1

Moin!

Welcome to November's 'Weisse Rose'

fanzine. What a difference a month makes.

Last month we were all concerned about the

threat of relegation and the team seemed

void of all confidence. Michael Frontzeck’s

arrival has sparked a complete turn around,

with seven points from his three league

games in charge, including our first away

victory since Duisburg in mid-February. The

team are playing with confidence again in all

areas of the pitch, shown in last weekend’s

victory against 1860 Munich. We created

plenty of chances, dominated the midfield

and looked solid in defence. Let’s hope this

upturn in form continues and we can push

into the top half of the table.

For the eagle eyed amongst you, you may

have noticed that we haven't had an October

edition of the fanzine. We decided that the

fanzine would be better coming at the start

of each month and covering the month

ahead, as opposed to at the very end of

every month. So this is the November

edition, which will review October and look

ahead to the month ahead.

This month marks a year since the first

edition of our fanzine. The first edition was 4

pages long, lacked a name and was basically

there to keep members informed about the

group and provide some basic reading

content for English FCSP fans. It can be read

in our achieves here. The newsletter, as it

was then, used to take a couple of hours to

prepare, and now takes at least a few days!

The small newsletter has developed into a

fanzine, and hopefully provides a real insight

for English-speaking fans.

I and fellow Yorkshire St. Pauli member Luke

spent the last week in Germany, taking in

the home game against Dresden, followed by

the cup game in Stuttgart. We also met up

with another of our members, George who

had departed for Hamburg a day earlier, and

we had the pleasure of meeting some

excellent people. One of the best parts about

running the fanclub on a daily basis is the

interaction with other fans, meeting St. Pauli

fans from all around the world.

On our trip we had the pleasure of meeting

the Catalunya supporter group, along with

some of our Hamburg based members and

several people who had followed us via social

networking and were amazed that their local

football side had a large following from

England. It was brilliant to interact with

everyone we met, sharing experiences of St.

Pauli, stories of how we became involved in

following the club and also learning from

those who live and breathe the club. One of

the main things I learnt on the trip was just

how vital the club is to the local community,

it isn’t just a football club, it’s a way of life

for many.

During one of our recent streams we also

had a short presentation by Mick Totten, a

Sankt Pauli fan and lecturer at Leeds

Metropolitan University, who has recently

published research from the fans of St. Pauli.

We asked Mick about his research and

findings which can be read later in the issue

You can also see the findings at

www.playleftwing.org.

As always, I hope you all enjoy the fanzine.

A huge thanks to everyone who has

contributed to the group and the fanzine in

the past year. Yorkshire ist Braun Weiss!

Scott

Editor

A year on.

Contact Us: Twitter Facebook Yorkshirestpauli.com

2

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

A quick look at the news from our fanclub and the fan scene. 3

OCTOBER REVIEW

A review of the games since the last issue, which saw 7 points from 9 in the league. 4

OBTAINING TICKETS

A guide on the best way for overseas fans to obtain tickets. 6

WEISSE ROSE? AN EXPLANATION

An explanation of the name of our fanzine, which means slightly more than the German 7

2.BUNDESLIGA REVIEW

A review of the past month in the league from a lower league football expert. 8

PLAY LEFT WING

An interview with university lecturer and St. Pauli fan Mick Totten on his recent research 9

HOMAGE FROM CATALUNYA

A review from a St. Pauli fan following his recent trip to Hamburg, which saw him meet up 10

MEETING FLO.

An interview with former St. Pauli player Florian Lechner, now plying his trade in the MLS. 13

SECURE STADIUM EXPERIENCE?

An opinion piece on the recent proposals by the DFB. 15

Contents Click the numbers to go to a particular page

3

Our fanclub has reached the milestone of

50 members, which is incredible given

that our fanclub only started around 18

months ago. A huge thanks to all those

who have helped us and registered as

members!

Fanclub correspondence over the last

month has been dominated by the

“secure stadium experience” and

responses from various sources within

the fanscene. More of that later, but first

just a mention for an agreement between

the Fanladen and Meininger Hotels.

Meininger is a small chain of budget

hotels/hostels, with a property in

Hamburg Altona. If you make a booking

using the password "Millerntor", you will

get a 10% discount off the prevailing

daily rate at Meininger hotels. This offer

is bookable by:

Phone: +49 30 666 36 100

Fax: +49 30 666 63 222

e-mail: welcome@meininger-hotels.com

Sadly, you can't use this offer for on-line

bookings. Most importantly!!!!! At the

end of the season the Fanladen gets 10%

commission on all bookings made in this

way!

For the home game against Dresden the

gay and lesbian fanclub “Queerpass St

Pauli” celebrated 10 years with the

unveiling of a new flag on the

Gegengerade and the motto “St Pauli ist

bunt (colourful)”. The actions of

Queerpass have been well-supported by

other fans in the past, but their intention

is that ALL fans fight against the

discrimination of gays and lesbians. For

more information, take a look at

www.queerpassSanktPauli.de

And so back to safe stadia. We are

pleased to report that Sandra Schwedler

from the Fanladen articulated many of

our frustrations in an article in the left-

leaning TAZ newspaper. We recently

made our own statement on this subject,

which is here incase you missed it:

We at Yorkshire

St Pauli feel

compelled to add

our own

statement to the

excellent

response from

the fan

committee, as we

know more than

most about the

potential end

results, having

lost our own fan

culture in the

generation since the Taylor Report

changed the face of football forever in the

UK. We follow St Pauli for many reasons,

but one of the great joys is the

community atmosphere of the matchday

experience. That includes standing

terraces, fan culture, affordable tickets,

being able to enjoy a drink or a smoke,

waving flags, jumping up and down and

generally enjoying the spirit and

community of like-minded people.

