viva st pauli

For any scouser, Hamburg is a special place. The German city is where Liverpool's most famous sons, the Beatles, took their first steps on the road to international stardom. In more recent years though, Hamburg has become a pilgrimage of sorts for thousands of football fans, some of whom may not even like the white album... Blasphemy, I hear you cry, how can anybody not like the white album!? Whilst I always struggle to understand how a person can fail to be impressed by the greatest LP of all time, I can see why thousands of people travel from all over the world to watch a football team that has spent only two out of the previous ten seasons in the top flight of German football.

Currently sitting in a relatively lofty 11th place in the Bundesliga, FC St Pauli have become something of a cult in world football. A club that used to attract a meagre 1,600 fans per game in 1981 were regularly pulling crowds of 20,000 by the late 1990's. The reasons for this exponential increase in popularity? Simple; In the birthplace of national socialism, FC St Pauli were the first club to officially ban all fascist symbols from their stadium. The club has even go so far as to incorporate anti-racist provisions into its constitution. The famous skull and crossbones is now closely associated with the club and its fans. In order to compete, St Pauli have to be like pirate raiders, battling against more established and wealthier clubs like Bayern Munich. 

In 2006, the club arranged a mini world cup for unrecognised nations, such as Tibet and Greenland. In 2010, FC St Pauli hosted a tournament for refugees who had recently arrived in Germany. Fan pressure has also resulted in the board of directors committing to never sell naming rights for the stadium, a move which is seen as vital in preserving the anti-commercial ethos of the club. Whilst re-enforcing the left wing credentials of FC St Pauli, these measures have taken their toll on the clubs ability to compete in the transfer market. The current strategy to solve this problem is to develop young local talent, and as a result, the current squad has only one foreigner in its ranks. The teams league position suggests the club could be onto a winner and many anti-fascist football fans from across the world will be watching, hoping that FC St Pauli can extend their stay in the Bundesliga.