It was a pleasure (and a slight surprise) to be asked to write a brief intro/history into Give ‘em Beans.

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I think it best to start at the beginning and ask ‘Why create ‘Give ‘em Beans’’?

Give ‘em Beans, like many other football fanzines, came about as a response to the problems that football and society were facing in the mid-eighties. Fanzines, such as Beans, were proudly DIY & nearly always self-published - they attempted to give voice to the thoughts and feelings of somewhat disenfranchised football fans. 

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In many ways they were an attempt to challenge football myths about what football was and to amplify the thoughts of football-obsessed fans, from whatever level of football. One of the strengths of fanzines were that they levelled the field - quality, funny, provocative fanzines often came from the lower reaches of the football pyramid.

 

Fanzines were created by and created for honest to goodness football fans.

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The as yet untitled fanzine was the brainchild of socially and culturally aware duo Robbo and Clarkey (who both still attend matches) who quickly enrolled football nerds Al Casey (sadly who is no longer with us) & myself – along with contributors Dale and Nick.​

 

It was good core of people who also turned their hands to collating & putting each fanzine together (arduous!!), selling (often pleasurable) and engaging with fanzines across the nations (fraternity!)

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Joining with and learning from others was a key factor – great relations were made with the likes of Bradford City, Merthyr Tydfil (the excellent ‘Dial M for Merthyr’), Dundee, Boston Utd, Darlington among many!

And the name?

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The name came from a postcard (those were the days!!) sent from Robbo to me from mid-Wales where he had relocated for work reasons which featured a Victorian cartoon football scene. The referee was lying prostrate while the footballers laid into him (early VAR, you might say) one of them kicking the poor ref while another shouted ‘Give him Beans!!’ And there you have it.

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The fanzine was tongue-in-cheek, humble but always honest – just like Barrovians – it was always very able to laugh at itself and not to ever take itself too seriously. We were, after all, Barrow AFC!

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On reflection, we timed the start of the journey just as the team (mostly Furnessians) embarked on the glory days which culminated in that never-to-be-forgotten trip to the twin towers. Offshoots of the fanzine included t shirts, masks, a football team (Give ‘em Beans FC obv) and away match trips – which sometimes got messy!

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Grand days indeed with some proper grand people – some sadly, like Alan Casey, no longer with us.

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A personal memory if you’ll allow – I was studying to become a nurse in the nineties and was still involved in G’eB and, living in Lancaster, often encouraged to make deliveries of G’eB to stockists – one, the excellent SelectaDisc in Nottingham, stocked and sold our fanzine. I befriended one of the guys who worked there – interestingly now almost 35 years on we live in nearby villages here in Scotland, are both artists and remain great friends – Rich is ‘a Pie’ a Notts County fan.

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The power of the fanzine – a force for good.

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I wish the ‘new’ Give ‘em Beans all the very best for, as the fans forum says – ‘We’re all Barrow AFC aren’t we’!?

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Phil McMenemy

One of the Give 'Em Beans founding fathers 
 

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