Should the ideas within the “Secure

Stadium Experience” come to fruition,

then we in the UK already know the worst

case scenario. All-seater stadia, soulless

atmosphere, high ticket prices, no fan

culture (because the real fans have been

priced out of the game), and

megalomaniacs in bright yellow jackets

telling you to sit down the minute you

start to enjoy yourself. This is why many

UK football supporters travel to German

games (not just St Pauli), but the DFB

and the DFL are in danger of repeating

history.

So here’s a stark warning from a UK-

based official FCSP fanclub – we have lost

our fan culture in the UK through

measures like these; don’t let the

authorities take away everything that

makes German football vibrant and

exciting.

St Pauli is the only option!

Rob.

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS.

UPCOMING STREAMS

Sunday 25th November from 4pm

FCSP v Duisburg

Saturday 1st December

from 4.30pm

FCSP v Kaiserslautern

Sunday 9th December from 4pm

FCSP v Aue

More info here.

4

Michael Frontzeck's reign at St. Pauli got

off to a positive start after a good

performance in Paderborn. Frontzeck

opted to revert the formation back to 4-2-

3-1, with the starting line-up as follows:

Team: Tschauner – Kalla, Avevor,

Thorandt, Schachten– Kringe, Funk –

Gogia, Bartels, Schindler – Ginczek

St. Pauli started the game on the attack

from the first minute, and missed several

early chances. Ginczek hit the post inside

the first give minutes, and Paderborn had

hardly touched the ball. The pressure

continued until half time, with Paderborn

rarely mounting any serious attack and

St. Pauli looking comfortable, however the

game was goalless after 45 minutes.

St. Pauli's pressure was rewarded though

shortly after the restart, when Ginczek

headed in superbly from Kringe's cross. It

was the very least that Frontzeck's men

deserved. However, the goal brought a

reaction from the home side, who

introduced Deniz Naki on 59 minutes.

Inevitably, a great goal from Naki gave

Paderborn the equaliser. Several one-two

passes put Naki inside the box, and he

finished calmly past Tschauner. St. Pauli

rallied late on, and were denied twice by

the Paderborn goalkeeper Kruse in injury

time. It was the best performance of the

season from the boys in brown, and

despite St. Pauli still remaining 17th in the

table there is a lot to be encouraged

about.

OCTOBER REVIEW: HELD IN PADERBORN.

DRESDEN DEFEATED.

Frontzeck's first home game in charge

was nothing short of spectacular. Having

gained a solid point in Paderborn, St.

Pauli welcomed Dynamo Dresden to the

Millerntor.

Team: Tschauner – Schachten, Avevor,

Thorandt, Kalla – Boll, Kringe –

Schindler, Bartels, Gogia – Ginczek

The players were greeted by a mass of

shredded paper and till roll from the

South Stand. Unfortunately, St. Pauli

weren't as energetic as the pre-match

display, and soon found themselves in

trouble. Dresden had attacked with pace

during the opening stages, particularly

down the left wing with Ouali who was

causing Kalla problems. It was this battle

that led to the opening goal, with Ouali

beating Kalla and slotting the ball under

Tschauner to give Dresden the lead on

18 minutes.

St. Pauli had struggled to get into the

game, and sloppy passes and poor de-

fending played a huge part in Dresden's

second goal ten minutes later. Poté got

on the end of a cross and poked the ball

home from close range after some St.

Pauli failed to clear the ball.

St. Pauli were struggling, and Dresden

could have added a third shortly after.

But the home side finally found their feet

as half time approached, and after a bit

of pressure and some half chances, they

pulled a goal back right on half time. It

was captain Boll leading the fight back,

he managed to control the ball inside the

area and hit a low drive that found the

net. 2-1 at half-time.

St. Pauli came out for the second half

with renewed confidence, and Avevor

levelled the match shortly after half time

with a great header from a corner. The

possession and momentum was now with

the home side, and suddenly it was 3-2,

Ginczek running onto a great pass and

giving the boys in brown the lead.

Having gained the lead, St. Pauli were

happy to see the game out and were

cautious in the later stages. Dresden

seemed stunned from the fight back

though, and struggled to worry St. Pauli.

The game ended 3-2, an excellent come-

back which sees Frontzeck's side out of

the relegation places and into 13th.

5

St. Pauli travelled to Stuttgart in round 2

of the DFB Pokal hoping to continue their

good run of form. But a number of injuries

meant the squad was depleted for the

trip.

Team: Tschauner - Kalla, Avevor,

Thorandt, Schachten - Bruns, Boll, -

Gyau, Bartels, Daube - Ebbers

St. Pauli started the game better than

their hosts, and looked comfortable in the

opening 10 minutes. But Stuttgart

gradually came into the game, and

showed their quality after 21 minutes with

two goals in less than a minute. A

comeback from two goals down seemed

somewhat less likely.

St. Pauli struggled to regain any

composure after the shock of the two

goals, and the game was all but over

before half time when Tamas Hajnal made

it 3-0.

The score however didn’t seem to matter

to the St. Pauli fans, who continued to

sing as if they were about to win the cup.

The second half was pretty dull (aside

from a flare in the away section), with

both sides accepting the result, but the

fans continued to enjoy themselves and

make the most of the long journey.

Unfortunately we can’t post youtube clips

within the fanzine, but here’s an excellent

guide (we think) from our website on how

to support your team, regardless of the

result. See here.

dfb pokal ist uns scheißegal

AN AWAY WIN!

St. Pauli travelled to Munich last weekend

to face 1860. Frontzeck made six

changes to the side who were defeated in

Stuttgart, many due to injuries sustained

in that defeat.

FC St. Pauli: Tschauner - Avevor, Mohr,

Thorandt, Schachten- Boll (32 Funk),

Kringe - Schindler, Buchtmann (89th

Daube), Gogia (Gyau 87th) - Ginczek

St. Pauli started the game well, and

should have gone ahead in the first two

minutes. A quick counter attack caught

the 1860 Munich defence sleeping, and

St. Pauli had a 4 on 3 oppurtunity.

