St Pauli

[The Spanish]

This.

I liked that video. You can label anything "politics", but what the fans there are doing seems more to me like proecting their identitiy than politics in the normal sense.

Note also that their "politics" didn;t start with them being political, it started with them OPPOSING far right politics that had already infiltrated clubs.

It'd be interesting to compare it with Omonia over here. They founded in 1948. APOEL, the only club in Nicosia at the time, declared allegience to right wing Greek political parties and made their players do so also. Those that refused were sacked from the club. They formed their own - Omonia, which by default (1948 was a turbulent time in Greek politics, there was a civil war going on) became left wiing as fans who didn't want fascism moved to Omonia.

The result of all of this was the politicisation of Cypriot football, something which was (and still is) technically banned, but it was APOEL who actually politicised it. The sacked players didn't intend to form a political club, they just wanted to play football.

To this day, Omonia fans wear pictures of Che Guavera on their shirt, and chant "f*** your nation" in Greek to wind up the nationalistic APOEL fans. Of course because of all this Cyprus is still stuck in the 80s as far as football violence is concerned.

Here in Limassol AEL are considered the left wing side (although their younger fans in particular use a lot more anarchist symbolism than socialist) and Apollon the right wing. Here though, it was AEL who politicised, and Apollon broke away.

I've been to loads of AEL games and the only one where there was a decent amount of away fans and yet no trouble was AEL - Omonia. It's the same when Apollon play APOEL, no trouble. The violence here is politically based, but it's a very loose base. Despite the slogans and the chants, the younger fans don't really give a toss about the politics.

didnt they have a big off in the car park last week?

 

[The Spanish]

By its very definition it polarises its potential fanbase and is (in my opinion) less effective in removing the hatred. I'll try to explain a bit better:

Just say for instance that BHA completely embraced the 'gay' tag in an official capacity - or even adopted the Green Party. If I were a Palace fan am I now more likely to vote Green or support anti-homophobic initiatives? The simple answer is no because of the official association with Brighton. It's far better to try to have as broad a political spectrum as possible in your fanbase so that those trying to rid the game of hate don't get caught up in inter-club rivalry. And the best way to have as broad a political spectrum as possible is not to mix football with politics in the first place.

bravo.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Best bits - Atmosphere with non stop singing
Coming on to a rousing AC/DC track , maybe Motorhead can re-work ' Sussex by The Sea' for the Amex !!! Played live before first home match with Lemmy replacing the usual ' We are Motorhead etc with - We are ( BRIGHTON ) AND WE ARE REALLY GONNA f*** YOU UP !!!

Even if you don't want politics and football to mix, there's no argument against anti-racism and not wanting to overpay for food and drink at grounds.

John Baine first told me about St Pauli over ten years ago. He's a semi-regular, and I've been to the Millerntor and it's a fantastic experience. The singing, the fact that you can stand, and the smell of beer and fags (even though I'm not a smoker or drinker) made it like a trip back in time to the Goldstone. In fact, can we have a brown away kit next season?

 

[Billy the Fish]

I've got no problem with St Pauli or their politics, or the reason they developed those politics.

I just find it cringeworthy when people with no connection to hamburg or germany start fawning over them, purely because they decided to be a socialist club a couple of decades ago. That posh pillock in the report is a perfect example.