The firm: Towards a study of 400 football gangs

The essay looks at how to conduct better contemporary research into football hooligan gangs in the light of flawed media reporting of the phenomenon and a general move away from the rich tradition of ethnography in sociology, physical cultural studies and criminology in recent years. The essay explores some theoretical and methodological issues arising from conducting a research project into football hooligan writings. It looks at the project's utility for longer term ethnographic and historical research into the many hundreds of football hooligan gangs that can be identified in a longitudinal cultural mapping of the field. The essay presents material from a sustained archival research project where one copy of each item of a genre known as football hooligan memoirs was archived, and authors and publishers were interviewed. The essay is an audit for a contemporary and possible future study of football hooligan gangs.The essay looks at how to conduct better contemporary research into football hooligan gangs in the light of flawed media reporting of the phenomenon and a general move away from the rich tradition of ethnography in sociology, physical cultural studies and criminology in recent years. The essay explores some theoretical and methodological issues arising from conducting a research project into football hooligan writings. It looks at the project's utility for longer term ethnographic and historical research into the many hundreds of football hooligan gangs that can be identified in a longitudinal cultural mapping of the field. The essay presents material from a sustained archival research project where one copy of each item of a genre known as football hooligan memoirs was archived, and authors and publishers were interviewed. The essay is an audit for a contemporary and possible future study of football hooligan gangs.