Rollins
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 454
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 Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:30 pm Post subject: Punks, prostitutes and football |
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http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/patricknathanson/november07/punksprostitutesandfootball.htm
| Quote: | Hamburg is a good place to be watching football at the moment.
Inspired by the goals of Ivica Olic, the creativity of Juventus target Rafaele van der Vaart and the grit of his Dutch compatriot Joris Mathisjen, SV Hamburg have done a fine job of hanging onto Bayern Munich's coat-tails at the top of the Bundesliga this season, narrowing the deficit to just one point after Bayern lost their unbeaten record to champions Stuttgart on Saturday. They even have a player called Zidan up front.
But to find the city's true footballing soul, you have to look a few miles down the road and a whole division below.
Situated in Hamburg's red light district, where the Beatles announced their arrival on the rock'n'roll stage, St Pauli are no ordinary club. Indeed, in recent years they have become a symbol of alternative German culture.
A colourful assortment of punks, prostitutes and anarchists fill the terraces and fans have adopted the skull and cross bones as the unofficial club badge. The club is run as a democracy, ensuring that supporters have a significant voice in what goes on.
Furthermore, St Pauli have taken an active role in political campaigns against the forced eviction of dockers and squatters from Hamburg's harbour area, as well as being the first club in Germany to ban racism in the stadium.
Advertising hoardings for a men's magazine were once even removed from the pitch-side after supporters complained about what they perceived to be the sexist representation of women.
The Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass, who last year spoke out against the growing commercialisation of football, has staged readings from his works inside the ground, while numerous German punk bands have penned songs about the club. Even the players' shirt colour of brown is unusual.
And St Pauli owner Corny Littmann is hardly the stereotypical football chairman. A prominent gay-rights activist and owner of a theatre on Hamburg's Reeperbahn, he has been known to dress up as a woman as part of his on-stage persona.
Despite mixed fortunes on the pitch, St Pauli regularly sell out their dilapidated 20,000 capacity stadium and boast more season ticket-holders than many Bundesliga teams; recent research put the number of St Pauli followers around the world at more than 10 million, which includes a Birmingham-based supporters' group made up of Villa, City and West Brom fans.
St Pauli's achievements do not stop at uniting fans from Birmingham's rival teams. Every week the stadium is opened to youths from Hamburg's large immigrant community so that they have a pitch to play on for free, while for the last 10 years supporters have been sponsoring a women's team in Nicaragua.
In addition, a project begun by the former St Pauli player Benjamin Adrion, who retired at the age of 25 rather than play for another club, brings clean water to schools in Cuba, where St Pauli once triumphed over the Cuban national team in a friendly.
So next time you're thinking of a city break with a spot of live football thrown in, take a chance on Hamburg. Where else could you find a club that celebrates its goals by blasting out AC DC's 'Hell's Bells'? |
No startling revelations here but wouldn't it be nice to be able to follow a professional football club which was setup "to some extent" to run like a democracy..  |
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