Friday, October 4

Out with Kickabout and In with Kick!

It was a little late for inclusion in last Friday's blog entry and wasn't something I would of chosen to but I received an email from WSC (When Saturday Comes) who produced  Kickaround to say it was closing and that there would be no more issues.
By rights I'd of received October's which would of been issue 14 on Friday or Saturday and normally they'd of worked on for around two to three weeks.  

It launched in March of last year but took a hiatus in January  for a couple of months returning as Subscription only which meant I needed to make one with WSC as previously I'd bought from the Newsagents.
I did get my copy of Scouted, the Roy of the Rovers fictional reboot and had been enjoying reading Kickaround every month taking it away with me too because it covered not just the men's Premiership action but the other leagues such as the English Conference, Women's football and had found a way to write about the game that could hold boys attention while interesting girls who love the game too.
The bias was on the writing which was genuinely inclusive open to any reader without getting bogged down with gender politics and related activism plus it covered disability football very well which isn't something that normal is and indeed was missing from my actual childhood sadly.


They chose to keep way from cheap plastic tat freebies and those sticker albums that I recall from boyhood that in theory you were supposed to swap with mates but you ended up buying lots (and still had gaps!) but had things like charts to fill out and a world map, which was good for leaning Geography in a fun way.
This was issue 13, September's, sadly the last, looking forward to the start of season proper with young English Premiership players and the Women's Super League plus Faintly Athletic. the comic strip antics of a football team.

I'm looking at what alternatives there are as I don't wish for a full on 'adult' football magazine either by content (cuss words and the like) nor writing style as with my disabilities my reading ability is restricted although Kick!  magazine aimed at 6-12 year olds is a good substitute. 



This is more traditional boys own although it has a few girl readers and  I sampled the last copy - September's - that came out about three weeks ago from my newsagent having walked down in my grey school shorts and socks this week.
The writing isn't on a par with Kickabout which was exemplary being more like a mini essay with words that do stretch your vocabulary but is more text blocks set around images more akin to a comic strip, has a comic strip in which is  boys only and a number of free gifts that includes a football card game you can play plus a Premiership chart with push out figures you move across the week charting the various teams progress.
The fact it makes no concessions to gender equality in coverage of either the Women's Soccer League nor talks about girls playing puts it at odds with much of more PC inclusive children's media but I feel has its place.
It is a better fit for me personally and for boys who love their own space within the manosphere whereas perhaps there is a place for a magazine or section with a magazine aimed at girls that covers girls and women's soccer than the junior equivalents of celebrity obsessed 'OK Magazine' all froth and sickly sugary.  

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