Whay Disaster Is Shown in Video of Montague Terrace in Blue
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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 cul 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 neither of the three..
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, much less 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.
...more 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 conne
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.
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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 oft
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.
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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 rat
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.
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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!
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!
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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 d
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.
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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
...more 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 a
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.
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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 …
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Ultimately very good though.
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 ana 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.
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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.
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The first chapters about South-America couldn't really capture me, apart form the orgins of the singing. But once James moved to
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.
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Having said that, this is a fantastic book, a scary book and a really in depth delve into ultra culture which is a fanaticism that surpasses left and right politics, race or religion. It shows how strongly knit tribal groups form and why they are feared by the authorities. In many countries, for good or bad, the violent ultra groups were the only citizens who could take on the police when demonstrations turned violent.
As a book it does a great job to shock and amaze and is entertaining and informing. I'll definitely read it again.
Also, speaking in March 2022, this book is a goldmine of information about the situation in Ukraine and the political situation there. It also covers a lot about the subtle and not so subtle influence of Putin in other European countries and the complex political situation in Balkans and how money, football, hooliganism, rent-a-mobs have been used to sway the politics of many of those countries.
Crazy brave reporting and investigation went into this book.
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Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46266510-1312
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