Interview: Meet Ultra Sankt Pauli!

We wanted to do this for some time 🙂 Finally, Patrick (Lazzzy Bastarddd!) from the USP took some time and answered our (actually St. John’s!) questions in a text that not only reveals a lot of details that we were unaware of but provides a good feedback on the way that the organization “thinks” as well. Enjoy 🙂

 

1. When everything started and what were the primary plans of the club?

Ultrà Sankt Pauli (USP) was founded in 2002 in order to be the main group of organized ultras in Sankt Pauli. It was formed out of the club “Carpe Diem” and several other smaller fanclubs. Carpe Diem was one the few clubs who considered themselves to be ultras quite early and were clearly inspired by the classical italien way. USP was meant to organize all those who were seeking for a big group of organized fans and ultras, all those individuals and minor groups that wanted to unite in order to achive bigger things, to be stronger, to show bigger coreographies, to travel with more people and all those things. In this phase the group primarily focused on bringing big flags and banners to the stadium and made its first steps into an organized support in the area we were standing within the “Gegengerade” – the most famous area of the stadium at that time. The “Gegengerade” is the place, where the alternative and left-wing fan culture was born in the 1980s and USP surely is characterized by the values and ideas of that time. In 2002 we wanted to be a group of passionate and fanatic fans with a clear political attitude. Antifascism and left-wing political ideas have always been an important part of the groups identity. Sankt Pauli and its fan-scene had developed in a way we somehow disagreed with. After the promotion to the first league in the 1990s this alternative attitude was fewer and fewer present in the stadium. We perceived that a lot of people abused our team for their interpretation of “party” and that support for the team became worse and worse – even ridiculous from time to time. And that was not about different styles of support but about games, nearly nobody was singing for more that some minutes in the whole game. So it was a rocky road to go for us but we accepted the challenge and although we experienced lots of throwback and bitter hours we made our first steps and became bigger and bigger. Especially the younger generation around us was waiting for a group like that.

2. How many people are into the USP? Can you tell us a little about the way the club is organized?

The number is increasing or decreasing from year to year. We have an open membership system. That means in most cases everybody who wants can join our club. We want Ultrà to be open for everyone because we think there are different ways to live that kind of lifestyle and the system opens the way for creativity. But, of course, the members have to share and identify with the core values of our group. In the best case that means they have a socialization around football and a behavior that strengthens values like an antifascist attitude, e.g. We have about 200-250 members with a huge number of people associated with us. And in the core of the group there is a smaller number of persons living the group day in day out, organize everything and leave their imprint on the character of the group. Besides that we have a regular meeting, usually every Wednesday to come together and talk about important things concerning the FCSP and our group. We meet at our club house which is also one of the most important places to be. Necessary to mention is that in important questions we make decisions together without a given hierarchy but instead on a democratic basis where experience and trust are more important than something like a direttivo etc.

3. What are your relations with the team management and players?

The era after Corny Littmann seems relatively new to us. After he gave up his job as the president the relation seems to become better. In fact, we have the general problem that we see it as a huge goal to stay independent from the club but on the other hand it is important for fans and ultras to have a voice inside the organization. There is an interesting example how the club supported the fans this year. After the incidents at the indoor tournament the club condemned strongly the police brutality and supported the fans. It was a big surprise because regularly you will not find a lot of backup when football fans come in the focus of the state, police or media. But that does not mean that we are the closest friends now. There are still a lot of issues which need to be discussed and after the Jolly Rouge campaign last season there is still a lot of dynamite in the relation between the fans and the club. Besides that we act on a day to day basis. We have representatives in the so called “Ständiger Fanausschuss”. It is something like a council of different groups who can discuss their concerns with representatives from the club but not very powerful. The good thing is that we have personal contacts to a lot of people working for the club, we have a good relation to the security officer, a former member of the active Sankt Pauli fanscene in the 80s and 90s, Sven Brux and there are also a lot of people honoring the things we do. The situation is ok.

