Match magazine
Encyclopedia
Match! is a weekly British football
magazine aimed at the teenage and pre-teenage market. First published in 1979, the magazine has a circulation of 57,108 as of December 2010. The magazine includes interviews, a skills school, quizzes and a weekly round-up of results, tables and player ratings from the four main English divisions and the Scottish Premier League in MatchFacts. It mostly covers teams and players in the English Premier League, but also has a limited coverage of La Liga
, Serie A
and international football.
was the first cover star of Match and supported the magazine with his column, Learn To Play The Keegan Way. The first issue came with an 80-page sticker
album and included columns by Tottenham star Ossie Ardiles, Manchester United's Steve Coppell and Nottingham Forest manager, Brian Clough. Later columnists included David Platt, Mark Bright
and Ryan Giggs
.
In March 1980, Match launched its first Matchman Of The Month contest. The award, based on a player's match rating, was won by Ossie Ardiles. He pipped Trevor Francis to the title and won £100. Matchman Of The Month now has no financial reward.
On its launch in 1979, the magazine initially failed to catch the dominant circulation of its main weekly football rival, Shoot. In the mid 1990s the magazine was successfully revitalized and relaunched by Chris Hunt
, an editor with a wealth of experience in teenage music and sport magazines. Under his editorship Match was transformed, finally overtaking Shoot to become the biggest selling football title in Britain, with its weekly sales peaking at 242,000 during this period. This not only marked the highest point in the magazine's sales history (a record that still stands), but the high watermark of the British football magazine market in the 1990s. In the face of such market dominance by Match, during this period many of its rival titles either closed or, in the case of Shoot, changed frequency to monthly. Shoot finally closed in June 2008.
In February 2008 it became apparent that Match would once again face fresh circulation challenges when it was announced that the BBC would be launching Match Of The Day
magazine into the weekly football marketplace. After a fierce marketing battle, Match Of The Day
finally overtook Match as the UK's biggest selling teenage football weekly for the period Jan-Dec 2010. Matchs current average weekly circulation of 72,861 is 15,753 down from its figure of 12 months earlier., while despite also recording a falling circulation, Match Of The Day
overtook Match with average sales of 58,447.
Four Four Two magazine has now become the biggest-selling football magazine in the UK, selling 90,077 copies but aimed at an adult sports audience.
While Match remains a strong brand in the teenage football magazine market, its circulation seems unlikely to again reach its 200,000-plus heights of the mid 1990s.
A number of notable football journalists have started their careers at Match, including Mark Irwin of The Sun
, Hugh Sleight of FourFourTwo
, Paul Smith
of The Sunday Mirror, Ray Ryan formerly with The News of the World Adrian Curtis formerly of the "Mail On Sunday", "Evening Standard
" and "The Press Association" and Rob Shepherd.
Match Also have a website on which has competitions, games, videos and a message board. Some well known message board members are;
Lanny,DvD, Idy4Lyf,Mizlo,FartFace and much more.
, it featured the fictional adventures of retired footballer Harry Cannon who emigrated to Australia after being dealt a lifelong ban for bribery in football. His ban was lifted but was unaware until Martin Tyler
ran into him during England's tour of Australia in 1983. He moved back to England following this and became manager of fictional Second Division side Stanton Town taking his two footballing sons with him.
The strip was Roy of the Rovers
in style but it featured real life players and teams of the time, with the exception of Stanton Town and its players (although the players were signed from real life clubs). The plot involved not only his rebuilding of the fallen from grace club but the fictional bribery scandal from years past. The two-year run ended with Stanton winning the old Second Division and a gun pointed at Harry's head from a long range marksman uttering the words "This is the end for Harry Cannon".