Buchtmann got the ball caught between

his feet though and could only play it out

to Gogia, whose effort was saved by

Gabor Kiraly. The home side looked

shaky at the back, and Schachten and

Ginczek both went close.

Fabian Boll gave the away side a

deserved side though on 26 minutes,

with a low drive into the bottom corner

following a good headed assist by

Ginczek. Boll had aggravated an injury

though and was replaced by Funk shortly

after the goal. The momentum was still

with the away side though, and they were

unlucky not to have a second before the

break. 1860 had their first real chance

shortly after half-time, but a header from

Lauth hit the bar. The Lions were made

to rue that miss a couple of minutes

later, when again the 1860 Munich

defence seemed to disintegrate. Former

St. Pauli player Moritz Volz inadvertently

flicked a header into the path of

Schindler, who crossed to give Ginczek a

simple finish.

There was little fightback from 1860

Munich, who were below par in all areas.

St. Pauli had the best chances in the

closing stages, with Ginczek missing two

good chances. They had also defended

brilliantly, and were compact in the

midfield area not allowing 1860 Munich

any chance to get back into the game. It

was a deserved 2-0 victory in front of

29,000 supporters, over 2,200 of which

were from St. Pauli. It is the first away

win for FCSP since mid-February. What a

difference a month makes...

6

We often receive requests from people

outside of Germany wanting advice on

how to apply for tickets for St. Pauli. So

here’s some ticket advice.

Obtaining tickets from St Pauli is a

relatively easy process, although demand

is often very high - particularly for the

more high profile games, and so supply is

limited. The club and the Fanladen (fan

project) are aware of the demand for

tickets from overseas fans, and are very

accommodating. They try to keep an

allocation for each game, specifically to

accommodate foreign fans. The Fanladen

receive a specific allocation of tickets for

home and away matches, and a proportion

of this allocation is kept specifically for

overseas fans.

Be aware that the Bundesliga fixture

system is complicated, with confirmed

dates and times of games announced in

blocks, which can be left up until a month

or so before the fixture. This can make it

difficult to plan trips to Germany in

advance, because games can be anything

from Friday night until Monday night.

There is no date given as to when the

confirmed dates will be given either, so

the whole thing makes it difficult for fans

wanting to plan trips in advance.

Home games:

Home game ticket information is often

posted on the club website when the

tickets are due to go on sale. Tickets are

usually available to be purchased online or

by phoning the ticket office, however

these will often quickly sell out particularly

in the more popular areas of the ground. If

you are travelling from abroad and want to

enquire about the availability of tickets the

best thing to do is to email the Fanladen

on info@stpauli-fanladen.de.

Also keep an eye on our website and

twitter feed, where we will keep fans

posted when fixture details are confirmed

and ticket information is available.

Away games:

For away games, the club divide tickets

into allocations, the Fanladen receives a

percentage of the allocation to distribute,

and then the away ticket office distributing

the rest. As an overseas fans, you can

either arrange a ticket via the Fanladen or

the away ticket office. If you contact the

Fanladen they will confirm your ticket (if

available) and arrange to meet you

outside the away ground before the game

to collect the ticket and payment.

Alternatively, you can contact the Away

ticket office. They will post the ticket out

to you for an additional cost, and take

payment via credit card. To acquire tickets

you can email the ticket office at

auswaertskarten@fcstpauli.com (in English

is not a problem if you can't speak

German). There is no deadline from which

you can send ticket requests, so get them

in as soon as possible, with each of the

following information:

Name:

Address:

Membership number: (if applicable, note

that members and season ticket holders

get priority over non-members)

Match: (state the match you want to

attend, note that each match should be on

a different email if you want to attend

more than one)

Tickets required: (state the number of

tickets you want, and also whether you

want them to be standing or seating

tickets - although the club often struggle

to offer standing tickets).

Payment details: (provide your credit card

number and expiry date, and the ticket

office should be able to charge your credit

card. If this is a problem, they will ask you

to do a bank transfer.)

Please be aware that St. Pauli is

against every form of discrimination

and against every form of racism,

sexism and hooliganism, moreover

against any kind of discrimination of

same-sex preferences and inclination.

Any form of discrimination is not

welcome.

OBTAINING TICKETS.

7

Ever read our fanzine and wondered

where the name came from? Well, on

one level it is the German translation of

“white rose”, the recognised emblem of

Yorkshire. Pretty apt, I reckon. Dig a

little deeper, though, and you’ll discover

a more significant meaning.

In the early 1940s a group of Munich

University students highly critical of the

Nazi regime, influenced by their

professor, formed under the name

“Weisse Rose”. Despite facing certain

death if caught by the authorities, during

1942/3 they managed to distribute

leaflets slamming the Hitler regime and

its policies of tyranny and mass murder.

Not only did they leaflet locally, but their

network managed to smuggle leaflets to

several German cities. Hans Scholl,

Alexander Schmorell and Willi Graf also

scrawled the words “Freedom” and

“Down with Hitler” on various Munich

buildings in 1942.

These were all acts of incredible bravery

and defiance at a time when all

resistance to the Nazi regime would have

been brutally snuffed out. Their activities

were eventually spotted at the university

and the Gestapo arrested the group’s

key members. The leaders of the group,

siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl, plus

Christoph Probst, were tried for political

offenses against the Nazi state on 22

February 1943. They were found guilty of

treason and were executed that same

day. In the months that followed,

Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf and

Professor Kurt Huber were also sent to

the guillotine. Two years later Hans

Leipelt received the death sentence for

his involvement in distributing the leaflets

in Hamburg.

