Where art thou fanzine?

Former Two Footed Tackle editor, Colin Head, takes a looks at fanzine culture.

When Machel spoke to me about this new venture, ‘From Bromley with love’, I knew straight away that I wanted to be involved in some way. Having been part of the Bromley fanzine scene since the days of ‘Down The Lane’ and ‘Back to Nowhere’ in the late 80s and early 90s, I’ve always enjoyed writing and reading fans' views about Bromley and the wider football world.

After contributing to a few fanzines, I started the ‘Two Footed Tackle’ fanzine in November 1996, which ran for eighty-eight issues until September 2019. TFT started as a response to the official club fanzine at the time, ‘Fans Say’, which released a few articles that I took exception to. I wanted to give an alternative and independent viewpoint to supporters. 

The initial idea had been to cover other South London football clubs in addition to Bromley. But within a few issues, except for a few pieces on local basketball and Cray Wanderers, the fanzine was focused primarily on Bromley Football Club.

Although it always maintained its independent status, TFT raised money for the club during its darkest times. Bowling Nights at Lewisham AMF raised cash for kit sponsorship, as did golf days, greyhound racing nights at Catford, and the Hayes Lane Ultras supporters’ football team chipped in to boost the club’s coffers, too.

From the first issue, printed for the FA Cup First Round game with Enfield in November 1996, to the very last, TFT chronicled the fall and rise of Bromley Football Club. The county cup successes of the 90s. The relegation and Ryman One despair of the early 2000s. The three promotions en route to the National League. The FA Trophy Final in May 2018. We were there for all of them.

There were times when certain former owners described us as “so-called supporters”. But there were better times when the club owner and chairman at the time, Jerry Dolke, would buy a copy from me directly; genuinely seeming to enjoy the content and appreciating the work involved.   

TFT was strictly old school in its approach and construction. Right until the end, I was using scissors and Pritt Stick to make a master copy from printed-off articles. This was then photocopied to make the final product. I could never quite master desktop publishing, despite doing an MS Publisher course!       

By the time TFT came to an end, it had run its course. Crowds of 200 had become 2,000 and I was no longer in touch with the fan culture of the day. It had moved on and changed beyond recognition.

A field of a dozen or so regular contributors had reduced to one or two, and printing costs had gone up to a point where the fanzine could no longer break even. The other printed fanzine ‘In There’ ceased production at this point too.

Online was the way to go, but it needed fresh energy to bring Bromley-focused fanzine-style writing to a modern audience. With ‘From Bromley with love’, that energy has arrived. Now we have a place where fans can read, contribute, and join the debate.

‘From Bromley with love’ is a place for all of us. And, as our FA Trophy holders embark on their seventh National League season, there’s plenty of subject matter to cover. 

Get involved and enjoy!

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