the crowd responded.
HAHA
- Poroshenko was crushed in the election, losing out to Volodymyr Zelensky, an actor with zero political experience and an unclear political agenda. He had played the role of president in a famous Ukrainian Netflix series, Servant of the People. Zelensky plays Vasyl, a teacher who accidentally becomes president of Ukraine after a secretly recorded video of him railing against corruption goes viral. For Ukrainians jaded by years of corruption and war, a fake president seemed as good a bet as anyone.
- The first was the banning of face coverings in the stadiums, which was later introduced by then minister for home affairs Anders Ygeman in 2017. To protest, AIK’s ultras wore black niqabs, the Islamic face covering worn by some women (there was an exemption in the law for people who covered their faces in the line of work or for religious reasons).
GOOD QUOTES
- ‘He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.’ - Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
- ‘It’s not man’s job to think about whether God exists or not, especially when you know that right in front of your eyes one person is stepping on another’s neck.’ - Eka Kurniawan, Beauty Is a Wound
BONUS
- Pepe Perretta is an artist who makes telons (large banners): https://youtu.be/w5qTnfkyb4Y
- Coming out of the Marakana (Belgrade stadium): https://youtu.be/57RGGDTHbFA
- Serbia v Albania match interrupted by drone carrying a flag: https://youtu.be/uE5f0_FaS_k
- Dortmund’s ‘Yellow Wall’: https://youtu.be/2QOCmKD8QeI
- 50+1 voting: https://youtu.be/hoPRAAqaA04
- ‘Doing the Poznań’: https://youtu.be/WKWO9X4a6xY
- ‘Jakmania’ (Indonesia): https://youtu.be/FvvOSRhF2A8
- ‘Green Street Hooligans’ movie trailer: https://youtu.be/IaShAfaZ-JQ
WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT?
- Ultras tells the story of how the football (soccer) fanatic movement began...and how it has become a global phenomenon. The book explains how ultras have grown into a fiercely political movement that embraces extremes on both the left and right.
TITLE OF THE BOOK
- I had chosen 1312 as the book’s title after following football fan culture around the world for the past decade... At first I had thought it was a year, commemorating a historically significant battle. Instead I discovered that it was an alphabet number code, corresponding to ACAB, ‘All Cops Are Bastards’.
‘DISPET’
- a fierce opposition and resistance to any outsiders. There’s even a word for it in the city: dišpet, a term of defiance that roughly means to oppose something no matter the consequences. ‘Dišpet means to be anti-everything,’
- The closest definition [of Ultras] I’d heard was in Split. Dišpet. Anti-everything, a kind of noble morality that you followed to the end, even if that sometimes led to your own destruction.
THINGS ULTRAS HATE
- All of them shared the values that defined ultra groups around the world. Against modern football. Against commercialisation. Solidarity with your allies. Scorn for your enemies. And, above all, resentment towards the police.
-ULTRA’
- What, or who, are the Ultras? The word is often used as a synonym for hooliganism. But this is wrong. The word comes from the latin ultra, which means ‘to go beyond’, to be extreme.
- Even after visiting 25 countries and speaking to hundreds of people, I was still no closer to a single definition...But it was easier to define what it was against: the mistrust in any type of authority. The despair at the commercialisation of the modern world.
- The truth was that there was no all-encompassing definition. Being an ultra was a feeling, an anti-authority urge that found a home in football and could be channelled into myriad of different places. Its appeal was in part due to its adaptability. It could become a focus and a vehicle for revolutionary change against dictatorships. Or be adapted into a money making mafia exercise. Or into an organised, illegal fight club. Or into a huge art collective.
SECRETIVE SOCIETIES OF FANS
- there was an informal honour code between groups around the world. As long as someone could vouch for you, all the the doors were open. But if no one did, everything was closed.
‘12TH MAN’
- In a famous photo of the Uruguay national team from 1914, which contained 11 Nacional players, there was only one other person in the shot. Miguel Reyes [equipment manager; see factoid below], literally the twelfth man.
IRONICALLY, MANY ULTRAS DON’T EVEN REALLY LIKE SOCCER
- ‘I, for example, I do not like football.’ It was Flamengo he loved, not the teams. All that mattered to Cláudio was the red and black.
- Do you like football? ‘I think no,’ Filimonov replied. ‘I don’t know the names of our players at Dynamo.’ It was all about the fighting.
