Today’s #FanzineoftheDay is another belter from Scottish Junior football, issue 2 of Fulton, One-nil from Newlands / Glasgow giants Pollok FC. Produced in 1990 with the classic A5 photocopied format and 2 staples (They would revert to one for later issues) the name records the club’s finest moment as Norrie Fulton scored the winner of the Pollok v Arthurlie Junior Cup Final at Hampden in 1981. There are videos of this online (Thankfully pre VAR as I think it might have seen the goal struck down!) but even better is this superb photo archive. https://photoarchiver.co.uk/barrhead_news/bn_0088/index.html

Anyway, we are 9 years further on by the time this fantastic journal appeared so lets get on to the editorial/info page. I’ve reproduced the double spread because it is classic fanzine, a quite superb stockist list, who needs Sportspages when you have the Station Kiosk (now a Beauty, Medical Aesthetics and Laser Clinic called, quite magnificently, Bella Derma).

There are disclaimers, extracting it from local and national rivals and the words “Issue 2 and we’re still going strong” Oh lord give me the confidence of young fanzine editors. They don’t pull punches about team selection at Newlandsfield Park either, ignoring a “transfer fund” that would probably run into the hundreds on a good month with a tail wind. Bravo!

I mentioned in a post the other day the quite sensational series in this fanzine called “Voyages of discovery”, a ground hopping guide to the outer reaches of lower league football in Scotland. It is quite magnificent. “Broken glass, miles of overgrowth, the occasional dustbin lid, a plastic ‘Milland’ bread box, half a dozen eggs and an air of desolation” WOW, a breathtaking introduction to Station Park, home of Baillieston and also “an estate agent’s dream”. Don’t miss the pies and bovril burning a hole in the earth’s core and that picture, oh my lord that picture!.

Despite their rich history Ballieston did succumb to the developers charms in 2000 and hopes to move to a new ground evaporated for good when the club was dissolved in 2005. Station Park is now a tidy suburban street. Pollok’s facilities have moved in the opposite direction and Newlandsfield Park was chosen in 93rd place in Leon Gladwell’s book “European Football’s Greatest Grounds’…

The letters page reveals that our heroes had suffered a “distribution issue” in issue 1 and not actually sold it at the ground..There is crayon soaked abuse as you would expect and what looks suspiciously like a letter from a player’s mum.

There is news of the manager falling out with fans in “The Wet Fish Award” column. What I love about this is the correspondent recalling a similar incident 6 years previously. It’s hardly a habit and I personally I sympathise with players and managers when they snap after receiving “advice” from the stands. John Sheridan telling a Chesterfield fan in the stands to “Fuck off home and watch Eastenders” during a dreadful night game vs Oxford is my favourite example of this. However the old adage of we pay your wages is invoked.

The ‘Top 10’ fanzine list runs to 3 with 2 others mentioned as an afterthought. More lists should be like this. All of the top 3 were great fanzines with ‘3 in a Row‘ from Arthurlie in particular an absolutely magnificent publication. If anyone out there knows much abour Jag Mag I’m all ears, I’ve not found much about it anywhere, the National library of Scotland has no record of it (Though the British Library does seem to have 2 secreted away in London)

Absolutely brilliant fanzine from a junior club, every time I come across one like Life Support, Buffle or 18 hours From Rotterdam from the Scottish Junior leagues I am in awe of the fantastic creativity, humour and rancour on display. You can find Pollok via their excellent social media coverage on twitter and insta, just search @pollokfc I just wish there was still a fanzine going.