Rebellion: The Growth of Football's Protest Movement

by Dougie Brimson

One of the great joys of football fandom is that it provides the perfect opportunity to complain and make a point. For example, the referee was biased, the overpaid strikers hopeless, attendance poor, the tea weak and the pies inedible. That, for many fans, is a part of the attraction which football holds for them. Yet every so often, a situation will arise at a club where passive complaint is simply not enough - occasions where big business or individual greed set out to exploit those who walk through the turnstiles, where freedoms are curtailed or where incompetent management is ruining a proud legacy. Against these indignations, there comes a point when it is action and not words that are required. Rebellion is about those situations. Using anecdotes and interviews with the people at the heart of the movements, as well as ordinary fans, it examines many of the well-known protests

Genres: Soccer

288 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2006

About the author

In recent years, former serviceman Dougie Brimson has emerged as one of the most diverse writers in Britain.

Perhaps best known for penning the multi-award winning feature Green Street, his writing career began in 1996 when after 18 years service with the RAF, he co-authored the best-selling non-fiction work Everywhere We Go. A book that remains essential reading for anyone with an interest in the culture of English football.

A further 18 books have followed including the crime thriller The Crew which topped the Amazon sports book download charts for nine years following its publication in eBook format and the comedy Wings of a Sparrow which after a successful electronic release, was issued in print.

May 2020 saw the release of In The Know. The third book in The Crew/Top Dog trilogy involving Essex gang leader, Billy Evans. In The Know topped the Amazon political thriller charts in mar 2021.

In 2003 Dougie made the move into screenwriting first with the critically acclaimed short movie It’s a Casual Life and then with his first full length feature, the Hollywood funded Green Street starring Elijah Wood. Following its release in September 2005, the film won numerous awards including:

Narrative Jury Prize - SXSW Film Festival
Narrative Feature Audience - SXSW Film Festival
Best of Festival – Malibu Film Festival
Jury Award (feature) – Malibu Film Festival
Official Selection – Tribeca Film Festival

May 2014 saw the release of his second feature, an adaptation of his own novel, Top Dog. Directed by Martin Kemp (The Krays, Eastenders) the film took the 
Best Feature award at the British Independent Film Festival as well as the Best Actor (Leo Gregory), Best Supporting Actor (Ricci Harnett) and Best Supporting Actress (Lorraine Stanley) awards. It has also been nominated in the Best Action Film category at the National Film Awards 2015.

A third feature, the urban revenge thriller, We Still Kill The Old Way (starring Ian Ogilvy, James Cosmo, Steven Berkhoff and Danni Dyer) was released on 16th December 2014. It has been nominated in numerous categories, including Best Action Film at the 2015 Action Elite Awards.

Other film projects in development include adaptations of his comedy novels Wings of a Sparrow and Billy’s Log, Mister One Hundred (a biography of Welsh darts legend Leighton Rees), Boots on the Ground (a drama about a British soldier injured in Afghanistan) and Three Greens (a modern day reworking of the classic movie The League of Gentlemen).