In bringing together his love of the game, appreciation of quality artwork and passion for writing, George Quraishi explains his inspiration behind Howler, and the release of issue 9.
One of the definitive magazines dedicated to soccer in North America, issue 9 of Howler profiles Boca Juniors’ veteran talisman Carlos Tevez, who’s won titles abroad and in his native Argentina. Featuring a broad range of topics, essays, humor and illustrations, this howler is anything but, and priced at $15, it’s a certain must-have for the footy fan with an eye of the World’s Game with an American perspective.
When sitting down with George to learn about the history of Howler and inspiration behind the most recent issue, he tells us how the publication originally came about. He explained that Howler started off as a project on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter in May 2012. Where himself and Mark Kirby, both established editors and avid soccer fans, wanted to express the beautiful game in a fresh and humorous approach.
“When Americans don’t get soccer, it’s because they don’t get the simple idea that soccer is about stories. Every game, every season, is a story. We wanted to make Howler because we wanted to tell stories about soccer” George explains.
Initially searching for a goal of $50,000, the Kickstarter campaign ended with the mark smashed, as 1,441 backers contributed over $69,000 by July 4. The magazine launched its first issue that fall and is now an annual quarterly publication; running four issues a year.
Fast forward three years and Howler has released their most impressive issue to date. Along with Tevez as the cover story, issue 9 has pieces on young Americans abroad and the phenomenon of bald goalkeepers for the US Men’s National Team. A broad range of international topics such as the emergence of Icelandic soccer, whether democracy hurts Brazil’s national team and more are also in this issue.
It doesn’t end there. George tells us that one of the most exciting projects he is currently working on is featuring a weekly podcast hosted by Howler. Be sure to tune into “Dummy” and “The Mixed Zone” both podcasts about soccer hosted by Howler mag!
You can purchase issue 9 or previous issues of Howler here. While your at it be sure to check out the WorldSoccerShop official spread and let us know what you think!
