In 1991, Richard Davis documented football culture in the 90s around the stadiums of North West England for a book called “Football with Attitude.” The project also took Richard to Holland, where Manchester United fans had travelled to Rotterdam to watch their team play against Barcelona in the 1991 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final at Stadion Feijenoord.
Steve Redhead
Written by the late Steve Redhead, the book examines the crossover of 90s football culture, popular music, and youth culture. It is a well-written and informative book from a golden era when the music and fashion of the late 80s and early 90s spilled over onto the terraces.
Photo © Richard Davis.
Fanzine Culture
The book explores fanzine culture and its persistent impact on supporters. One of the fanzines profiled in the book is Liverpool’s groundbreaking “The End,” which was first published in 1981. Unlike many other fanzines of that era, “The End” covered topics beyond football, which set it apart.
There were great articles about music, fashion, trends, and politics, gig reviews, and “what’s in” and “what’s out”? It became an essential cultural guide that influenced fans long before the days of football forums and social media. It also directly inspired many other fanzines of the era, including the legendary London-based music fanzine Boys Own.
Boy's Own
As one magazine writer for 20/20 put it in late 1990: “The End, the granddaddy of the fanzines, which had documented the rise and fall of Puma, Adidas, Gallini and Lacoste, had always covered music and its followers as much as fickle football fashions. Inspired by this, two south Londoners started Boy’s Own, which has been pivotal to the terrace/fashion/rave crossover. Its two instigators, Terry Farley and Andrew Weatherall, are now respected young dance DJ-producers, and recently returned their debt to The End’s creator Peter Hooton by producing the first hits for his band The Farm.”
Photo © Richard Davis.
Pop Culture
The words below, written by Steve Redhead, provide a brief insight into the book as well as Richard’s accompanying photography.
“Football With Attitude examines the changing contemporary relationships between football, popular music and youth culture – in short, football fandom as pop culture. The photographs from the book provide snapshots of the forever-changing channels of football into music, and music into football. They portray a supporter culture where, increasingly, young football fans are music fans and vice versa: visually they are often indistinguishable”.
Photo © Richard Davis.
“Many of those involved in the music industry such as writers, producers, DJs, and musicians are obsessive football fans themselves. Furthermore, football-related popular music is no longer considered the lowest form of art but instead, it finds itself at the forefront of dancefloor sounds.” – Steve Redhead.
Gallery
Photo © Richard Davis.
Photo © Richard Davis.
Photo © Richard Davis.
Photo © Richard Davis.
Photo © Richard Davis.
Photo © Richard Davis.
Photo © Richard Davis.
Photo © Richard Davis.
Photo © Richard Davis.
Football with Attitude was published in 1991 by Wordsmith.
Richard Davis’s work was exhibited as part of BCA’s debut exhibition at The Social in 2019. Select works were also included as part of the British Culture Archive exhibition at the annual British Shorts Festival in Berlin.
A selection of his Hulme series are part of the touring exhibition – The People’s City.
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- Article first published
- August 10, 2019
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