Soul Crew: The Inside Story of a Soccer Hooligan Gang [Paperback]

The Book is written with an unflinching sense of honesty which is a rarity among a book of this genre. Both authors do their best to admit that their respective roles, although significant,were in no way paramount to the chartering of a football firm which on its day can muster up unprecedented numbers.
I liked the fact that despite the press hype the authors are relatively modest in ther claims for infamy conceeding that the likes of Chelsea and Midddlesbrough have indeed 'clipped' the wings of the 'Blubirds'. Unlike other football hooligan books the Soul Crew, although itself a fearsome and tough mob do not claim the pretence of being invincible unlike the much over-hyped ICF.
The style in which it is written keeps the readers interest and is not a repetitive diatribe of season after season of violence.
The book is more thematic than a typical book of this type, the casual scence is continually woven in to the patchwork of football aggro, thus providing a sense of depth and scope which makes it all the more readable.
It is also written with a dry and sardonic wit which has proven to be a revelation to those of us who want more than just a chronological documentation of violence. The authors obvious intelligence helps purge the crass notion that football hooligans are mindless morons. It is fascinating that men who are patently quite bright should choose such a turbelent vocation '..when saturday comes'.
Set against the backdrop of one of Britains most deprived social areas the boys of the Valleys and the less affluent areas of Wales' capital city tap into the football casual phenomena during the early 1980's and contine unabated right to the present day.
The idea that football hooliganism is dead is unfounded according to the compelling reading of Tony Rivers side of the story, partly no doubt due to the fact the English media and Police authorities still perceive Wales as a haven for Rugger boys and male voice choirs. According to this book, the Soul Crew phenomena is a complete antithesis to this misguided preconception. As such the Soul Crew have been underestimated by the Authorities and rival footie firms, particularly those which orbit around the whole charade of 'the Big Smoke'.
This book if believed, and it does appear to be believable, serves to banish such simple mythologies..i.e Wales is backward and lacks the nuances of modern day street crime etc. The book was no doubt written with this in mind.
Admitedly the likes of Chelsea and West Ham were the top boys in the 1970s and 1980s as stated in this very book but to those 'in the Know' The Soul Crew have been a formidable firm during the era of the moblie phone, a recognition which would not be admitted to by the likes of Mr Pennat et al.who seem hell-bent upon perpetuating the media myth that the football scene is dead. Their way of life on the terraces may have long gone but a move away into more intence small scale incidents are now the norm. Hooligans have not run but accomodated to the pressures put on them by the likes of NCIS thus becoming a more zealous and committed breed. In a sense the mass violence of the past is seldom occurs yet according to this book Cardiff can still get massive numbers out when the need is called for, and believe me I have seen it first hand.
It is astonshing how the authors reveal how they would often befriend rivals to arrange the 'off' amicably and then kick 'seven bells' into one another before again resuming friendships. Bizarre.
All in all a good read, funny, genuine and unpretentious.

A well-documented and (presumably) well-edited tale of the coming of age of two young men. It's clearly aimed at a particular community of reader though.
Both male authors describe a slow change that takes place in their lives around adolescence. Previously interested in the game of football itself, they start to feel and nurture a deep interest in the clothes other boys are wearing (described here in great detail)at the match, their hairstyles, whose appearance is the most satisfying to the eye and so on. Inevitably this leads to physical contact.
They find this physical contact extremely exciting and gratifying and seek to repeat the experience every weekend. At the start, these brief encounters are with total strangers and are both short-lived and aggressive, as is the norm. But, slowly, as the lads' network expands the trysts become more organised and arrangements to meet and engage are made with other well turned out gents from around the country.
Equally inevitably, the police are keeping a watchful and disapproving eye. So from having it off in front of everyone at a stadium, the physical side of things has to develop in semi-private circumstances: back alleys and tube stations become the venue for these disapproved of physical deeds. Still they crave more.
As with Oscar Wilde, the police continue to intrude but by this stage our well-presented, strong, masculine gents have found the rave scene. Dark rooms, different clothes to talk about and yet more physical proximity mmmmm.....

This is a great read, I went through it in six hours and couldn't put it down. I attended many of the games that Dave and Tony have outlined and although I observed the 'goings on' from close quaters never got seriously involved. There is none of the hype and boasting that is normally seen in this genre and overall the detail is very accurate. Some of the facts are slightly out e.g we didn't get relegated the season we played Bradford last game, and I was dissapointed that there was not an account of a dust up in Hove Park Brighton in the mid to late 90's. It is a popular myth that hooligans are not football fans, those of this misguided opinion should take note of the regular references to scorelines, scorers and 'floating free kicks', some may be alarmed to realise how much these lads feel for the club.