Here democracy is an active experience, with all of the consequences that entails. Whoever has not understood that, has not understood St. Pauli.
Edward Lienen
Preface
The iconic image of a black T-shirt with printed skull and crossbones is no longer unusual. Instead it has become part of our everyday surroundings, our common landscape, and our cities, towns and neighbourhoods. In the street or on the underground, at a concert or in any bar, it is less and less surprising to see young (and not so young) people wearing the Jolly Roger. Whatever differences there may be, the Sankt Pauli skull and crossbones seems to be following the footsteps of earlier icons such as the famous Ramones logo that became co-opted by large fashion chains.
Wearing the Jolly Roger above the words ‘ST. PAULI’ may have commercial implications (which of course we shall analyse). Yet it is really about taking a stance: one of political and social rebelliousness. We should forewarn that the history of Sankt Pauli is not an idyllic one. As with all great experiences it has fought tirelessly against its own contradictions and defects, in a world dominated by power and not love. It might not be the earthly paradise desired by those of us who love football but have an alternative vision for the sport based on the principle of radical solidarity. Yet undeniably St. Pauli is a magnificent starting point.
In order to understand the St. Pauli phenomenon, defend it and imagine it, you need to know the history of the club and the neighbourhood and city hosting it. Football clubs are not static entities; they evolve, and St. Pauli is no exception to that. Its history is one of vitality, commitment and rootedness. And it is one that fluctuates from providing football for the well-to-do to being a sport for the working classes; from being a select activity to a community one.
The book begins with the emergence of football in Germany – in Hamburg in particular, focusing on Sankt Pauli’s creation and first years of life. Then we look at the effect on the club of the rise of Nazism and the Second World War. This dark era must not be glossed over. Indeed, only by examining it is it possible to understand the club’s subsequent evolution: Sankt Pauli’s journey to becoming a cult club. This is the basis of its international image as a rebellious and alternative club that prides itself on its antifascism, antiracism and opposition to homophobia, sexism and all forms of discrimination, as is now stated in the club’s statutes.
We thought it appropriate to take the history of St. Pauli up to the present day. While chronicling it, we emphasise the club’s structure and its link with other spheres (whether its local vicinity, music scenes or movements to defend minorities), as well as the present-day challenges it is tackling. In all, we explain how a club’s supporters have empowered themselves and been able to influence the decision making of a professional football club.
This book provides a political and social contextualisation to St. Pauli. Only through this can we comprehend its meaning today and how it has won the heart of many and the sympathy of millions: a club that has no problem with adopting political stances or openly proclaiming itself antifascist. The book is our humble contribution to those who love football as a social activity – of solidarity and communalism – but who reject the business that capitalism has turned this sport into. In fact, paraphrasing Eduardo Galeano3 while receiving the Manuel Vázquez Montalbán International Journalism Award, we wrote these pages because ‘we think the best way to be on the left wing is defending the freedom of those brave enough to play for the pleasure of doing so in a world that tells you to play with the duty of winning’.
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3. [Translator’s note]: Uruguayan writer and journalist, author of the acclaimed Open Veins of Latin America and Soccer in Sun and Shadow.
1
The Birth of German Football
To discover the origins of German football we must revisit the second half of the nineteenth century. It was a turbulent era. At the start of 1848, Europe witnessed a series of uprisings of a notably bourgeois and liberal hue that aimed to overthrow the ancien régime. Austrian and Prussian liberals followed the example of Italian and French revolutionaries – the first to rebel against the royal houses of Habsburg and Orleans – and rose against absolutist rule. Thus, in March that year, the March Revolution (Märzrevolution) began in German Confederation territories. Revolutionaries’ demands included drafting constitutions, introducing free speech and a free press, unifying the German homeland and holding elections to a constituent assembly. Together these measures threatened the power of the existing rulers, who predictably rejected them. Some concessions were wrung from King Frederick William IV, a member of the Hohenzollern dynasty, such as the creation of a constitution of rights for property owners (but not others). Yet in truth the revolution failed. The monarch responded to the rebels’ demands by mobilising the army to repress them. The counter-revolution’s subsequent triumph meant the reintroduction of absolutism and the failure of the attempt to unify and modernise the country.
In such a context, and as happened in other European states, sporting activity was restricted to the well-to-do. In northern Europe, unlike in the Mediterranean area, sport was encouraged by Protestantism: a religious doctrine that defended the cult of effort and saw physical exercise as an expression of such. In Prussia ‘physical culture’1 became widespread from 1870. In 1806 its army – commanded by Frederick William III – had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Napoleonic troops in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt. This was followed by the Fall of Erfurt and Berlin and the Prussian royal family fleeing into exile. After this, gymnastics became a priority and obsession in order for the country to avoid future failures. To avoid more humiliating defeats it imposed the ‘physical preparation of the German man for life and war’.2 This explains why the gymnastics model adopted had a militaristic edge, based on discipline and order. Gymnastics spread across the country thanks to a wide network of sporting associations and educational institutions, which combined the