August 1, 2026
Thugs, books, and one wrong Bill
The Theater of Sport: Bill Buford Revisits Among the Thugs
A wild book about soccer violence had readers arguing, recommending, and making drummer jokes
TLDR: The article revisits Bill Buford’s deep dive into violent English soccer fan culture and how that world helped define a fading era. In the comments, readers mostly skipped the outrage and turned it into a funny, affectionate Buford fan thread—plus one very memorable drummer mix-up.
Bill Buford’s Among the Thugs dives into one of the ugliest chapters in English soccer history: the era when match day could mean smashed streets, organized fan gangs, and national embarrassment. The article revisits how an American literary editor somehow went from polished Cambridge circles and running Granta to trailing Manchester United hooligans, far-right events, and World Cup chaos. It’s serious, dark material—but the comment section instantly did what comment sections do best: took a hard left into book-club energy, confusion, and comedy.
The funniest reaction came fast: one reader admitted they clicked thinking this was about Bill Bruford, the prog-rock drummer, and declared the thread a “bemused happy place.” That tiny mix-up became the mood-setter: half literary throwback, half accidental fandom detour. Then came the strongest opinion in the thread—a full-on Buford appreciation campaign. One commenter basically said don’t stop at this one: Among the Thugs, Heat, and Dirt are all worth reading, with Heat getting crowned the favorite, especially by anyone who’s ever survived a restaurant kitchen. That turns the discussion from “wow, hooliganism was brutal” into “wait, is Buford secretly a gateway drug for obsessive nonfiction?”
So the real drama here isn’t a flame war—it’s a classic internet pile-on of a different kind: readers bonding over mistaken identity, swapping recommendations, and turning a grim piece of sports history into a quirky, enthusiastic mini-fandom. Somehow, a story about riots ended up with the comments yelling: read more Buford.
Key Points
- •Bill Buford began following English football hooligans in 1984, including Manchester United’s ICJ, and later chronicled those experiences in *Among the Thugs*.
- •At the same time, Buford was building his literary career in England after arriving on a Marshall Scholarship and helping transform *Granta* into a major international journal.
- •The article links Buford’s reporting on hooliganism with *Granta*’s editorial interest in gritty subjects, including work on the Rolling Stones, the Philippines’ Snap Revolution, and American dirty realism.
- •The 1985 Brussels stadium disaster and resulting ban on English clubs in Europe are presented as part of the context for the decline of the era of football violence Buford documented.
- •In the interview excerpt, Buford says his interest developed after seeing a train full of chanting fans in Wales and was reinforced by attending a Tottenham Hotspur match with Salman Rushdie and Mario Vargas Llosa.