An absolutely frightening read. While riding the tube in London, journalist Buford observes loutish behavior by football fans and decides to find out what all the fuss is about. For the next several years he immerses himself in the tawdry fan base of a number of British club teams as they rampage across the country and the European continent. Buford seems to be channeling Hunter Thompson’s wild ride in the book Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga and George Orwell as he explored poverty in Down and Out in Paris and London. In his defense, Buford would never have been able to embed himself if he hadn’t embedded himself. His deplorable subjects were reluctant to go on the record. Not only were they involved in criminal activity, they were also proud of their bigotry and claimed to be maligned by the press. Hence the only way to report on the clubs was to become one with the fans. So, rather than take the “high road” of a traditional reporter – neutrally observing and filing a story – Buford plunges into the raucous behavior, cozying up to the team supporters. In too many examples to recount, he attempts to match their drinking habits and interacts with the thugs: drunks, Nazi sympathizers, skinheads, outright criminals, and other riff-raff as they disrupt civil life in the name of sport. Ethically it is hard to justify this style of reporting and indeed his observations are bleak and pretty simplistic. He recognizes and explains the frightening nature of crowd behavior (including getting severely beaten himself) and how otherwise good citizens can slip into anti-social, self-destructive behavior. Nothing good happens in this saga.
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