AndyChristos
evoulino
FCSP Athens South End Scum
sidkaya
St. John
Zouz
This is not about happened in the pitch, AndyChristos posted already the match report with the details, even though we knew that nobody cares about them 😅 This is about everything else, you will find inside stuff about what happened outside the pitch, the FCSP Women last moment do-or-die victory vs Werder II, the birthday present of FCSP IV to Bernie, Grindcore in Hamburg, other random stuff like COVID prevention policies in Hamburg and maybe some personal thoughts along the way 😎
Best way to avoid chaos is putting things in a chronological order, let’s go:
Friday: Sonic Chaos at the Rote Flora
Arriving at the area in the afternoon, first thing I noticed was the construction chaos at the corner of Budapester and Feldstraße, at the spot where the restaurant that passed hundreds of times in front of but never visited was. Simply indicative of what’s constantly happening during the past years, more on that in the Monday chapter at the bottom. What really hasn’t changed is the Reeperbahn. Of course, this is the last place where a Sankt Pauli fan would like to spend his time at (after the first obligatory round of course), however was unlucky enough to end up having a room in there. Place filled already, under an awful tourist mix of Oasis, Black Sabbath (Paranoid, ffs 🤣), Disco (better) and everything else required to entertain the various visiting tribes. Baggage drop-off and the Hell outta here…
Straight to the Jolly for a few quick opening rounds of drinks. As it was already communicated a couple of weeks earlier via Brother In Noise Ruben there was a gig on Friday evening that I should attend to. Having blind trust to the colleague. Off to the Flora then to find out on arrival that COVID certificate is not enough and rapid test required. No worries friends said, there are a few local center tests around, problem was that either they were close after 9PM or they didn’t exist where map suggested 😆 Thing started becoming really adventurous, there was some talk and it was decided that self test will be sufficient, meaning that we go to some super market, get the tests, do them outside, proceed inside with test in hand, in case negative of course, and dispose them at the door to avoid double use. Hahaha, it was looking like a junkie park outside, there were no needles of course but the place was full with medical kits and people shoving test straws in their nostrils 😆 Eventually we made it all in but, before proceeding, a small remark here. In case all these sound a little excessive to some, if I had to compare them with what’s happening in Greece or (even worse) in Bulgaria where I currently work, I would pick the Hamburg way without a second thought. Overreacting is better than having 50 dead per day in Greece and pretending that COVID is over just because economy and people can’t take it anymore (fully acknowledging that this is a more complex situation with other than health measure factors playing also significant role), hopefully there won’t be a really high price to say at the end of the summer. If you’re not into noise, feel free to skip the rest of Friday 😎
Won’t comment on the opening band (Drownship), they were a very skillful and well rehearsed band but the style they play is far from my personal taste. Will just say that they looked solid enough and would be probably really appreciated by Post Metal friends.
Next band was Yor (reason I was there in the first place) and, as said over there, these guys should be arrested 🤣🤘🏾 That was non-stop total chaos, a fuckin’ maniac playing blast beats with the force which Mikkey Dee blasts the drums when playing normal tempos, a bass player with her sound reminding more of a sewer than a 4-string instrument and two more asylum runaways completing the quartet with exquisite grace. Have seen LOTS of such bands through the years, they comfortably sit very high on the scale. Have seen lots better rehearsed than them but not many with such overall energy. As discussed, was a pleasure watching them and would happily “do business” with them in the future in case circumstances allow it at some point ✊🏾😎
Last band of the line-up was Gvillotine from Bremen. Also a Grindcore band, however not a classic line up, as many tend to do lately, there was no bass player, there was instead a single guitar…connected with two huge arrays of pedals, one of them ending in the guitar and the other to the bass amp (or at least this is how it looked to me). More “normal” style of play than their predecessors but (as you probably guessed) an unreal string sound. It was almost funny watching the guy doing in certain occasions more with his feet than with his fingers while playing and there’s also a small contradiction between the idea of simplicity behind Grindcore and a control center of some 25-30 pedals attached to the guitar but maybe I’m just an old grumpy ass, overall they were really alright 🤘🏾😎
Night closed at Jolly in an attempt to find the rest of the Scum, failing to do so but getting a more than fair compensation, stumbling to lots of friends haven’t been seen for a while 😊
Saturday: AMATEUR GLORY DAY!