IT’S ALL ABOUT SUPPORTING YOUR TOWN
- The ultras felt like they were, as Contucci put it, ‘the defenders of the city of Rome’. Every other ultra group felt the same; that they too were defending their town and city squares from outsiders, from invaders.
- This meant that most Italians felt a stronger connection to their towns, cities, and regions than to Rome, a concept known as campanilismo. The word is derived from the Italian for ‘bell tower’, as every town or city was built around a Catholic church.
THE POWER OF CROWDS
- In his 1921 monograph Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego Sigmund Freud argued that crowds allowed groups with similar interests, held together by a shared love, to free their unconscious desires.
IT IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST THE SOCCER CLUB
- Like in the European ultras scene, it didn’t matter whether your team was playing football, basketball, water polo, even women’s volleyball. The colours were the same and matches would be treated as such.
DIFFUSION OF IDEAS
- The songs sung here were copied all across South America until they eventually reached Europe, bent and shaped into the local language,
- The business model was so successful that La Doce even started a kind of ‘university for ultras’ around the world. For €5,000, groups could receive an education in how to set up a business like La Doce; from ticket scalping to writing terrace chants to making their own banners.
- ‘As the underbelly of European football beamed into Soviet living rooms,’ Liebenau wrote, ‘Russian youths saw rebellion, escapism and camaraderie in creating their own.’
- The arrival of Italian football on free-to-air television brought the colour and the fire of the curva into every front room. The internet sped up communications, helping to spread ideas and techniques and songs.
SOCCER AS A SPRINGBOARD TO GREATER POWER
- Macri knew what he was talking about. His first position in public life was a 12-year spell as president of Boca Juniors. He was narrowly elected by Boca’s membership – its socios – in 1995 and used the success he enjoyed during that period (including four Copa Libertadores titles) as a springboard for elected office, first as mayor of Buenos Aires and then Argentina’s presidency in 2015.
SOCCER AND POLITICS
- ‘It’s crazy to think that politics have nothing to do with soccer because it has everything to do with it. There are eighty thousand people here right now.’
- Ultras claimed to despise politics yet almost everything they did was political.
USING ULTRAS FOR POLITICAL ENDS
- Unions, businesses, even political parties, often paid the barras to act in their interests against rivals. ‘Politicians need [barras] and use them as violent manual labour,’
- leaders of the groups had been allowed virtual immunity in their black-market activities in return for agreeing to act as muscle for a string of nationalist protests.
- ‘The ultras make up a big interest group for political parties, they make up a constituency that every political party would like to have,’ Grubi explained. ‘They are well organised. They keep together. Function like a group, like an army. They are the engine of a political party in a protest movement.’
- The National Corps was a far-right, ultra-nationalist political party. Its roots came from the Azov battalion, a volunteer fighting force, largely populated by Ukrainian ultras and hooligans, the same ultras who had played an important role in the 2014 Maidan revolution that swept the Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych from power. When the war began in the east of the country, the ultras volunteered in huge numbers and left for the front line.
- Large numbers of ultras from Ukraine’s football teams had joined the activists and protestors in the square... The ultras, Filimonov said, took to the front lines ‘to give the people who were at Maidan a feeling of security and understanding that they are being guarded.
- When Egypt finally revolted in 2011, hundreds of thousands of people filled Tahrir Square demanding that Mubarak step down. When the police attacked, there was only one group that had any front-line experience.
AN INTERRUPTED GAME CAN UNDERMINE IMAGE
- For Ukrainian politicians like Poroshenko, an essential part of projecting normality involved portraying Mariupol as safe and secure under the Ukrainian military. Dynamo’s refusal to travel to the match ran counter to that.
FAN BASE IS A REFLECTION OF THE TOWN
- ‘The curva sud has always been the mirror of the city,’ Contucci explained. As 1970s Rome was seen as being largely left wing, so was the curva sud. The city’s football rivalry exposed both political and geographical differences.
THE SPORT IS AN OUTLET
- The terraces became an outlet for dissent.
- It was even suggested that, at one point, the authorities were considering hosting arranged fighting tournaments between fan groups ‘to blow off steam in the stadium rather than in the streets outside’.
