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How did FC St Pauli, a middle-ranking team in Germany’s Bundesliga 2, garner 11 million fans around the world? The answer has a lot to do with punk, politics — and the soul of football.
For those who don’t know what going to a football match is normally like, going to watch FC St Pauli is perhaps equivalent to getting on a plane where they’re playing the Ramones at full-volume, the air stewardesses are wearing leather jackets and ripped jeans, and the messages on the intercom are protests against capitalism.
In these days of highly corporatised all-seater stadiums, FC St Pauli is that unique. It’s a rainy Friday night, and I’m in the Millerntor Stadium, bang in the heart of Hamburg’s lively St Pauli district, known for its docks, its left-wing activism and for the infamous neon-hued Reeperbahn, the bustling street that forms the backbone of Europe’s largest red light district.
In the South Stand, with the team about to take on FC Köln in Germany’s second division, everything’s different to most grounds. There’s no advertising, just entire walls covered in quality street art; the loos are covered in punk and political stickers; just about everyone is wearing St Pauli’s iconic skull and crossbones emblem; and lots of people seem to be collecting money for something, whether it’s clean water for the developing world or a community playground. Before the game, as the crowd launches into the chorus of AC/DC’s Hells Bells, someone unfurls a flag reading “Refugees Welcome”, a reference to a recent fan campaign against immigrant stop-and-searches.
i grew up watching st pauli on the terraces from 8yrs of age onwards, to try and describe what attributed to turning st pauli into the club it is today in an article is pretty difficult. An important thing to remember is that at the time and even today the local rivals HSV have a large right wing following, youll find many that used to support HSV ended up supporting st pauli as they were put off by the skinheads at the HSV games. st pauli became a refuge for minority groups to watch football in comfort. its also important to remember that as football club st pauli it pretty much reflects the area of st pauli. i still go a couple of times a year and while the ethos has remained the same things have changed a bit. the gentrification that the st pauli charm and chic has attracted will gradually destroy the area.
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 15:01 - Jan 10 with 8111 views
St Pauli have brilliant marketing and co-opting the Jolly Roger means that their merchandising is excellent, but having visited Hamburg a few times and spoken with numerous St Pauli fans and non-St Pauli-supporting locals, I got the impression that they’re overwhelmingly the team adopted by middle-class folk from elsewhere who transplant to Hamburg.
If you want a proper, working-class-hero club with local support, representing a left-leaning working-class district, then get yourself down to Rayo Vallecano. Great club.
Fulham FC: It's the taking part that counts
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 16:04 - Jan 10 with 8075 views
St pauli is a proper, working-class-hero club with local support, representing a left-leaning working-class district, to say it isnt is ill informed and would make my grandfather a st pauli local born and bred turn in his grave. as for the comment about middle class folk i think youll find those at any club, i think youve spoken to the wrong people that have given you a completely inaccurate image of the club and its history. st pauli the area and the club have become very chic to some as they want to buy into the culture that surrounds it. the marketing has become a little sickening tbh, i remember when the club shop & ticket sales were based in a tiny container outside the club. you meet plenty of idiots in london walking about the place with st pauli stuff that arent even aware of the fact that its an area in hamburg or even a football club
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 16:39 - Jan 10 with 8043 views
Indeed I do. Whilst what Willis said was probably true once, it isn't so any more. At Hamburg Airport you can purchase as much St Pauli memorabilia as you can for the much bigger HSV. Oh, let's buy a trendy skull and crossbones t-shirt and perpetuate the myth. They've sold out, and many of their followers with 'principals' have switched to lesser Hamburg teams like Viktoria or Altona. None of my HSV friends have the surname Himmler to the best of my knowledge. If you want to see the other side of the coin, look up the huge Union Jack held up by HSV's home end when they played Celtic in the Europa League about four years ago. My bias is with Union Berlin, a very similar club, one place above St Pauli at present, originally East German, just as working class and easily as impressive, without all the bollox that comes with The Millerntor mob.
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 22:52 - Jan 10 with 7901 views
Are you sure your HSV friends aren't pulling your leg about many St Pauli fans switching to Victoria and Altona? Victoria's last home gate was 249, and Altona are in the league below and don't seem to publish their gates.
HSV are comically shit for such a big club. Having won the European Cup the year after Villa, they seem to be following the same course into blundering decline.
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 23:45 - Jan 10 with 7885 views
I saw St Pauli play at 1860 Munich in 1993.I've yet to meet a bigger bunch of smelly, unkempt , drunken arseholes in my life. But fair play to them for turning up in numbers with an 8 hour overnight train trip from Hamburg to Munich. !!! They arrive on the overnight train at 8am, have breakfast then hit the pubs all day. They had a 'fanfreundschaft' with 1860 and had those ridiculous half/half scarves with about 300 badges on denim jackets. There was a beer festival going on before, during and after the game !!! They then got the midnight train home arriving the following morning in time for breakfast. And we moan about 3 hour trips to Wigan ? !
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 02:21 - Jan 11 with 7839 views
For interests same ask your hsv friends about the old E block mob in the 80s and early 90s. Throwing bananas on the pitch, chanting "neger" at black players and the "asylanten" chant were pretty common.
German football isn't far behind turning into the prem and all of its ills, all that'll happen is that they'll try and control ticket prices to pacify the public. At the last st Pauli v Dresden game I was nearly in a position where I would've had to pay 50 euros for a seat to watch a second tier match that was on the box on a Monday night!!! In Germany the say not all that shimmers is gold, this is very true in respect to some peoples views on the bundesliga
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 02:42 - Jan 11 with 7836 views
That didn't come from my HSV friends. If you are chasing an idyll, especially In football, it is always going to be compromised. Your right Hamburg, like Schalke and Monchengladbach have been, on the whole, Shockingly poor for years, all still huge clubs. Chris, I don't think St Pauli & 1860 are friends any more, but St Pauli & Union are, this of course depends on which group of supporters you know. The Celtic link apart, I have nothing against St Pauli, I admire the premise on which they are based, but feel it has reached mythical status. Should I attempt to start a QPR / Union friendship? Or should I pick a club that will Definitely let you down?
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 02:58 - Jan 11 with 7835 views
In the '80's/90's no doubt. But now? St Pauli have a hooligan element too, as do Union, go against Dresden or if they ever play BFC Dynamo, who are still stuck in a pre unification era.
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 04:30 - Jan 11 with 7813 views
You could do a lot worse than Union - I live in Berlin, so they're the team I'll go and see here. Decent ground, great local support and usually a fantastic atmosphere despite the reassuringly poor football. St. Pauli games here are always packed and known for the great atmosphere. They appear to be the second team of a lot of Berliners, mainly due to their political history, but probably also because their fans have a reputation for smoking weed on the terraces and partying wherever they go.
There was a fair bit of trouble outside the ground last season - Berlin has it's share of knuckle-draggers too - but wherever St. Pauli go, the resident far-right contingent use that as an excuse to look for trouble. For this reason and a number of others, any association with BFC Dynamo is probably best avoided!
[Post edited 11 Jan 2014 4:31]
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 09:33 - Jan 11 with 7767 views
No. But shitbags in a shit town hoping that some glamour will rub off on them by associating with bigger and more violent groups elsewhere deserve contempt, don't you think?
[Post edited 11 Jan 2014 10:24]
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Good read - Punk, politics & football on 11:19 - Jan 11 with 7702 views
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