Many would have considered their

resistance futile, but the last leaflet

was smuggled to the Allies, who air-

dropped millions of copies across

Germany. Weisse Rose members have

since become icons in Germany and in

one of those otherwise awful populist

votes, viewers of ZDF voted the Scholls

into fourth place in the list of most

important Germans of all time, ahead of

Bach, Goethe, Gutenberg, Bismarck and

Einstein.

Their resistance was certainly not futile

and in our own little way we are

remembering the group, their bravery

and their sacrifice here at YSP.

WEISSE ROSE? AN EXPLANATION.

“I knew what I took upon myself and I was prepared to lose my life by

so doing”.

Hans Scholl during his interrogation.

Monument to the "Weiße Rose" in front of the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

8

Eintracht Braunschweig’s unbeaten start to

the season shows no sign of slowing down

as they followed up an October of two wins

& a draw with an early November victory

over Sandhausen to pull 6 points clear at

the top of 2.Bundesliga. Their closest

challengers Kaiserslautern are the only

other team to still hold an unbeaten record

although they have drawn 50% of their

games so far.

Hertha Berlin have put together a ten game

unbeaten run but three draws in the last

five League outings has given the Berlin

fans some cause for concern. Cottbus keep

the two in their viewfinder but a run of just

one win their last five games has left them

eight points behind the leaders. In

Boubacar Sanogo they have a top class

goalscorer, the man from the Ivory Coast

already has eight League goals to his name.

FSV Frankfurt are keeping pace with the

leading pack. After a stutter which saw

them lose three out of four games they

have bounced back with two victories,

albeit against lowly opposition in the shape

of Jahn Regensburg & Duisburg.

Ingolstadt are proving a difficult side to

break down, they haven’t conceded a goal

in their last three outings which have

yielded wins over Aalen & Duisburg as well

as keeping Hertha Berlin at bay in the

Olympicstadion as they battled to a 0-0

draw last weekend. Aalen look to have got

over the loss of Kevin Kampl to Red Bull

Salzburg, after an initial slump following his

departure they have picked up some useful

points including wins over Koln & FSV

Frankfurt & a point against high flying

Cottbus with Martin Dausch particularly

impressive.

Down at the foot of table Duisburg remain

bottom but they picked up their first win of

the season against Cottbus & also beat

fellow strugglers Sandhausen as well as a

draw against Hertha Berlin which means

they haven’t become stranded at the

bottom & are very much within striking

distance of a clutch of clubs above them. A

run of four successive defeats & eight

defeats in nine games has put paid to Oscar

Corrochano’s reign at the helm of Jahn

Regensburg, many feel that despite the

poor run of form Corrochano, who has been

temporarily replaced by Sporting Director

Franz Gerber, wasn’t given enough time to

mould the team as he only joined in the

summer replacing Markus Weinzierl who left

to join Bundesliga side Augsburg. Bochum

are another side who have parted with their

Coach, the axe fell on Andreas Bergmann’s

head shortly after a 6-1 defeat in snow

covered Aue in a basement battle. Since

Bergmann’s departure Bochum have won in

the DFB Pokal against Havelse & came back

from the dead to draw with Cottbus, maybe

more encouraging times ahead for the

Blues?

St. Pauli are another side who have been at

the wrong end of the table & changed

Coach recently, this has certainly proved to

be the tonic that was required as under new

Coach Michael Frontzeck St Pauli are

unbeaten in three league games. They were

the better team for long periods in the 1-1

draw in Paderborn before a heroic

comeback from 2-0 down to Dynamo

Dresden in front of a bouncing Millentor

crowd & last weekend they became the first

to win in the Allianz Arena as Fabian Boll &

Daniel Ginczek grabbed the goals in a 2-0

win over 1860 Munich lifting St Pauli into

11th place. Dynamo Dresden are strongly

tipped to be the next team to change Coach

with Ralf Loose being called to an

emergency meeting following a

disappointing 2-0 home reverse to rivals

Union Berlin. Only a few days earlier

Dresden had performed heroically to take

Bundesliga side Hannover 96 to penalties

before finally losing.

Koln fans have witnessed some great

games in the past few weeks, following a

hugely disappointing start, until they were

beaten at Aalen on Sunday they had

climbed away from the foot of the table

thanks to a five game unbeaten run which

included a thrilling 3-3 draw with

Kaiserslautern & saw them come from 2-0

down at Jahn Regensburg with just three

minutes left on the clock to win 3-2.

Lee (aka @tiertwofooty)

2.Bundesliga review

9

What makes St. Pauli tick? Fan Power!

During one of our recent streams we had a

short presentation by Mick Totten, a Sankt

Pauli fan and lecturer at Leeds

Metropolitan University, who has recently

published research from the fans of St.

Pauli. Weiss Rose asked Mick about his

research and findings (you can see the

findings at www.playleftwing.org/).

How did you first get involved in St.

Pauli?

About twenty years ago I came across a

brilliant BBC2 film “Ace of Clubs” about the

amazing football club FC Sankt Pauli and

for about ten years all I did was tell others

about the film. Then in 2001 at the Anti-

Racist world cup in Italy I first came across

Sankt Pauli fans. They were very friendly

and invited me to go to a game which I did

and it blew me away; and going to the

place regularly ever since, its people still

inspire me.

What prompted you to conduct the

research and what was the main aim?

Other than lazy journalism which mostly

focused on terraces and beer and didn’t

really tell the full story of what was going

on, I realised very little was written in

English about Sankt Pauli fans, how they

think and what they do? Their politics and

activism were understated, so I thought I’d

pull a few favours and record the thoughts

of key fan activists who represented the

whole fan network there. And by

publicising the findings I hoped Sankt Pauli

would inspire more people and help us

learn from them how we can take more

control over our lives and use football to

fight for more a fairer more democratic

way of life.

What did you find out?

Few fans exert more control over their club

than those of Sankt Pauli, The fans are

prolifically active in making their voices

heard and in influencing the direction of

their club. Their appetite for organisation

and protest inside and outside their ground

is immense in their struggle to control the

club. And the sense of solidarity and

community identity this generates creates

a formidable and wonderful atmosphere at

their games. But how does all that

happen?

