A while back I put a call out on Twitter hoping to connect with football fans in Cymru. Darren Jones of International Wales replied. We met at the gallery to discover we only lived a short distance from one another and that we shared some friends and acquaintances here in South Wales. International Wales is 'An Independent Publication For An Independent Football Nation' - a footy fan zine that was born out of Darren's passion for his beloved Cymru. The first issue was published in 2017 coinciding with the World Cup Qualifier between the Republic of Ireland and Wales.
It aimed to use the printed word to collectivise fans of the nation to stimulate (as Darren puts it on his website) - 'healthy debate in the hope that our national team go from strength to strength'. Yet for me it was the aim to make lots of new friends in Wales and beyond that I have found the most rewarding part of being involved with it.
Darren is currently taking a well deserved break from creating the zine so it seems a good time for me to thank him for encouraging me to submit my Cymru-inspired cartoons for inclusion in the last few editions. It also seems a good time to reflect on what being involved with this fan-led publication has given me personally and professionally.
My first cartoon was a homage to Wales' former manager Jimmy Murphy. I found him a great person to focus on because Jimmy was also assistant to Matt Busby - manager of Manchester United. Jimmy and Matt were both figures I had studied for my PhD exploring the commemoration of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster. Familiarity gave me a little bit of extra confidence to get stuck into my first piece of narrative football art. I could mention the Manchester connection but also explore Jimmy's connection to Wales in more detail. Jimmy being born near to where I now live was a real bonus and I was able to walk down to see the blue plaque on his former home in Pentre. This experience gave me the idea for my first comic 'A Walk in the Park' to be published in International Wales. It was the run up to the 2022 World Cup and the last time the team had qualified for the World Cup was in 1958. Jimmy was not on the plane that crashed in Munich in February 1958. The crash known as the Munich Air Disaster decimated the Manchester United team travelling back from a game in Belgrade. He had Welsh manager duties to attend to at the time - and perhaps being Welsh saved his life.
I've since gone on to create 7 4 pager comics for International Wales and each one has had it's own challenges, quirks and styles - but every single one has been a honour to create. The zine has had 37 issues - so I am definitely very much a new comer. I am in awe of Darren's commitment to creating an inclusive zine that truly embraces the knowledge, thoughts and opinions of the fans.
I've met some lovely people through being involved with the zine and I have definitely had my profile as a sports historian and narrative artist raised by it as well.
I have created work that celebrates Cymru legends like Terry Medwin (below) and tried to make women fans more visible through my zine cartoons.
I'm sad not to have a deadline to hit for the next issue but I completely understand the work and commitment that goes into creating a publication like International Wales. It is of course the fans that make it what it is - and buy it - but without Darren, the fan, project manager, writer, editor, postal monitor and publisher there would be no zine.
The landscape of Twitter has changed considerably over the last few months. When it was transformed into X - it still kind of looked like Twitter but it wasn't - and isn't. But I am grateful that the platform helped me to reach Darren and that he encouraged me to get involved with the zine. As the zine aims to help fans make friends - I can definitely say in my experience 'it does what it says on the tin'. I have more Cymru-loving friends than ever before and I remain a big fan of fan zines!
Darren Jones is a freelance web designer at 29Internet He specialises in website design and hosting for businesses and individuals. He is based in South Wales.
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