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St Pauli match preview

As our fifth season draws to a close, the summer is on the horizon which for many brings DIY chores, shopping trips and watching the World Cup with every armchair expert in the country loudly voicing their opinions about how England can definitely go all the way this time.

But thankfully before all that, FC United have got a trip to Hamburg to face an All-Star St Pauli XI on Saturday 15 May to mark the 100th anniversary of Germany’s most fervently anti-fascist football club.

St Pauli has followers all over the world after becoming the first club in Germany to prohibit any rightwing or nationalist demonstrations in its ground in the 1980s. Since then the club’s supporters have taken a strong standpoint against fascism, racism, sexism, and homophobia and, like FC United, St Pauli have embodied this position in their constitution.

Board member, Alison Watt was instrumental in securing the fixture with the help of Stuart Dykes, who was the FC Schalke 04 representative at our ’Beyond the Debt’ rally in February. Alison said: "To be invited to celebrate such a special occasion is without doubt a great honour and achievement for our club.

"Like the vast majority of German clubs, St Pauli is member-owned, and it has been dubbed by the media as a punk club, just like FC. The club’s fans are famous for creating an incredible atmosphere so it should be some match."

If, as expected, St Pauli fans turn out in their masses for the match, the 22,600 capacity Millerntor stadium should be quite a spectacle for both sets of fans and players.

Alison adds: "We hope the fixture will provide a memorable trip for our supporters who can make the journey and we know that it will be a fantastic experience for our players, an opportunity that most non-league footballers will never get the chance to take part in."

FC United supporters making the trip should feel right at home in Hamburg. With insincere apologies to Birmingham, Hamburg like Manchester is its nation’s second city. It’s Germany’s sporting capital, hosting more international events than anywhere else in Deutschland, as well as being renowned for its industry and media with many of the nation’s leading broadcasters based in the north-west city.

If that wasn’t enough, the similarities don’t end there. Hamburg was also at the centre of musical revolution in the 1980s. Whilst Mancunians were pioneering Acid House and giving birth to the Madchester scene, the Hamburgers were getting down to their own new genre - power metal. Think David Hasselhoff meets one too many Jägermeisters.

Back to the football, and St Pauli have just sealed promotion back to the top tier of the Bundesliga after an absence of eight years, meaning our hosts will have extra reason to celebrate when the Red army arrives for our match on May 15.

So, with pocket translation book in hand, all there is left to say is - Mach Dich auf den Weg zu diesem Fußballplatz.


First Posted ~ 15:38 Tue 4 May 2010
News ID ~ 2870
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021