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: [email protected]
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
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
[email protected] (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.