The research uncovered what goes on

behind the scenes and reveals the insider’s

view of how Sankt Pauli works? It exposes

the fan’s activities and their sometimes

fractious relationship with the club, and

how they are represented within it. It

shows how the fans are organised and

their leadership and decision making. It

explores how the fans use football as a

platform for community empowerment. Its

conclusions offer lessons for other fans and

organisations on how they can learn from

Sankt Pauli to achieve more democratic

community control? And by illuminating

how Sankt Pauli fans manage to be what

they are, and how they keep on doing

what they do, its findings will be helpful to

share with those who have an interest in

fan power.

If you could summarise the research

in one sentence, what would it be?

Sankt Pauli fans had to fight very actively

for everything they have and they

continue to do so with integrity, stamina

and imagination.

View “Fan Power; Calling the shots” at

www.playleftwing.org And if you like what

you see let others know about it too.

Play left wing

10

Homage from catalunya

Every trip to watch St. Pauli is different, yet

always equally brilliant. Back in May I was

over with my mate Shaun and we had an

incredibly time giving the old Gegengerade

the send-off it deserved and by drinking

Astra and jovially accosting the players as

they left the ground. In August, I ventured

over my own for the first round of the DFB

Pokal, experienced a heatwave and a bit of

old-school, lower-divison charm in

Offenburg.

Now, after a frantic end to the week, I was

back in Hamburg for less than 24-hours to

catch up on the progress of the new

Gegengerade, watch FCSP take on Dynamo

Dresden and meet with a host of great St.

Pauli folk I’ve got to know via twitter.

With my flight delayed, and going the long

way round on the U3 U-Bahn (its like the

Circle Line,) I didn’t make it to my hotel

(the excellently located and reasonably

priced Hotel St. Annen) until after 11.00pm,

having walked straight past it on a couple

of occasions. There was a crowd outside the

Jolly as I’d walked up from the station, and

before I’d even unpacked I’d had texts from

Scott from Yorkshire St. Pauli and Sönke

encouraging me to venture back out into

the night. However, showing my age, the

prospect of a decent night’s sleep and a

chance to finally read a copy of World

Soccer I’d bought a couple of weeks

previously was too much to resist, even

with the bonus of an hours clock change.

Oh, and I thought I’d been so clever here,

by negating to put the clock on my phone

forward an hour on arrival in Hamburg, so

that I wouldn’t then have to put it back an

hour again later that might (more of that

genius plan later.)

I woke up to a beautiful Hamburg Autumn

morning, pulling back the curtains and

opening the window I was greeted by a

wonderfully pale blue sky and a rush of cool

morning air (footage from the German

equivalent of Match of the Day the previous

evening had shown Freiburg and Dortmund

playing out their fixture in the Black Forest

through a blizzard of snow!) I’d woken

refreshed, and thinking I’d got loads of time

until my 10.45am rendez-vous with the

#FCSP twitter folk at the Jolly Roger. It

took a quick call home, and some

triangulation of time-zones via the internet

to realize that my phone had actually out-

smarted me and was had automatically re-

wound an hour to accommodate for the end

of British Summer Time. Thus it was

actually 9.30am not the 8.30am showing on

my phone. Man, it was confusing.

I’d wanted to get out and have a wander

around prior to meeting the others, mostly

to get a good look at the Gegengerade.

Before long I was out on an otherwise

deserted Heiligengeistfeld taking pictures of

the new stand. From the outside, it is pretty

impressive, if largely unlovable at the

moment due to its plain concrete exterior.

If I’m honest, I’m not sure about these

pyramid roof supports either (both

structurally – how the hell do the keep the

roof up? Or aesthetically, they give the

stand the appearance of an airport

terminal.) I also hope there’s a campaign to

keep the three remaining floodlights? They

are iconic, as important to the St. Pauli

skyline as the Bunker, the cranes on the

harbour or the TV tower. Of course, there’s

been good news too with the Goliathwache

looking likely to being externally sited,

rather than sharing the back-straight with

the Fanräume, Fanladen and the AFM. The

success of fans mobilizing under the banner

of the Jolly Rouge to ward off this particular

threat to the St. Pauli fanscene has been

almost the lone-highlight of an otherwise

dismal start to the 2012/13 season.

I got my photos of the Gegengerade

redevelopment (something I’ve been

following closely here) and made my way

back towards the Jolly. It wasn’t open yet

but there was already a number of

hungover looking people hanging about

outside. Looking more sprightly than most

(I think they retired to their hotel at a

sensible hour too) were the guys from

Catalunya unmistakable by the fact they

were carrying a couple of yellow, red and

blue Catalan flags. Before long, we were

joined by a slightly bleary-eyed contingent

11

from Yorkshire St. Pauli who’d been in the

Jolly the previous night until 4am (old

money) / 3am (new money.) The guys

exchanged fanclub stickers, and for my

part, I passed round what was left of the

Cherry Drops I’d bought at the airport the

day before.

As the Jolly opened we opted for a seat

inside (believe it or not, despite this being

my umpteenth trip to the Millerntor, it

was the first time I’d actually been in.)

We were then joined by Dave

from Swearing At Motorists and his son.

Before long, it was time to head down to

the Fanladen, see Stefan and pick up our

tickets. As we were leaving the Jolly I

collided with a couple of people I’d met on

my last trip over to the Millerntor in May,

who were out early looking for tickets and

drinking beer. These random happenings

all add to the haphazard, mental, yet

totally absorbing nature of matchday at

the Millerntor.

The morning held one more surprise. With

tickets sorted (thanks, as always, to

Stefan and the Fanladen) we headed over

to the AFM container to meet a genuine

FC St. Pauli legend, Michél Mazingu-

Dinzey. Having already done an interview

in ‘Weisse Rose’, and being a member of

the extended FCSP twitter family, he’d

volunteered to meet up prior to the game.

