Remembering the fanzines

Did you know that most football clubs, both in the English Football League and non-League, boasted more than one fanzine during the 1980s and 1990s? Also, according to a fanzines listings website I came across recently, it shows that Cray Wanderers only produced one fanzine, named appropriately enough for the club's Oxford Road days as "What Slope?" yet I also know that there was a second, more prolonged, fanzine called "Cray Chatter". From what I recall from liaising with Pete Goringe and Jerry Dowlen a few years ago, there were only a small amount of issues of "What Slope?" ever published and that "Cray Chatter" somewhat more successfully replaced it and was produced for several seasons.

I wasn't around at Oxford Road when either of those two fanzines were introduced but I still experienced the fanzine goldrush thanks to one of my ex-work colleagues, who was a Dover Athletic supporter. I often received the Dover fanzine to read at my leisure. I have also seen copies of "Cray Chatter" once in a while and, to say that each different club's issues were as different as chalk and cheese, would be an understatement.

Nevertheless, I can go back even further than the 1980s fanzine craze to a time when I wrote an article for a fanzine before they even became known as fanzines. Back in the early 1970s, I played for a Sunday side that produced their own monthly bulletin and I wrote an article for it about Sir Stanley Rous, who was then President of FIFA and a former referee. Sadly, my copy of the bulletin containing my article has been lost in the mists of time, yet the memory of having it included in what was ostensibly a fanzine, before they were known as such, remains.

Of the more infamous fanzines, a shout must go out to two titles in particular for their cheekiness. The first is "There's Only One F In Fulham" and the other is "A Kick Up The Rs", the latter being produced by some wit or wits who support Queen's Park Rangers. There's many more good titles besides those two, but they did not come anywhere near close to being as mischievous as the titles dreamt up by the supporters of the two London clubs above. 

Nowadays, fanzines as we once knew them have all but disappeared, choosing either to stop completely or migrate to the internet in the guise of independent websites or blog sites. Some have even morphed into social media pages or so I understand. Not being a social media dabbler myself, I have to take other people's word for that sort of media transfer.

Here's just a short list of fanzines and their associated clubs. How many of them have you heard of or can you remember?

Gone to the Dogs - Canterbury City

Robins Nest - Carshalton Athletic

Voice of the Valley - Charlton Athletic

One More Point - Crystal Palace

Womble Underground Press - AFC Wimbledon

The Ugly Duckling -Aylesbury United

Cowshed Blues - Billericay Town

Tripe 'n' Trotters - Bolton Wanderers

Forever Amber - Boston United

No Way Referee - Bray Wanderers (from the Republic of Ireland)

Down The Lane - Bromley

The Last Minute - Bromsgrove Rovers

Top Banana - Clevedon Town

Light At The End of the Tunnel - Dartford

Tales From The River End - Dover Athletic

Champion Hill Street Blues - Dulwich Hamlet

Simon's Haircut - Farnborough Town

The Codhead - Fleetwood Town

The Cottager - Fulham

Brian Moore's Head Looks Uncannily Like the London Planetarium - Gillingham

Super Blue - Grays Athletic

Sing When We're Fishing - Grimsby Town

Crying Time Again - Hamilton Academicals

Each Game As It Comes - Harrogate Town

Monkey Business - Hartlepool United

The Pits - Hednesford Town

Talking Bull - Hereford United

Field of Dreams - Herne Bay

Jumpers For Posts - King's Lynn

Bert Trautmann's Helmet - Manchester City

Moors Code - Moor Green (now part of Solihull Moors)

A Dream Too Far - Northallerton Town 

What A Load of Cobblers - Northampton Town

Beyond The Boundary - Oldham Athletic

The Peterborough Effect - Peterborough United

Perfect Day - Ramsgate

Don't You Point At Me - Runcorn AFC (now Runcorn Linnets)

Russians Roulette - Rushden & Diamonds

On The Up - South Shields

The Duffle - Stenhousemuir

Ease of Exit - Sudbury Town

At The Near Post - Supermarine

Touchliner - Sutton United

4 Bleats To The Baaa - Tamworth

The Pies Were Cold - Telford United

Editor's Foot - Tonbridge Angels

Gulls View - Weston-super-Mare

Sitting In The Lounge - Whitley Bay

Green Scene - Whyteleafe

Toothless Tiger - Worksop Town

Dial M For Merthyr - Merthyr Tydfil (now morphed into Merthyr Town)

There's millions more examples if you can find them listed on the internet. Good luck to you with that search!

Trevor Mulligan

Footnote: The photo that shows on the mock up fanzine cover at the top of this article depicts Cray Wanderers' chairman Gary Hillman presenting me with a Long-time Wands Supporter Achievement Award back in 2012. Photo courtesy of Jerry Dowlen.