I feel a bit bad that the first “feature” with Off The Ball (Issue 16, Winter 1988, 50p) is just a mini blog because this was a real titan amongst fanzines. After Foul blazed the trail, OTB came along albeit 12 years later and just managed to beat When Saturday Comes to print, though of course WSC has lasted slightly longer! There is evidence that another general football fanzine had started and maybe gone in between, Fitba’ Crazy in Scotland but OTB and WSC represented ‘the big bang’. In between club zines like Carlisle’s Hit The Bar, Bradford City’s City Gent had arrived and are both still going with fanzines also already going at Bolton, York, Queens Park, Hibs, Hearts, Enfield. Pyramid , ‘The magazine for Non League Clubs by non league fans’ was also already with us.

Issue 16 is a bit of a classic cover, eschewing a joke or cheap dig it’s functional and about fans getting organised and protesting.

We’re here for floodlights though and boy does OTB deliver. A long lost ground with classic old pylons being demolished..It’s also a great article covering the financial issues that Scunthorpe faced forcing the ground move, stupid government legislation, the trade offs that meant in terms of design and the pitch. There is also a typical feud with the council that lead to a move to nearby Glanford and thus the name of the new stadium, now the Attis Arena.

Even better there is the little bit about the floodlights being on “TELESCOPIC PYLONS RETRACTABLE FOR EASE OF CLEANING” The first retractable floodlights to appear on #Floodlightfriday? How many times could I have used that on a cold winter afternoon at Glanford to bore my mates to death during a lull in play?!

What’s perhaps most remarkable is that in these days of multiple clubs moving this was the first new ground move in 30 years in the Football league. As you can imagine this caused quite a stir with groundhoppers. Glanford has had a lot of criticism for being a box over the years but this article brilliantly explains why that was needed. Scunthorpe did enjoy a rise through the leagues in the new stadium during the Laws/Adkins era but the less said about the last decade the better. Perhaps the quote of the article is chaorman Graham Pearson dismissing pre-match entertainment “People have got other things to do in life than spend hours at a football ground” With Infantino’s stupid half hour break looming on Sunday this resonates..

In these days of instant reaction, social media bullshit and here today gone tomorrow podcast bilge this is a reminder of the type of great article we are missing out on with the decline of print. It’s well researched, not without some tongue in cheek humour, incredibly informative even at this distance and a great record of social history and the struggles of lower league clubs.

I’ll finish with these lovely shots of Glandford Park which make it look far more homely that it is but still, reading these words helps you to understand the choices that had to be made for it to live.

KEEP PRINT ALIVE!