I’m not sure I’ve ever met a nicer, more

genuine footballer. He talked fondly of his

time at the Millerntor and his plans to

meet up with fellow ex-Paulianer Ian Joy

and Florian Lechner over in the States.

We even managed to get everyone

captured on camera in a group

photograph.

The morning had flown by, and before

long we were climbing the steps (rotated

through ninety degrees since my last

visit) of the Südkurve en-masse and

heading for the terracing. Since my trip

over at the end of last season, the

concourse under the South Stand had

been considerably pimped-up with some

great bits of St. Pauli art. They included a

tribute to Oz, and an amusing and apt

Rolling Stones pastiche, ‘Südkurve Rolling

Stoned.’ We took our places to the far left

side of the terrace (the opposite side to

my normal hang-out) so that Dave’s son

would have a fighting chance of seeing

the action, but not before I’d snuck off to

capture a few shots of the Gegengerade

as it filled up. Mighty impressive it looked

too. The three temporary TV towers,

currently restrict both numbers and the

view, but even with six out of the TEN

THOUSAND standing places filled it is an

impressive sight. I am looking forward to

the day when it’s full and absolutely

rocking. I have a feeling if the fan groups

on the back-straight get loud and co-

ordinated, they could probably blow the

roof off its suspended pyramid support

thingys.

The Südkurve choreo was a mixture of

confetti and till-rolls, prompting the USP

to reprise their ‘Photo Love-Story’

instruction leaflet on how to unfurl and

throw a till-roll, and thus avoiding a

repeat of the Eintracht Frankfurt game.

The results were pretty spectacular, as a

wall of streamers exploded over the safety

netting and onto the pitch, draping

themselves over the goal nets and

causing the stewards to earn their money

clearing the goalmouth. Up the other end,

the Dynamo fans were working through a

smart two-stage choreo, that ended up

with the away end blocked out by a wall

of yellow cards with thick, yellow smoke

escaping through the cracks. To my mind,

it was a nice use of pyro (had they

obscured everyone with the cards, to

avoid people being identified and picking

up a stadium ban?) Regardless, I’m sure

the club will get fined for it. Indeed, there

appeared to be a bit of a ruckus between

fans and stewards shortly after their

choreo.

I’m not sure I want to dwell on the game,

not the first the first half hour anyway.

I’ve yet to warm to the majority of this

team, and my fears were confirmed when

we found ourselves 2-0 down with two-

thirds of the game to play. At this point, I

could see it finishing four or five-nil to

Dresden and, despite it being October, the

spectre of relegation and the disastrous

financial implications that would follow

loomed large. Fortunately, one of the few

remaining members of the old guard,

Fabian Boll swivelled and fired in a low

shot to bring it back to 2-1 just seconds

before the break. Then, just the other side

12

of half-time, Christopher Avevor powerfully

headed home from a corner to bring us

level. The game was in the process of being

turned on its head. The lively youngster,

Joseph-Claude Gyau, brought on at the

break, caused the Dynamo defence all kinds

of problems, but it was a surging run by

Fabian Boll that set up Daniel Ginczek to

fire St. Pauli ahead.

It was a hell of a turn-around from 0-2 to 3

-2 in the space of 15 minutes. But there

were still 35 minutes left to play, and

frankly I didn’t think that would be the end

of the scoring. But somehow it was. A

combination of Dynamo running out of

steam and some good defending by the St.

Pauli backline, saw us hold-out for a much

needed three-points. The celebrations at

the end, seemed more born of relief than

joy, but hopefully the nature of the victory

will inspire the team to climb the table.

New boss, Michael Frontzeck, was cheered

off (to be fair, he might be bald, but he has

differentiated himself from Stani and

Schubert by wearing tracksuit bottoms

instead of jeans,) and long after the rest of

the team had disappeared down the tunnel

Bene Pliquett wandered over to the front of

the terrace for a chat and to accept his

Yorkshire St. Pauli membership card.

Everyone made their way back to the AFM

container, but after a interesting chat about

the political situation in Spain in general

and at Espanyol in particular (the FCSP

Catalunya Supporters are working hard to

rid the club of its small fascist following – a

hangover from the 1980s and ‘90s hooligan

scene,) I had to say my goodbyes and head

back to the airport, I tagged onto the back

of the USP’s ‘Diffidati Con Noi’ for a short

while as I headed back to the U-Bahn,

leaving them to return to the Fanladen as I

headed for home.

I’d only been in Hamburg 18 hours, and I’d

slept for the first eight or so of them, but it

had been another excellent trip – a trip that

is testament to the awful amount of good

that social media can do. I’d never have

met any of these like-minded people

without twitter. The trip, on my own would

still have been enjoyable (I’ve been over 17

times now, and have never failed to enjoy

myself,) but it was incredible to meet a load

of really good people, each doing their bit to

spread our love of St. Pauli and to fight

against both the fascism and consumerism

that remains a blight on the game we love.

There are, of course, plenty of uncertainties

that hang over the club we love in

particular, and German football in general.

The ‘Safe Stadium Experience’ document

published by the DFL/DFB earlier this

month, simply has to be resisted. No

question. And the USP’s ‘Diffidati Con Noi’

post-match march highlighted the

ridiculousness of the stadium bans imposed

on genuine supporters. If only the

authorities would wake up to the fact that

what they have got, is the best set of

football fans in all of Europe, and that

people are prepared to go to great lengths

and travel for thousands of miles to be part

of the German football experience. This

weekend proved that. Until the next

time, FORZA SANKT PAULI!

Piece written by Nick Davidson. You can

view more of his excellent articles on his

blog.

