Winner of the Telegraph Sports Book Award Football Book of the Year 2020
Ultras are often compared to punks,Hell's Angels,hooligans or the South American Barras Bravas. But in truth,they are a thoroughly Italian phenomenon...
From the author of The Dark Heart of Italy,Blood on the Altar and A Place of Refuge.
Italy's ultras are the most organised and violent fans in European football. Many groups have evolved into criminal gangs,involved in ticket-touting,drug-dealing and murder. A cross between the Hell's Angels and hooligans,they're often the foot-soldiers of the Mafia and have been instrumental in the rise of the far-right.
But the purist ultras say that they are are insurgents fighting against a police state and modern football. Only amongst the ultras,they say,can you find belonging,community and a sacred concept of sport. They champion not just their teams,they say,but their forgotten suburbs and the dispossessed.
Through the prism of the ultras,Jones crafts a compelling investigation into Italian society and its favourite sport. He writes about not just the ultras of some of Italy's biggest clubs - Juventus,Torino,Lazio,Roma and Genoa - but also about its lesser-known ones from Cosenza and Catania. He examines the sinister side of football fandom,with its violence and political extremism,but also admires the passion,wit,solidarity and style of a fascinating and contradictory subculture.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLCISBN: 9781786697370Number of pages: 432Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Colourful first-hand accounts...Jones is too smart a writer...Ultra does speak direly to wider issues'- The Financial Times
'(An) intense book...A positive story to tell as well'- The Times Literary Supplement
'A serious,detailed and entertaining exploration of a fascinating subject...While Jones's analysis of the rise of the ultras is interesting,it is the anecdotes that truly hook the reader'- The Catholic Herald
'An excellent book'- The Daily Mail
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