- There was little political space to do anything and the ultras then were staunchly apolitical. The stadium was a release from what was going on in Egyptian society rather than an extension of it. It was too dangerous to do otherwise...What couldn’t be expressed on the street or through the ballot box could be said in the freedom of the curva.
- Most Indonesians are struggling. So football is an expression of freedom from their tough life. So if someone mocks our football club they take it fairly seriously and when we have a clash we have to make them die.’
VIOLENCE AMONG FANS
- The arranged fight scene was now incredibly popular across all of Eastern and northern Europe. Gone were the days of lagered-up British hooligans swarming a city centre in a disorganised brawl. Now highly trained MMA fighters compete in organised mass fights with rules and norms.
- ‘Violence is more important than before,’ he said of the current scene. ‘It’s more important to rob a flag or scarf or to raid another ultra group.’
- Under no circumstances could you use a weapon. The numbers had to be even. When someone was knocked out cold, you had to stop. And, most importantly, the fights took place far away from the football stadiums to avoid the police: forest clearings, railway sidings, farmers’ fields.
*** *** *** *** ***
FACTOIDS
- The Torcida was Europe’s oldest organised supporters group, formed in 1950.
- blue-and-white-striped Uruguayan flag – with its distinctive Sun of May in the top left corner, adapted from the Inca god of the sun
- Andy Capp. The un-PC British cartoon had become a symbol of the global ultras movement.
- burning their main banner, the internationally recognised sign that an ultras group was disbanding.
- Huge banners with political messages, known as choreographia, were unfurled by the tifosi, the Italian word for fans. The word had its roots in typhus, a disease that exhibits symptoms of inaction and lethargy followed by bouts of mania.
- ‘Esposito’, meaning ‘exposed’, is one of Italy’s most common names. Its root is found in Italy’s orphanages, especially in and around Naples, where babies were given the name (although the practice was later outlawed once Italy was unified).
- UEFA has rules preventing countries at war with each other, or with a recent past that would make hosting matches impossible, from being drawn in the same group.
- Kosovo, whilst officially unrecognised as a state, was recognised by FIFA and so had its own national team.
- 1998 Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen were treated as special cases. Both had been formed long ago as, essentially, workers’ teams, the former funded by Volkswagen, the latter by the pharmaceutical giant Bayer.
- [In South America, fans of a football club are called ‘hinchas’] hinchador: the man in charge of manually inflating the heavy, leather balls before and during games... At the time, football in Uruguay was an art form to be savoured, like going to the opera or watching a play. Games of football, tennis, polo and even cricket looked much the same. Supporters would wear their best clothes and watch the game in what Nacional’s Comision de Historia y Estadistica termed an ‘classic Anglo-Saxon style’. In the wooden stands of the Parque Central, football was mostly a game of comportment and restraint where ‘the public who attended matches maintained a certain seriousness.’ The exception was when a goal was scored but ‘the display did not go beyond some applause or an exclamation of joy or disappointment’.... Reyes was entirely different.... During the match, in between blowing up balls, he would charge up and down the touchline, bellowing encouragement at the players... During the first few games he received a puzzled response... Nacional’s El Hincha Pelotas, the ball inflator, was as much a part of the spectacle as the game itself. But he kept shouting and kept running until the crowd responded.
HAHA
- Poroshenko was crushed in the election, losing out to Volodymyr Zelensky, an actor with zero political experience and an unclear political agenda. He had played the role of president in a famous Ukrainian Netflix series, Servant of the People. Zelensky plays Vasyl, a teacher who accidentally becomes president of Ukraine after a secretly recorded video of him railing against corruption goes viral. For Ukrainians jaded by years of corruption and war, a fake president seemed as good a bet as anyone.
- The first was the banning of face coverings in the stadiums, which was later introduced by then minister for home affairs Anders Ygeman in 2017. To protest, AIK’s ultras wore black niqabs, the Islamic face covering worn by some women (there was an exemption in the law for people who covered their faces in the line of work or for religious reasons).