13

As a St. Pauli player, Florian Lechner

experienced the highs and lows of the

club over the past decade, from the

financial problems in the Regionalliga

Nord to the joy of promotion in the

Bundesliga, as well as the famous run in

the DFB Pokal during the 2005/06

campaign. We had the pleasure of

catching up with Flo to discuss those

memories, as well as his new adventure in

the MLS.

Flo, you came through the youth

system at Stuttgart before joining St.

Pauli. How did your move to Hamburg

come about, and what were your

first impressions of the club?

I played for 10 years with Fabio Morena in

Stuttgart and I can remember the day he

called and asked me where I wanted to

play next season. He had already played

one year in St.Pauli. I was very close to a

transfer to Fortuna Düsseldorf, but after

his call I decided to fly to Hamburg the

next day where I met Stani and signed

the contract. :-)) My first impressions

were amazing. We went to the old locker

rooms and Bubu was there. He was very

friendly hahahahaha........ He's probably

one of the most honest guys with the

biggest heart I have ever met in my life.

You joined St. Pauli whilst they were

struggling in the Regionalliga Nord,

what were those first couple of

seasons like?

It was a great experience and a struggle

for survival. At that time the club had

huge liabilities. I came from a big club in

VfB Stuttgart. Everything was organised

and structured and in St. Pauli some days

were very chaotic. But I liked it a lot. It

was real and authentic. I remember one

night at a home game the floodlights

didn't work because the club didn't pay

the electricity. Thirty minutes before the

game started, the floodlights turned on

because the club paid cash with daily

earnings from the fans. But after the

great victories in the German Cup, we

rehabilitated the club and each player who

played there should be very proud of the

team who played there.

What is it like for a player, playing for

St. Pauli?

It's very tough to explain it, and I can

only speak for myself. I'm very proud to

have worn the jersey of FC St. Pauli for 7

years. I'm happy to be a part of the

history of this amazing club, to be a small

piece of the whole big family. The fans are

the best in the world. They treat you as a

normal person and not just as a stupid

soccer player. Everybody is equally

important. It doesn't matter if you are

fighting 90-120 minutes on the field,

sitting on the bench supporting your

teammates, or being a supporter

screaming and cheering the team on for

the whole game. It was the best time in

my soccer career. However, I learned a

lot more outside the field. I lived in the

district of St.Pauli and learned about the

social interests from the club and how

important the club is for the people who

live in St.Pauli. St. Pauli is a lifestyle.

You not only played a part in the

famous DFB Pokal run at a time when

the club was struggling financially,

but you also scored two

important goals on the way to the

semi-final. What are your memories

of that cup run, and those rare goals?

Hmmm..... I could write for more than 2

hours about this question. When we

played against the big clubs, Bochum,

Hertha BSC, Werder Bremen or Bayern

München, everybody on our team had

MEETING FLO.

14

the feeling that nobody could beat us in our

castle at home. It was an unbelievable

time. We smashed Bochum 4:0. They

hadn't lost one game in the 2nd Bundesliga

and were almost 500 minutes without a

goal against them. We were 2:0 down in

the first half against Hertha and had a

furious comeback and won 4:3 in extra

time. This game is one of

my favourite games I have ever played. I

scored one of my rare career goals in extra

time with a lot of cramp in my feet. The

game against Bremen was a snow fight.

The one thing I would say about this game

is that we deserved it-- because none of us

cared if we were going to get hurt, but the

players from Bremen didn't wanna hurt

themselves. Finally the game against

Bayern...We had a great fight and were

very close to the sensation, but the lucky

Bayern won :-( otherwise we would have

gone to the final and would have won the

cup. :-)))

You also saw the club rise from the

Regionalliga Nord to the Bundesliga,

what was it like to finally see the club

in the Bundesliga?

It was crazy to see the club go from a

financially struggling club to a totally secure

1st Bundesliga club, and I was a part of it.

The stadium has now been restored and

only one side is left from the old stadium,

which I loved and where we won a couple

of great fights.

Other than the DFB Pokal we

mentioned above, what were

your highlights playing for St. Pauli?

One game was an away game in Bremen

against their Amateur team. We won 2:0

and after this game we were number one in

the 3rd division. After this victory we didn't

give up the first place for the rest of the

season. I will never forget

that Wednesday night when 9,000 crazy

St.Pauli fans after the victory sang "you'll

never walk alone." I get goose bumps every

time I remember that night.

When you left you also had a 'leaving

party' with a match between 'Team

Lechner' and 'Team Eger', honouring

two long serving players. What was

that last match like?

We organised it by ourselves and had a

great event. It was a little bit difficult to say

goodbye to our fans. 6,000 fans came to

that game and donated €25,000 to 2 non-

profit organizations, Viva con Agua and

Meio campo. We had a great party after the

game until 6 in the morning where Fettes

Brot were our DJ's.

Was it difficult to leave St. Pauli and

join Karlsruhe?

Totally.... I didn't want to. After St.Pauli I

believed I would never play in Germany

anymore. Once you've been a part of the

St. Pauli family, you would understand. I

wanted to see different countries and

cultures with soccer combined.

Is the football style in the MLS

different to that in the Bundesliga?

Yes. MLS is more physical and less tactical.

You could compare MLS to the 2nd

Bundesliga with a couple of world class

players.

Do you still manage to follow St.

Pauli's game from America?

Hahahaha.... Of course. It is my club.

Whenever I can watch games online I'll do

it.

Do you still keep in touch with the

players you played with at St.Pauli?

Yes. I played with a lot of guys for 7 years

together and we're not only team-

mates...We are really good friends.

Finally, after a relatively slow start to

the season, where do you think St.

Pauli will finish in the league?

It is difficult to say because the start was

really bad, but I know the guys and they'll

never give up before the last game is

played. I hope they can finish under the

first 3.

We'd like to thank Flo for taking time

to answer our questions from

Yorkshire. Flo is currently recovering

from an injury and we'd like to wish

him a speedy recovery and the best of

luck for next season! All the best from

Yorkshire!

