The Theater of Sport: Bill Buford Revisits Among the Thugs
In this Paris Review interview, Bill Buford discusses his 1991 book 'Among the Thugs', recounting his immersion in English football hooligan culture in the 1980s. He explains how he moved from literary editor of Granta to participant-observer among Manchester United's firm, the Inter-City Jibbers, and reflects on the era's violence, the book's first-person approach, and the cultural context of lad culture and Thatcherism.
I came to think of it as basically a style thing or a fashion thing, in the same way that at different times, especially in Britain, there have been epochs of lad culture, like the Mods and Rockers, riding Vespas or Lambrette.