In 2011, comic strips returned in this comic, in a Match Xtra comic. The strips were: *Moneybags United Strip about a newly-rich promoted team who are always trying to sign Lionel Messi
. *Galaxy Wanderers Team with not-so-super powers, who play in space, and have a tough manager. *Match-Man! Match's very own celebrity footballer, who hangs out with the lads. This is the most popular strip. *Footy Crazy! Similar to Match-man, but with a group of reporters who have to work out the crazy behind-the scenes action. *Jeff the Ref! The worst referee in Match-town! Will send anybody off. *Rafael van der Faart! Rafael van der Vaart
finds his special fart-power is very useful. *Felli's Fro Maurouane Fellaini cant cope with his hair. *Lionel Messy Not just the best, but the smelliest footballer in the world. Similar to Smudge
out of The Beano
. *Robert Hoof Robert Huth
and his pesky foot. *My Biography A short biography of a footballer. *Wayne's Brain It would appear that Wayne Rooney
only wants to be alone in his posh mansion. The comic isnt in the magazine at the moment, but Moneybags United, Footy Crazy!, Jeff the Ref, Rafael van der Faart and Felli's Fro still appear.The known artists are Kev F Sutherland, and Shaun McGarry.
All of the strips were brand new, apart from Match-man! (which is out of series at the moment), Footy Crazy! and My Biography.
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
magazine aimed at the teenage and pre-teenage market. First published in 1979, the magazine has a circulation of 57,108 as of December 2010. The magazine includes interviews, a skills school, quizzes and a weekly round-up of results, tables and player ratings from the four main English divisions and the Scottish Premier League in MatchFacts. It mostly covers teams and players in the English Premier League, but also has a limited coverage of La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
, Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
and international football.
History
Match magazine was launched on 6 September 1979, at a cover price of 25p. The original editor was Mel Bagnall. Kevin KeeganKevin Keegan
Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE is a former international footballer and former manager of the England national football team and several English clubs, most notably Newcastle United....
was the first cover star of Match and supported the magazine with his column, Learn To Play The Keegan Way. The first issue came with an 80-page sticker
Sticker
A sticker is a type of a piece of paper or plastic, adhesive, sticky on one side, and usually with a design on the other. They can be used for decoration, depending on the situation. They can come in many different shapes, sizes and colours and are put on things such as lunchboxes, in children's...
album and included columns by Tottenham star Ossie Ardiles, Manchester United's Steve Coppell and Nottingham Forest manager, Brian Clough. Later columnists included David Platt, Mark Bright
Mark Bright
Mark Abraham Bright is a former English footballer who is now a sports pundit and BBC London's sport presenter, as well as a coach at Crystal Palace....
and Ryan Giggs
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for Manchester United. Giggs made his first appearance for the club during the 1990–91 season and has been a regular player since the 1991–92 season...
.
In March 1980, Match launched its first Matchman Of The Month contest. The award, based on a player's match rating, was won by Ossie Ardiles. He pipped Trevor Francis to the title and won £100. Matchman Of The Month now has no financial reward.
On its launch in 1979, the magazine initially failed to catch the dominant circulation of its main weekly football rival, Shoot. In the mid 1990s the magazine was successfully revitalized and relaunched by Chris Hunt
Chris Hunt
Chris Hunt is a magazine editor, journalist and author. He has worked in journalism for over twenty years, most often writing about football or rock music. He was managing editor of Match from 1993 to 2001, a period that saw the weekly title become Britain's biggest selling football magazine...
, an editor with a wealth of experience in teenage music and sport magazines. Under his editorship Match was transformed, finally overtaking Shoot to become the biggest selling football title in Britain, with its weekly sales peaking at 242,000 during this period. This not only marked the highest point in the magazine's sales history (a record that still stands), but the high watermark of the British football magazine market in the 1990s. In the face of such market dominance by Match, during this period many of its rival titles either closed or, in the case of Shoot, changed frequency to monthly. Shoot finally closed in June 2008.
In February 2008 it became apparent that Match would once again face fresh circulation challenges when it was announced that the BBC would be launching Match Of The Day
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
magazine into the weekly football marketplace. After a fierce marketing battle, Match Of The Day
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
finally overtook Match as the UK's biggest selling teenage football weekly for the period Jan-Dec 2010. Matchs current average weekly circulation of 72,861 is 15,753 down from its figure of 12 months earlier., while despite also recording a falling circulation, Match Of The Day
Match of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
overtook Match with average sales of 58,447.
Four Four Two magazine has now become the biggest-selling football magazine in the UK, selling 90,077 copies but aimed at an adult sports audience.
While Match remains a strong brand in the teenage football magazine market, its circulation seems unlikely to again reach its 200,000-plus heights of the mid 1990s.
