Hamburg: St. Pauli - More than a Football Team

"Why have you come to Hamburg?" asked many of the young people I met on the Alternative Pub Crawl of St. Pauli on Thursday night just after flying in from London.

"I've come for the St. Pauli game" was my standard reply which produced an array of bemused and confused responses including the most popular "for a football match?" 

And there it was I suppose, a response highlighting the strange nature of my trip. I had travelled to Germany to see a second division team with a reputation of not being very good, at all. But I wasn't there just to see a football match or a football team. I was there to visit a football club, an institution and an ideology of how football should be done. 

St. Pauli is a unique club. Within the last few months I had read articles and a book on this club that had captured my imagination and encouraged me to cash in some air miles and travel to Hamburg and experience it first hand. 

St. Pauli are famous for having a left wing fan base which does not tolerate any form of discrimination. This reputation was forged in the late 1980's.   

"An alternative fan scene emerged, built around left-leaning politics, social activism and the event and party atmosphere of the club's matches. Supporters adopted the skull and crossbones as their own unofficial emblem. St. Pauli became the first team in Germany to officially ban right-wing nationalist activities and displays in its stadium in an era when fascist-inspired football hooliganism threatened the game across Europe". 

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_St._Pauli)

A good example of the club's outlook is demonstrated with this season's away kit which incorporates the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LBGT) rainbow flag in the kit itself (on the sleeves). They also ditched their normal shirt sponsor for one game this season in favour of replacing it with the message "No football for fascists". It was with all of this in mind that I wanted to visit the club and experience St. Pauli first hand. I managed to buy a ticket on-line with less than a week to go but note that demand is very high, even for this second tier club. Website here:

Arriving on Thursday for the Friday night game I booked myself on the Alternative St Pauli Pub Crawl (@AbroadHh on twitter) which as it turned out was the first one ever. A great 8 Euros spent with a great bunch of locals, tourists & students which visited a number of local pubs/bars located not too far away from the infamous Reeperbahn red light area. 

Game Day

I spent the morning taking a trip through Hamburg's docks on the river using the public boat service which was covered by my travel pass (Every 15 minutes the ferry number 62 travels from Landungsbrücken to Finkenwerder) and then visiting the St Pauli fan shop located on the Reeperbahn for some purchases. I then headed to the 'Millerntor' to collect my ticket before the rush later.  

The atmosphere pre-game outside the stadium was one full of happiness and beer drinking, purchases of Astra beer being very easy from the multitude of shopping trolleys full of them in the car park. As I edged closer to the ground I could hear punk rock music blaring out from the stadium and I could also see 2 large trucks collecting clothes and shoes for refugees. It was so encouraging to see the St Pauli's famous social activism in action. I nipped into the club shop and saw 'Refugees Welcome' tee shirts for sale too. Brilliant. 

Eventually I entered the Millerntor and was reminded about what English football used to be like. Non-stop singing all around the ground and flags being waved. You can even drink beer in your seat in the stadium and most people were. The people sat next to me were charming, a young man on one side of me and a mum taking her seven year old son to the Millerntor for the first time on the other. Not surprisingly, they could both speak English well and we chatted all through the game. With five minutes until kick off and most of the 28,000 (yes 28,000!) in their places, bells sounded and the teams were about to enter... to AC/DC's Hell's Bells no less. 

  
Unfortunately St. Pauli couldn't deliver on the pitch and somewhat surprisingly lost to a struggling Frankfurt team who totally deserved the 3-1 victory. But this was never about the result for me, it was about experiencing St. Pauli first hand. And its was good. Very, very good.