1312: Among the Ultras by James Montague is about extreme soccer fans from across the globe. It's a rare example of a nonfiction work that, somehow, understates its subject matter. Sometimes I would skim a paragraph, encounter something monumental, and go back to see if I read it correctly. I googled several names, places, and teams. From an American perspective, the subject matter of 1312 is so outside my experience that I had trouble believing everything in the book.
Broadly speaking, soccer fan culture originated in different ways depending on region, and throughout the 20th century, supporter groups adopted elements as they encountered outside teams or countries. So English hooliganism could merge with Brazilian drums or Italian right-wing politics, to match whatever context. The modern-day effect, then, is a dizzying collage of extreme behavior that vaguely situates itself around a soccer team. Egyptian supporters might rally against a dictator. Russian ultras might gather in forests for coordinated, MMA-style mass brawls. Indonesians might ambush away fans on highways during road games. Albanian nationalists might get around stadium bans by flying provocative flags into stadiums by drones. And so on. The term "ultra" proved impossible to define neatly, but those fans were generally united against authorities ("1312" is a cipher against police that Montague saw in graffiti around the world). Throughout, the common threads were transgressive, often neo-Fascist politics, and deviant behavior.
It's a fascinating read, and I enjoyed the book. It's a bit uneven, though. In attempting to capture histories across continents, Montague sometimes glossed over enormous events, like the Bosnian War or the Arab Spring. At times he had tremendous access and wild, first-person stories; at times he painted a broad brush over decades and cultures that made me have to research things on my own. His story of Ismail, the Albanian activist, was gripping. His recounting of Egypt's tumultuous governmental shifts should have been three times as long. I don't know how to fix that exactly, other than maybe choose fewer countries or make this a seven-volume opus. Anyway, despite its flaws, 1312 is deeply important to anyone interested in international fan culture and the intersection of sports, class, and government.
