The value of fanzines

Comments (2)

Something that's bugged me for a long time now is the lack of proper articles in newspapers on clubs outside of the Sky four. The tabloids don't annoy me that much but the broadsheets, where the quality of articles is generally higher, do.

Take for example, The Times or The Guardian, or even some of the papers here in Ireland. If a newspaper has four pages given over to football, you can almost be guaranteed that one full page, or the most of, will be given over to one of the big four. I don't mean match reports by this. All papers carry them and they usually don't vary that much from one paper to the next. I mean well written articles on a certain aspect of a club. From something to do with it's traditions to the manager's perspective on anything, these articles make for facinating reading on subject matter that you may not always think about in relation to your club.

The thing is, though, even if it's been a really slow news week, you will only ever get something on the big four, even if it's only the tea lady's take on how Man Utd's centre forward should drink his half-time cuppa. It doesn't matter if Goodison just got blown up by the Daleks, or that Bolton Wanderers have just smashed their transfer fee on the same day, Man Utd's tea lady will get priority billing.

I know it's par for the course nowadays, but it's infuriating none the less. It's not so much that other clubs get ignored, it's more to do with not getting to read those quality informative insightful articles on your club. You'll see something on Sky News, usually repeated ad nauseum, and roll your eyes. You'll sometimes read something in the Mirror or the Sun and wonder if you should believe it or take it all with a pinch of salt.

With all this in mind, I do think that there is more and more to be said for decent fanzines belonging to clubs outside of the big four. Take this one for example. Many of the articles have been very well written, very thoughtful and also very thought provoking. They will rang from the whole stadium debate, to our transfer policy, to our founding fathers, to the Dr France collection. All of this, while only relevant to Everton fans, is still very interesting to read and does allow for a lot of debate and discussion. The service is free, and you're even entitled to add your own thoughts and articles.

While not blowing a trumpet for myself, the editorial team or anyone else, it is actually nice to know that there is an alternative to having to suffer Man Utd's Tea lady.
Kieran Fitzgerald, Dublin     Posted 06/07/2009 at 15:36:08

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