GOOD QUOTES
- ‘He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.’ - Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
- ‘It’s not man’s job to think about whether God exists or not, especially when you know that right in front of your eyes one person is stepping on another’s neck.’ - Eka Kurniawan, Beauty Is a Wound
BONUS
- Pepe Perretta is an artist who makes telons (large banners): https://youtu.be/w5qTnfkyb4Y
- Coming out of the Marakana (Belgrade stadium): https://youtu.be/57RGGDTHbFA
- Serbia v Albania match interrupted by drone carrying a flag: https://youtu.be/uE5f0_FaS_k
- Dortmund’s ‘Yellow Wall’: https://youtu.be/2QOCmKD8QeI
- 50+1 voting: https://youtu.be/hoPRAAqaA04
- ‘Doing the Poznań’: https://youtu.be/WKWO9X4a6xY
- ‘Jakmania’ (Indonesia): https://youtu.be/FvvOSRhF2A8
- ‘Green Street Hooligans’ movie trailer: https://youtu.be/IaShAfaZ-JQ
December 7, 2020
Der britische Journalist James Montague hat wirklich mit die extremsten Fans der Welt getroffen, darunter auch solche, denen der Fußball mehr oder weniger egal ist, die jedoch inmitten der Ultras ihre Heimat gefunden haben. Diese Heimat kann ein gefährliches Pflaster sein, wie man schon im Vorfeld vermutet, hier jedoch an vielen Stellen direkt erfährt.
Es ist nicht meine Welt – das wusste ich vorher schon, in dem Buch erhält das Fernhalten von solchen Strukturen aber in einigen Hinsichten noch weiteres Futter. Ich schaue mir gerne tolle Choreos an, aber damit hat es sich auch schon. Natürlich kann man nicht alle Ultras über einen Kamm scheren – tut der Autor auch nicht – aber es ist eine Welt für sich. Vor allem in den lateinamerikanischen Ländern, aber auch in Indonesien und Co wird es nicht selten auch richtig gefährlich, auch für den Autor, der mittendrin ist und das, obwohl Ultras Journalisten auch nicht unbedingt mögen…nur Polizisten scheinen sie noch weniger zu mögen und auch der Kommerz kommt nicht nur in Deutschland nicht so an. Themen wie Gewaltbereitschaft, aber auch Kreativität und Moralvorstellungen der Ultras weltweit werden hier offenbart. Manches davon ist kein Geheimnis, wie „Der Feind meines Feindes ist mein Freund“, dennoch hat der Autor mir die Augen geöffnet für die Menschen, die hinter der Choreo stehen und teilweise wirklich einfach nur ihre Mannschaft unterstützen, während andere ganz andere Motive haben.
Vor der Recherche muss man einfach den Hut ziehen. Der Autor scheut kaum ein Risiko und es ist sehr interessant, wie unterschiedlich die Ultras und ihre spezielle Kultur sind. Auch der Umgang mit den Ultras, die teils heftige Maßnahmen vom Staat zu fürchten haben, an anderer Stelle jedoch den Machthabern mit ihren Aktionen in die Hände spielen bzw. auch dafür engagiert zu werden scheinen, ist sehr unterschiedlich.
Da manches recht düster ist, vor allem die nationalistischen und faschistischen Aktionen haben mich abgestoßen, konnte ich das Buch nicht auf einen Sitz lesen. Dabei hätte der Schreibstil das durchaus hergegeben, denn so einiges ist emotional aufgeladen, spannend und mir haben es vor allem die politischen Verquickungen angetan. Trotzdem hat mir ein wenig das Stadiongefühl gefehlt, mit dem ich fest gerechnet hatte und manches war auch schon fast zu ausführlich, sodass ich dann doch einen Stern abziehe.
Ein Sachbuch, das unter die Haut geht und trotz extrem vieler Fakten, alles andere als trocken und fad ist. Eine gewisse Fußball-Affinität sollte man schon mitbringen, aber ein gesteigertes Interesse ist nicht nötig, um sich auf die Berichte aus der Subkultur einzulassen.
Es ist nicht meine Welt – das wusste ich vorher schon, in dem Buch erhält das Fernhalten von solchen Strukturen aber in einigen Hinsichten noch weiteres Futter. Ich schaue mir gerne tolle Choreos an, aber damit hat es sich auch schon. Natürlich kann man nicht alle Ultras über einen Kamm scheren – tut der Autor auch nicht – aber es ist eine Welt für sich. Vor allem in den lateinamerikanischen Ländern, aber auch in Indonesien und Co wird es nicht selten auch richtig gefährlich, auch für den Autor, der mittendrin ist und das, obwohl Ultras Journalisten auch nicht unbedingt mögen…nur Polizisten scheinen sie noch weniger zu mögen und auch der Kommerz kommt nicht nur in Deutschland nicht so an. Themen wie Gewaltbereitschaft, aber auch Kreativität und Moralvorstellungen der Ultras weltweit werden hier offenbart. Manches davon ist kein Geheimnis, wie „Der Feind meines Feindes ist mein Freund“, dennoch hat der Autor mir die Augen geöffnet für die Menschen, die hinter der Choreo stehen und teilweise wirklich einfach nur ihre Mannschaft unterstützen, während andere ganz andere Motive haben.