15

The DFB and DFL recently published a

document called the “Sicheres

Stadionerlebnis” or “secure stadium

experience", proposing a raft of changes

made to make German football grounds

safer. For those who have not read it, it

is available in German here.

It is essentially a proposal against

violence within German football grounds,

but the overall outline seems to go much

deeper than that and has the potential to

further erode the fan culture within

German football. It seems as if German

football is trying to take the same steps

English football did in the late 80s and

early 90s – combating hooliganism or

violence with extreme measures. There is

a good explanation available here of the

background to these proposals, in

particular the desire of the DFB and DFL

to completely ban the use of

pyrotechnics.

As an fan who has grown up watching

football in England and who has seen the

steady decline of fan culture within

English football, these proposals are

extremely concerning. I first started

attending Bundesliga matches because of

the alternative experience that it offers to

English football, and these proposals

threaten to ruin that German football

experience entirely. I was bored of the

soulless atmosphere at English grounds, I

was tired of paying extortionate ticket

prices to watch 2nd and 3rd division

football and i was sick of being bullied by

stewards who would spend the whole

game telling people to sit down in their

seats. English football no longer cares

about the fans, who are now simply seen

as a source of revenue that can be

exploited. Unfortunately, it appears that

the DFB and DFL are intent on sending

the Bundesliga the same way.

The question is, why? For every

argument put forward about the risk of

pyrotechnics, the safety of all-seater

stadiums or the problems with football

violence, there is a counter argument

that strongly contradicts them. There are

some brilliant examples of this raised in

the response by Union Berlin today, and

these are discussed in English here.

One such proposal within this document

is translated (roughly) into English below:

"If other measures do not solve the

problem, there are other possibilities for

action, such as improving the

infrastructural facilities for a reasonable

person body control in the necessary

stadium sectors (e.g. construction of

containers instead of tents) are available

to enable full-checks quickly and perform

without disproportionate interference

with the personal rights.”

Essentially, they want to set-up

containers within the entrances to

stadiums where they can search people

and remove clothing if they deem

necessary to ensure they aren't carrying

any weapons or pyrotechnics. The last

line of that sentence, that this proposal

would not interfere with someone’s

personal or human rights is beyond

belief, in my opinion. Secondly, this

search would conceivably be by an

untrained persons – a steward for

example, not a doctor or a trained

individual. For all the faults of English

football, I'm glad it has never resorted to

this. I recently attended the away game

in Cottbus, and I was searched in a

Secure stadium experience?

16

ridiculous manner. By the end of the

search, the steward must have known

my inside leg size, he had taken the

battery and memory card out of my

digital camera to check for any pyro,

and had taken my shoes off and

searched them too. This alone was

intrusive, are these searches now going

to become more frequent, and

potentially involve removing clothing to

allow unqualified persons to strip search

you?

Furthermore, the proposal goes on to

suggest a “fan charter”. This seeks to

give fanclubs the responsibility of “self-

restraint”, ensuring that they comply

with the stadium rules at all times – or

risk punishment. This includes “no

tickets to fan clubs, which are not

willing to adhere to the fan agreement

with the above minimum content

(violence, the recognition stadium

regulations, etc.), or that the minimum

content of the conclusion fan agreement

is ignored, or prohibit the fan as the

carrying of "block flags" and banners

when they are misused to conceal the

perpetrator in the use of pyrotechnics or

even to allow pyrotechnics.”

It goes on to say that stadium bans will

be given under a “zero tolerance policy”

for serious breaches of these rules, such

as using pyro or showing banners that

are racist, discriminatory or grossly

offensive. My understanding of this, is

that this could see a ban on all tickets

provided to fan groups. A blanket

punishment on all fans. Carrying on, it

also raises the possibility of limiting

away tickets to “5% of the capacity” or

even “just seating only”.

The whole proposal threatens to ruin

the matchday experience within the

Bundesliga. I have attended over 20

Bundesliga matches across Germany in

the past few years, and not once have i

experienced any violence or felt unsafe

because of the use of pyro. The

Bundesliga's popularity is based largely

on it's fan culture and the affordability

to the everyday fan. There are very few

empty seats in Bundesliga grounds, the

average attendance last season was

45,116 in the top division, compared to

34,601 in the Premiership. Those few

seats from my own experience are mainly

in the corporate seats, including at St.

Pauli where the corporate seats cost €50,

almost 5 times more expensive than

standing on the terrace.

Who wants to sit in a comfy seat on the

half-way line and watch football with

empty seats either side of you, whilst

paying over the odds for the 'pleasure'?

Not me. Give me a blocked view on a

packed terrace and an atmosphere,

please. This is one of the main reasons

why the Bundesliga not only appeals to

German football fans, but to those of us

who actively watch the Bundesliga

internationally. We don't want corporate

seats, we don't want soulless grounds

and we certainly do not want to be

treated like criminals simply because we

spend our weekends watching football.

These proposals are even more

fundamental because one of the people

on the panel for this proposal was Dr.

Gernot Stenger, St. Pauli’s vice

president. After a basic club statement

from the board stating that they are

against the proposals, Dr. Stenger

decided to distance himself from the

panel and resigned.

The schedule for this proposal to be

decided and implemented is the

12/12/2012. Importantly, St. Pauli’s AGM

is before this date, where Dr. Stenger's

position will be decided. The final

sentence in the Magischer FC article

concludes “And all this comes in part

from the pen of a board member of FC

St. Pauli. And from what we know, he

comes up with this great paper. There

may be people who see this as an

important reason for de-selection at the

next AGM. We want at this time to just

give you a suggestion.”

I for one hope that the board of St. Pauli

find their voice and represent the views

of the fans, rather than further co-

operating with the men in suits. Enough

is enough.

Scott.