Perry Boys Abroad

The Ones That Got Away.

If you thought the ‘casual’ culture was limited to fighting at football matches, think again. In his first book, Perry Boys, Manchester United fan Ian Hough chronicled the exploits of the original scallies and trendies of the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Perry Boys Abroad, he goes one step further, describing the long, crazy journey made by many of the same faces to exotic corners of the world. Terrace terrors, thrill-seekers, laborers, smugglers and grafters all hit the road, seeking out new fashions, new experiences, new drugs.

Numerous interviewees, including fellow writers Colin Blaney and Cass Pennant, tell their own stories of how Britain’s designer football hooligans colonised foreign lands and waged war on their rivals abroad. Others provide vivid tales of skulduggery, mayhem and the grafting of counterfeit designer clothes.

Hough experienced the casual revolution at firsthand, travelling for long periods and working with other expats in a variety of circumstances and cultures. Taking in the experiences of the post-rave Brits now living permanently in Australia, Thailand, America and Mexico, Perry Boys Abroad explores their lives, their adventures and their ultimate destiny as a dying breed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
IAN HOUGH is from Manchester. His first book, Perry Boys, tracked the casual hooligan trend from its origins on northwest England’s terraces. A regular contributor to the fanzine United We Stand, he currently lives in the United States.