Vor der Recherche muss man einfach den Hut ziehen. Der Autor scheut kaum ein Risiko und es ist sehr interessant, wie unterschiedlich die Ultras und ihre spezielle Kultur sind. Auch der Umgang mit den Ultras, die teils heftige Maßnahmen vom Staat zu fürchten haben, an anderer Stelle jedoch den Machthabern mit ihren Aktionen in die Hände spielen bzw. auch dafür engagiert zu werden scheinen, ist sehr unterschiedlich.
Da manches recht düster ist, vor allem die nationalistischen und faschistischen Aktionen haben mich abgestoßen, konnte ich das Buch nicht auf einen Sitz lesen. Dabei hätte der Schreibstil das durchaus hergegeben, denn so einiges ist emotional aufgeladen, spannend und mir haben es vor allem die politischen Verquickungen angetan. Trotzdem hat mir ein wenig das Stadiongefühl gefehlt, mit dem ich fest gerechnet hatte und manches war auch schon fast zu ausführlich, sodass ich dann doch einen Stern abziehe.
Ein Sachbuch, das unter die Haut geht und trotz extrem vieler Fakten, alles andere als trocken und fad ist. Eine gewisse Fußball-Affinität sollte man schon mitbringen, aber ein gesteigertes Interesse ist nicht nötig, um sich auf die Berichte aus der Subkultur einzulassen.
January 4, 2021
"Unter Ultras" ist ein Buch über Fußballfans oder sagen wir mal, ja sie sind in der Regel Fans von verschiedenen Gruppen, die die Mannschaften bei ihren Spielen unterstützen. Doch längst haben sich einige Ultra Gruppen verselbstständigt und sind ein Verein im Verein oder manchmal auch außerhalb dieser. Sie unterscheiden sich durch ihr Auftreten, ihre Choreographie und manchmal auch durch ihre Gesinnung. Aber die meisten sind sehr gewaltbereit und gehören oftmals dem rechten Lager, oder sagen wir mal dem nationalen Lager. Die Identität in den Gruppen ist sehr hoch und sie haben auch ihre eigenen Namen, die meist mit den Kurven in den Stadien wo sie zu Hause sind, in Verbindung stehen. Eine Gemeinsamkeit ist auch, dass ihre "Capos" wie Helden verehrt werden und manchmal auch mit sehr viel Macht ausgestattet sind. Die Verbindung mit der Politik ist häufig sehr stark vergesellschaftet und auch die Einnahmen, der Gruppen ist häufig Schwarzhandel und ab und zu auch Drogen und Waffen. Es sind Randgruppen der Gesellschaft, aber mit einem sehr hohen Zusammenhalt ausgestattet. Was alle Gruppen vereint ist hauptsächlich Pyros und Choreographien, die einen immensen Stellenwert entwickeln.
Aufgeteilt ist dieses Buch in 4 große Kapitel mit unterschiedlichen Schwerpunkten. James Montague hat sich auf den Weg gemacht und mit der Hilfe von Insidern, ein sehr weltumspannendes Werk abgeliefert und die Beispiele, die er exemplarisch ausgewählt hat, sehr akribisch beschrieben. Die großen Kapitel sind beginnend in Südamerika, mit den Anfängen, oder vielmehr Ursprüngen der Ultra Bewegungen, über die Ultra Fangruppen im Süden und Südosten von Europa, die sehr politisch agieren. Weitere Beispiele sind Ukraine, Deutschland und Schweden, in der die Fangruppen sehr verschiedene Rollen einnehmen. Das letzte Kapitel beschreibt die neue alte Welt, mit der Türkei, USA und Indonesien.