The player who is closest to us is Benedikt Pliquett, of course. You should have heard about him 😉 I would say that compared to other clubs our players are very close to the fans. Maybe depends on the area etc. You have the chance to see them a lot of times J

4. Do you have any relations and some kind of cooperation with other Fan Clubs, local or abroad?

There is a wide range of contacts and friendships to other groups of supporters or ultras both in the Sankt Pauli fanscene, of course, and they are also spread around the world. The relations to fan clubs of Sankt Pauli not only focus on sharing ideas and coming together to talk about questions referring to the FC Sankt Pauli, moreover, there are intense personal boundaries between the people who use the main Sankt Pauli meeting points, like e.g. Fanladen, Jolly Roger or other places in the Sankt Pauli Kosmos. Many events, as the annual Antira Tournament, are organized in work share between several clubs and the connectivity between groups in the Südkurve and in other parts of the stadium is good. We even have some members from other fanclubs. Even if they sometimes do their own thing, they support what we do and share our ideas. What we can say about the range of our contacts: we have something like a special view on it. In football you can find a lot of rivalries. For us generally everybody is welcome except of fascists and other scum. It depends on how people are really like, what are their views and goals and so we have a tolerant picture of it. This explains why Sankt Pauli and Ultrà Sankt Pauli have a lot of friends over the world and this makes it something special. We don’t share (and care) what other ultras say when they talk about prostituting oneself when you have more than two or three friendships. It depends on the people not on the club. That means that contrarily we also have a lot of enemies.

5. When you became aware of the existence of organized St. Pauli supporters in Greece what was the first thing that came in mind?

The history of Sankt Pauli and fans from Greece and their ‘special’ relation seem to have strong and historical roots. First of all, everywhere you go in Greece, if it is Athens or Salonika, people are very interested in our club and even supporting the FC Sankt Pauli. In most of the Greek stadiums or during political demonstrations you can see people wearing clothes or merchandise with regard to Sankt Pauli. There is a huge number of alternative, anarchist, generally left-wing people who know Sankt Pauli or connect the origin alternative values of their fans as some kind of symbol for their lifestyle. So you can recognize a certain interest in what is happening at our club, but you also have to say that on the one hand a lot of negative processes and events happening in our reality are far away from what people think about us. Sankt Pauli is maybe not more the symbol of resistance than it was in the past and the fight against the symptoms of what people call modern football are also coming out here. The fight for free spaces in the system of capitalism is also what we have to deal with every day. And in the past it was lead more aggressively and rebellious than it is today. But times change and you have to find other solutions to succeed in this establishment. So maybe we see that in Greece there exists a more romantic, dreamy picture compared to what reality really looks like.

On the other hand, you see a lot of people who really share the ideas of lifestyle and the political consciousness is really amazing. And, there are a lot of people who really know a lot of things of Sankt Pauli and their fans. And of course, the Sankt Pauli fanclubs. Historically the first boundaries between USP and Greece was the connection to the Sankt Pauli Athens club. Now there exists a high number of clubs, single persons or people who see Sankt Pauli as their ‘second’ club besides of the local club they support.

And you also have to know that we do not only know people in Greece who are organized in Sankt Pauli fan clubs, there exist contacts to fans and ultras from Greek clubs. There we have to mention the contacts with some fans from AEK Athens, Original 21. Especially the Peristeri and Exarchia club.

When the word Greece comes to our minds, we usually think first: crazy people, a lot of fun, similar view of the world, friends, unforgettable travels, something to discover, ‘what I often hear of but never had’ or the malakas around the world 😉

6. Are there any projects running at this time?

Depends on what kind of project you think. There are projects running all the time J Right now we are working for two coreographies, for the upcoming home matches against Bochum and Braunschweig. The projects in January, where we had a short winter break, were the demonstration against right wing nazi structures (it is a big political issue in German politics right now) and the visit of our friends in Terni. We went there with a bus with 50 people and had an amazing weekend with a 1-0 last minute win against Lumezzane. The Rossoverdi maybe go to Serie B this year, incredible if that would happen.

7. We have been informed that this February USP are going to celebrate their 10^th birthday – can you give us a few details on the subject?

Don’t be afraid, you will be invited 😉 The plans are gonna be made but right now we won’t tell any details. Maybe because this will be an unforgettable celebration or maybe because we still don’t know what our exact plans are 😉

8. Any message for the fellow Sankt Pauli fans in Greece?

Visit us or we will visit you 😉 Forza Sankt Pauli!