Is it a book? Is it a magazine? It's both.. and neither

December 19, 2011 2:37 AM

The Blizzard is a quarterly football (soccer) journal that covers an eclectic range of subjects which don't usually receive much mainstream coverage. Issue 3 is out, and features, among other things, articles on the demise of Spartak Moscow, a World War One internment camp that shaped the development of the game in Europe, how nationalism shaped the rise and fall of Beitar Jerusalem and how Dawson's Creek explains modern football. It is edited by Jonathan Wilson, of "Inverting The Pyramid" fame, and it's writers include Tim Vickery, Barney Ronay and Gabriele Marcotti.

If you're feeling rich, it's available in dead-tree format, but also as a download (pdf, mobi or epub). At nearly 200 pages, each issue is more like a book than a magazine. And although there is a suggested price of £3 for the download, you can pay whatever you like for it.

posted by salmacis (7 comments total)

I love the Blizzard. All three dead tree issues are currently in a small pile awaiting the start of the Christmas break and my proper attention.

A friend described it, accurately, as "The 'When Saturday Comes' Quarterly", in reference to the magazine, not the movie.
posted by athenian at 3:56 AM on December 19, 2011

Excellent. I'd never heard of this and now I have a pile of reading to do. Also recently discovered as providing decent football writing online: The Run of Play.
posted by Hartster at 4:51 AM on December 19, 2011

Cool, will get the digital versions for some holiday reading.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:33 AM on December 19, 2011

It's a great magazine; I just wish the international shipping rates weren't so ridiculous (7 pounds per issue to Canada, on top of the minium payment of 6 pounds for the hard copy!). Would prefer print over digital, but that's a crazy price to pay for a magazine. Guess I'll have to stick to digital for now.
posted by modernnomad at 6:06 AM on December 19, 2011

Oh Lord... the Run of Play. If you haven't read the Pro Vercelli Football Manager series from RoP, you are seriously deprived and must go spend this holiday monday (on which you weren't going to get any work done anyway, let's be honest) giggling to yourself about the imaginary antics of imaginary football players inside of a spreadsheetvideo game. Also covered previously on MeFi.

The Blizzard sounds awesome as you've described it. I wonder if I can get anyone to get me this last minute for Christmas...
posted by Inkoate at 6:37 AM on December 19, 2011

The Blizzard sounds awesome as you've described it. I wonder if I can get anyone to get me this last minute for Christmas...

I believe it's still pay-what-you-want for a download. That said, I'm sort of rueing not asking my grandad to bring me a hard copy, as shipping to North America costs an arm and a leg.
posted by hoyland at 7:14 AM on December 19, 2011

I felt like a sucker when I subscribed to the hard copy the first time I saw Jonathan Wilson tweet about it. Yeah, it's expensive to get in the US but I'd say it's worth it. The digital subscription is pay what you want, and the PDFs are quite nice.

Every quarter when I get my print version in the mail it's a special day. Opening up the packaging, leafing through the pages, and just getting excited from all the interesting articles. I'd be kicking myself now if I didn't subscribe. I like to refer to it as my "posh football journal." Nobody's allowed to borrow it.
posted by kendrak at 8:33 AM on December 19, 2011