Mediatizzazione del calcio e identità plurime: il caso della fanzine «Brigata Ultrà» di Perugia

Abstract

Beginning in the 1980s, the mediatization of soccer also manifested itself through the phenomenon of fanzines, instruments of information, but even more so of counter-information, dissonant and free voices. In this panorama, an original case study is that of the fanzine “Brigata Ultrà,” a folio of the eponymous group of supporters from Perugia’s north curve between 1994 and 2008. The “Brigata” has a strong territorial identity tied to a specific area of the city and with a political orientation dissonant with that of the Perugia curve: it is a “black” (i. e. right wing) group in a “red” curve (i. e. left wing). This composite identity takes on visible forms and manners that attract national attention. The group travels for years on away trips with a black bus recognizable by an eagle, a tricolor and a Grifo (the symbol of the city). Added to this is the frequent practice of physically following the Italian national team’s matches as well. The fanzine becomes the “voice” of the “Brigata” by proposing and nurturing, around soccer, multiple identities: that of the home neighborhoods, the one of the city, the one of the national, and the one of the politically right-wing oriented.