From the publisher:
West Ham United: From East End Family to Globalised Fandom is the story of the evolution of West Ham. It charts how a works football team was transformed into a club that represented east London's working classes, only to be transformed again in the late 20th and early 21st centuries into a global brand with supporters in every habitable place on Earth. Starting as the Thames Ironworks Ltd works team, they changed their name to West Ham United in 1900, shortly before moving to the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park.
For nearly a century they were supported by local working-class men from across the East End of London until a series of economic, social, cultural, geographical and technological changes brought the club a global fanbase. Through surveying West Ham United fan groups across the world, this book attempts to explain this phenomenon and to get a sense of what the club means to those who originally came from the East End, as well as to those who have no biographical connection to the area.
The author:
Jack Fawbert has authored chapters on football fandom in Leisure, Media & Visual Culture; The Bountiful Game?; Sport, Active Leisure and Youth Cultures; Serious and Casual Leisure; Race, Ethnicity and Football; Delivering Equality in Sport and Leisure and London 2012 and the Post-Olympics City. He has also written on football fan-related issues for journals and magazines including Football Business and Sociology Review.
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