Blog Review - 'Who Ate All The Pies'

In the first session we started by looking at a number of blogs, in particular looking at their use on the web and our opinions on whether it qualifies as journalism. Naturally, I looked at a football blog, and a rather good one at that.


Who Ate All The Pies is a 'Shiny Media' blog all about football. The name obviously derives from the well known terrace chant (now often heard being sung at Wayne Rooney), thus immediately creates a connection with the fans of the game. The blog seems to be written by a number of writers, under the collective alias of 'pies', which is a nice touch, and gives the blog a sense of identity.

'Pies' is more of an up-to-date, interactive fanzine than a blog, and I think this works really well. True fans of the game often eagerly await the issue of their team's new fanzine, and with Pies, you get an instantly accessible online version that looks at the world of football through the eyes of the fans.

Everything a football fan thinks about, talks about, or wants to know about can be found on this blog. From video compliations of great goals, football funnies of howlers or Peter Crouch rapping, to post match 'tongue-in-cheek' analysis or amusing, but honest reviews of new boots and kits, everything is here. Hay, there's even a quiz! Can't be bad.

It's use on the net, from a football fan's perspective is invaluable. It forms a centre-piece of content that many a fan could read, watch and comment on for hours. Focusing not only on the pitch activities, Pies looks at football past and present, to moments and memories that all fans love to remember (or should remember) about the game.

Through YouTube videos, the blog can comment on events and allow the reader to see them first hand, even if he/she had previously not seen what had happened. Therefore we see the benefit of intereactivity that Pies holds, when compared to other less interactive blogs, or the print media.

All in all, Pies is a great blog, and although has the backing of a large company such as Shiny Media, it is an example of how football blogs should be done. Yet does it qualify as journalism? Well... yes! It's citizen journalism written by fans for the fans. Although there is alot of content such as the friday quiz and general rants that you couldn't class as journalism, most of the content you can.

There was even a piece posted about Man Utd midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo picking up a recent speeding fine. This was news I had not heard anywhere else, and as an avid reader of newspapers, news sites, and football sites I found this quite astonishing. An 'exclusive', probably not, but still, they told me and probably a number of others FIRST, and for a blog to do this is quite remarkable. This is but one example of how the power of blogs is starting to change the outlook on journalism forever.