Das Buch "Unter Ultras" hat mich von Anfang an sehr interessiert und gefesselt, gerade und weil die Verknüpfung zwischen Politik und Fußball, durch die Ultras sehr interessant beschrieben wird. Es ist eine Menge Stoff, der hier angeboten wird und es bedarf auch einiger Energie, um dem roten Faden zu folgen. Doch so eine geballte Information interessant zu gestalten ist sehr schwierig ist dem Autor aber gut gelungen. Man merkt wieviel Herzblut in diesem Buch steckt und der Untertitel - eine reise zu den härtesten Fans der Welt - verspricht sehr viel und der interessierte Leser wird hier auf seine Kosten kommen!
Aufgeteilt ist dieses Buch in 4 große Kapitel mit unterschiedlichen Schwerpunkten. James Montague hat sich auf den Weg gemacht und mit der Hilfe von Insidern, ein sehr weltumspannendes Werk abgeliefert und die Beispiele, die er exemplarisch ausgewählt hat, sehr akribisch beschrieben. Die großen Kapitel sind beginnend in Südamerika, mit den Anfängen, oder vielmehr Ursprüngen der Ultra Bewegungen, über die Ultra Fangruppen im Süden und Südosten von Europa, die sehr politisch agieren. Weitere Beispiele sind Ukraine, Deutschland und Schweden, in der die Fangruppen sehr verschiedene Rollen einnehmen. Das letzte Kapitel beschreibt die neue alte Welt, mit der Türkei, USA und Indonesien.
Das Buch "Unter Ultras" hat mich von Anfang an sehr interessiert und gefesselt, gerade und weil die Verknüpfung zwischen Politik und Fußball, durch die Ultras sehr interessant beschrieben wird. Es ist eine Menge Stoff, der hier angeboten wird und es bedarf auch einiger Energie, um dem roten Faden zu folgen. Doch so eine geballte Information interessant zu gestalten ist sehr schwierig ist dem Autor aber gut gelungen. Man merkt wieviel Herzblut in diesem Buch steckt und der Untertitel - eine reise zu den härtesten Fans der Welt - verspricht sehr viel und der interessierte Leser wird hier auf seine Kosten kommen!
September 12, 2023
This book by James Montagues lays bare the sterilisation of fandom in the United Kingdom despite its marked influence on the culture of terraces across the world. Montague takes us from Argentina to Indonesia looking at the Ultra fan groups and the power they have had over the socio-political landscapes of the their respective nations in what appear to be the last groups feeding off punk energy and for better and in most cases, worse for their regions.
Violence is an inherent part of the history of most Ultras groups whether it is with other fans or as a result of splinters within groups, but this book shows how they have caused governmental upheaval and been used as tools of power and for war. The Balkans in particular has a spiky recent history of which Montague skilfully untangles for the reader making sense of the 90s Yugoslav war, which for me is little more than memories of war torn cities on TV with no real understanding of the stakes and sides partaking.
The chapter on Ukraine is a bit heart breaking as it details the first Russian invasion from 2014 and how this had an effect on the fans and teams in the regions that were annexed and how these people were trying to rebuild only for the same thing to be taking place once more on a larger scale.
Each chapter is impressive as Montague manages to provide histories of the nation’s relationship to the Ultras, which can be complicated in such cases as Argentina and Turkey as they intersect with national political developments, but it is never overwhelming you with information. These are weaved into Montague’s experiences with the fans and Ultras groups as he learns of the culture of organised fights between groups finding himself on the run from the police at one point to how secretive some Ultra capos can be with illicit meetings in which he’s asked not to mention certain things.
Montague wades into danger trying to eke out information on a culture that is as hostile to journalists as they are to police for which the 1312 of the title relates and translates to “All Cops are Bastards”. This is an endlessly interesting account of a subculture that has had a marked influence on the countries in which these extreme Ultras groups are based. From formation to turning to criminal organisations or weapons of war, the Ultras seen on TV with tifos and pyro are simply the tip of a humongous iceberg that has toppled regimes and undone the history of nations.
Violence is an inherent part of the history of most Ultras groups whether it is with other fans or as a result of splinters within groups, but this book shows how they have caused governmental upheaval and been used as tools of power and for war. The Balkans in particular has a spiky recent history of which Montague skilfully untangles for the reader making sense of the 90s Yugoslav war, which for me is little more than memories of war torn cities on TV with no real understanding of the stakes and sides partaking.
