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Ultra

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Ultra

By: Tobias Jones
Narrated by: Adam Bromley
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About this listen

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 Hells 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 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.

©2019 Tobias Jones (P)2019 Head of Zeus Football (Soccer) Organized Crime True Crime Italy Thought-Provoking

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All stars
Most relevant  
Well narrated insight into the Ultra world on and off the terraces and around the cities in Italy.

Interesting insight into the Ultra world

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Tobias manages to really get to the heart of the ultra with his time at Cosenza - far beyond the headlines and usual journalistic castigation of the ultras. Not to say they are not very unsavoury characters at times. The Cosenza stories, interspersed with other tales from around Italy over the decades make for a good balance. Really enjoyed it.

Deep insight

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I’d read this book when it came out, as I’m a massive fan of Tobias’ writings.
It’s a great read, but I’d say the audible version is an even better listen!
The narrator really brings the characters to life and the narration flows along so smoothly.

Brilliant listen & read

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This book is really well researched and gives a shocking insight into the world of the ultra’s.. I found the recording quality was a little muffled, not enough to put me off listening to it, it’s just not crystal clear but it’s definitely listenable .. don’t let that put you off it’s very good

Well researched

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The best book I’ve ever read on this subject. An absolute must for football fans and anyone else for that matter.

Incredible book.

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Italian fans and Ultras has a certain passion you can not find other places. It helped to giving a more intense certain look by keeping to a handful of Ultras groups and clubs, and going into details to the people surrounding them. A great both judgmental and nonjudgmental look at certain actions and decisions, while giving great in-depth background details to explain it.

A unique insight into a unique culture.

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For anyone who has an interest in football, fandom, politics, Italy, fanaticism or the curious nature of the most vociferous groups...have a read/listen.

Excellent

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Fantastic book - fascinating context, great anecdotes. Sometimes haunting, sometimes sad, sometimes infuriating. Always interesting.

My only small criticism of the audiobook was the narrator’s chosen pronunciation of “Serie A”. Seemed curious to mix the Italian and English in that case - particularly as most listeners will be familiar with it as “Serie Ah”

Didn’t ruin it by any stretch but worth bringing up!

Engrossing, Peculiar, Well Worth It

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Learned a lot about the Italian ultra scene. Writer was fully immersed in the world and expressed himself eloquently.

Balanced insights

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Amazing work, really interesting journey through the last 30 odd years of Italian culture!
Interesting to see what the author does next, he has gained a new fan here!
Brilliant 🤩

One of the best Audio Books I’ve listened to!

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