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Ultra: The Underworld of Italian Football

Winner of the Daily Telegraph Football Book of the Year Ultras are often compared to punks, Hell`s Angels, hooligans or the South American Barras Bravas. But in truth, they are a thoroughly Italian phenomenon… From the author of The Dark Heart of Italy, Blood on the Altar and A Place of Refuge. Italy`s ultras are the most organised and violent fans in European football. Many groups have evolved into criminal gangs, involved in ticket-touting, drug-dealing and murder. A cross between the Hell`s Angels and hooligans, they`re often the foot-soldiers of the Mafia and have been instrumental in the rise of the far-right. But the purist ultras say that they are are insurgents fighting against a police state and modern football. Only amongst the ultras, they say, can you find belonging, community and a sacred concept of sport. They champion not just their teams, they say, but their forgotten suburbs and the dispossessed. Through the prism of the ultras, Jones crafts a compelling investigation into Italian society and its favourite sport. He writes about not just the ultras of some of Italy`s biggest clubs – Juventus, Torino, Lazio, Roma and Genoa – but also about its lesser-known ones from Cosenza and Catania. He examines the sinister side of football fandom, with its violence and political extremism, but also admires the passion, wit, solidarity and style of a fascinating and contradictory subculture.

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