The chapter on Ukraine is a bit heart breaking as it details the first Russian invasion from 2014 and how this had an effect on the fans and teams in the regions that were annexed and how these people were trying to rebuild only for the same thing to be taking place once more on a larger scale.
Each chapter is impressive as Montague manages to provide histories of the nation’s relationship to the Ultras, which can be complicated in such cases as Argentina and Turkey as they intersect with national political developments, but it is never overwhelming you with information. These are weaved into Montague’s experiences with the fans and Ultras groups as he learns of the culture of organised fights between groups finding himself on the run from the police at one point to how secretive some Ultra capos can be with illicit meetings in which he’s asked not to mention certain things.
Montague wades into danger trying to eke out information on a culture that is as hostile to journalists as they are to police for which the 1312 of the title relates and translates to “All Cops are Bastards”. This is an endlessly interesting account of a subculture that has had a marked influence on the countries in which these extreme Ultras groups are based. From formation to turning to criminal organisations or weapons of war, the Ultras seen on TV with tifos and pyro are simply the tip of a humongous iceberg that has toppled regimes and undone the history of nations.
July 12, 2021
The day after another splendid display of how to support your team by several groups of England football fans I finished James Montague’s latest book, 1312. As someone who has been to 155 clubs in 35 countries over 3 continents, stood amongst the most loyal in Moscow, London, Gelsenkirchen and ofcourse my own team Feyenoord I was pretty interested in James’s findings.
The first chapters about South-America couldn’t really capture me, apart form the orgins of the singing. But once James moved to Europe it got interesting. The non-political, but so political crews of the last 10, 15 years have changed a lot in football culture. Reading about Ukrain, former Yugoslavia and later about Egypt was pretty intense. The Ultra’s as family, save haven and on the forefront of protest and even war is far, far away of the English hooliganism assosiated with ‘Ultra’s’ by the mainstream press. The fact that big business and thus governments and their order troops smash down Ultra culture for a lot of wrong reasons should be read by all officials. The shared hatred of the police, (1312, means All Cops Are Bastards) and 'Modern Football' all too obvious.
Moving the fighting to ‘Wald und Wiese’ makes the terraces safer, but banning pyro’s and banners is the death of the real fan culture. The chapter on Indonesia was an eyeopener though. Combining South-America’s singing, English hooliganism, Italian tifosi and German and US activism in a blend should be the modern Ultra, but as James writes this is already too late.
What I missed was the criminal link with the drugs, enforcers, etc that has taken over a lot of firms a.o. in The Netherlands, Germany, Eastern Europe and ofcourse England. Also Montague's memories of the terraces at Upton Park would have been nice, but maybe he shared those in an earlier work that I didn;t read. All in all absolutely worth a read. Yet, an answer to the moronic actions by 'Ingerlands' finest yesterday can't even be explained by reading 1312.
The first chapters about South-America couldn’t really capture me, apart form the orgins of the singing. But once James moved to Europe it got interesting. The non-political, but so political crews of the last 10, 15 years have changed a lot in football culture. Reading about Ukrain, former Yugoslavia and later about Egypt was pretty intense. The Ultra’s as family, save haven and on the forefront of protest and even war is far, far away of the English hooliganism assosiated with ‘Ultra’s’ by the mainstream press. The fact that big business and thus governments and their order troops smash down Ultra culture for a lot of wrong reasons should be read by all officials. The shared hatred of the police, (1312, means All Cops Are Bastards) and 'Modern Football' all too obvious.
Moving the fighting to ‘Wald und Wiese’ makes the terraces safer, but banning pyro’s and banners is the death of the real fan culture. The chapter on Indonesia was an eyeopener though. Combining South-America’s singing, English hooliganism, Italian tifosi and German and US activism in a blend should be the modern Ultra, but as James writes this is already too late.
What I missed was the criminal link with the drugs, enforcers, etc that has taken over a lot of firms a.o. in The Netherlands, Germany, Eastern Europe and ofcourse England. Also Montague's memories of the terraces at Upton Park would have been nice, but maybe he shared those in an earlier work that I didn;t read. All in all absolutely worth a read. Yet, an answer to the moronic actions by 'Ingerlands' finest yesterday can't even be explained by reading 1312.
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