num_pages: 374
description: 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 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. 
language: English
title: Ultra: The Underworld of Italian Football
publisher: Apollo