A number of notable football journalists have started their careers at Match, including Mark Irwin of The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
, Hugh Sleight of FourFourTwo
FourFourTwo
FourFourTwo is a football magazine published by Haymarket. Published monthly, costing £4.50, and at about 164 pages long, it published its 200th edition in February 2011...
, Paul Smith
Paul Smith (journalist)
Paul Smith is a leading British football journalist, currently chief football writer of tabloid newspaper The Sunday Mirror. He is a former British Sports Reporter Of The Year...
of The Sunday Mirror, Ray Ryan formerly with The News of the World Adrian Curtis formerly of the "Mail On Sunday", "Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
" and "The Press Association" and Rob Shepherd.
Match Also have a website on which has competitions, games, videos and a message board. Some well known message board members are;
Lanny,DvD, Idy4Lyf,Mizlo,FartFace and much more.
Comic Strips
From 1983-85, Match ran a weekly comic strip called "Cannon". Created and initially written and illustrated by Steve McGarrySteve McGarry
Steve McGarry is a British cartoonist whose work includes the comic strips Badlands, Pop Culture, Biographic, Kid City and Mullets....
, it featured the fictional adventures of retired footballer Harry Cannon who emigrated to Australia after being dealt a lifelong ban for bribery in football. His ban was lifted but was unaware until Martin Tyler
Martin Tyler
Martin Tyler is an English football commentator who was voted as the FA Premier League Commentator of The Decade...
ran into him during England's tour of Australia in 1983. He moved back to England following this and became manager of fictional Second Division side Stanton Town taking his two footballing sons with him.
The strip was Roy of the Rovers
Roy of the Rovers
Roy of the Rovers is a British comic strip about the life and times of a fictional footballer named Roy Race, who played for Melchester Rovers...
in style but it featured real life players and teams of the time, with the exception of Stanton Town and its players (although the players were signed from real life clubs). The plot involved not only his rebuilding of the fallen from grace club but the fictional bribery scandal from years past. The two-year run ended with Stanton winning the old Second Division and a gun pointed at Harry's head from a long range marksman uttering the words "This is the end for Harry Cannon".
In 2011, comic strips returned in this comic, in a Match Xtra comic. The strips were: *Moneybags United Strip about a newly-rich promoted team who are always trying to sign Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi
Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi is an Argentine footballer who plays for FC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team, mainly as a striker. Messi received several Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21, and won in 2009 and 2010...
. *Galaxy Wanderers Team with not-so-super powers, who play in space, and have a tough manager. *Match-Man! Match's very own celebrity footballer, who hangs out with the lads. This is the most popular strip. *Footy Crazy! Similar to Match-man, but with a group of reporters who have to work out the crazy behind-the scenes action. *Jeff the Ref! The worst referee in Match-town! Will send anybody off. *Rafael van der Faart! Rafael van der Vaart
Rafael van der Vaart
Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart is a Dutch footballer who plays for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Dutch national team. His preferred position is as an attacking midfielder; he can, however, also operate in other positions, such as second striker...
finds his special fart-power is very useful. *Felli's Fro Maurouane Fellaini cant cope with his hair. *Lionel Messy Not just the best, but the smelliest footballer in the world. Similar to Smudge
Smudge
Smudge is an Australian rock band. Its frontman Tom Morgan is better known outside Australia as a songwriting collaborator of Evan Dando and his band The Lemonheads.-History:...
out of The Beano
The Beano
The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
. *Robert Hoof Robert Huth
Robert Huth
Robert Huth is a German footballer who plays as a centre back for Premier League club Stoke City.Huth was signed for Chelsea from the youth system of German club Union Berlin in 2001 by then Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri. He joined Middlesbrough in 2006 and spent three years at the Riverside...
and his pesky foot. *My Biography A short biography of a footballer. *Wayne's Brain It would appear that Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team...
only wants to be alone in his posh mansion. The comic isnt in the magazine at the moment, but Moneybags United, Footy Crazy!, Jeff the Ref, Rafael van der Faart and Felli's Fro still appear.The known artists are Kev F Sutherland, and Shaun McGarry.
All of the strips were brand new, apart from Match-man! (which is out of series at the moment), Footy Crazy! and My Biography.