I. The Ladies
Rise and shine, get my shit together and directly off to Feldarena! Life-or-death match for the FCSP Women, facing Werder Bremen II with us on the razor’s edge and our opponent 3 (super critical) points above us. Lots of good people over there from quite early (hello DSP, hello YSP, hello FCSP Atlanta!), even my Scum people (hello Helena and Charis 🤣🤘🏾🏴☠️) present, sideline of Feldarena almost full ready for one of the most critical games of the season (by the time this is finished, match vs TSC Wellingsbüttel will have also been played but after Saturday…no worries ✌️🏾😎).
Late addition: YESSSSSSSSSSSS, we won TSC Wellingsbüttel…on 85′ 😅✊🏾🏴☠️
Game on and this was a really tight one. Us more in the initiative, a few chances with things becoming slightly more intense towards the end but nothing really much and at some point things started looking like we were going towards a painful 0-0. All that until 84′ 😎
(video by Helena, some profanity in Greek by some there, our (my 🤣) apologies)
This is the point when Annie Mcintosh Kingman drove everyone NUTS in Feldarena!!! Blood pressure 40 for the closing minutes of the game, fortunately nothing more happened and full time whistle found the Girls in Brown celebrating in the pitch before they eventually turn to the crowd and start celebrating all together, everyone in bliss, this really felt like redemption 😎🏴☠️
II. The Boozers
Following the glorious victory above, next top was Schlump (at least this was the U3 station used) for FCSP IV, who were playing the promotion final vs 2nd in the table Eimsbüttel III, two results for us, one result for them. Fan of this squad, watching them for years from distance, couldn’t find a better occasion than that, it was now or never 😎 To be honest, having the Feldarena experience just before, while going to the game I was thinking that I have already attended the big one of the day, I was expecting a nice game, a max of 50 people over there and a chilled out atmosphere with some tension on the pitch maybe and maybe me the only sorry ass shouting shit to the ref for a bad call or something. Wellllllll, I couldn’t be more wrong than that, video below (shot towards the end of the game, with victory and promotion sealed) tells only a small part of the story (just check the elder assistant ref while looking at the crowd🤣✊🏾🏴☠️)
It was simply fuckin’ INSANE 🤣 First of all, a surprisingly big crowd, space was much bigger than the Feldarena (full earlier) but it was full as well and not only that, the support was really something else. Constant singing by a mix of younger guys (there were certainly some French involved) and some older dudes, full FCSP repertoire, even “Gehst du durchs Viertel” involved 🤣 Add the opposition fans on the other side (who were less than us but had the side of the pitch with the metal commercial signs, hence were capable of producing some good noise as well) and you get the picture. And like the significance of the game wasn’t enough, there was another thing adding even more significance to the game: the 79th birthday of 3B (Big Boss Bernie!!!), the man and the soul behind this squad and, aside the happy occasion, the chance for him to celebrate the day by watching the squad promoting and climbing to leagues that have never been seen before (Bezirkliga!). For anyone unaware of who Bernie is, you can find more details, both for him and the squad here.
Talking about the match, we managed to catch them with the pants down leading 0-2 after 15′ and having got rid of the result stress quite early. Nevertheless, opponents play football too, hosts managed to pull one back, HT found us leading 1-2 but the first 20′ of the 2nd half were really terrifying with Eimsbüttel losing some incredible chances and Finnair (our keeper, didn’t know the name but Millernton knows better, more details on the match here) making some unreal saves but, before they equalize and their appetite increases, we managed the 1-3 in a counter attack and closed the subject once and for all! Situation after full time was worthy of the occasion, apologies for the short length, shot some for this report but couldn’t be arsed with the bloody phone while everyone was going bananas ✌️🏾🏴☠️
Sunday: Millerntor after 2,5 years
For others maybe it was the frustrating end of the season, for us was simply a chance to be there again. A chance to get out relatively early and greet friends all around the neighborhood in the streets (and try to meet with others without being eventually able to do it, next time Hans 👋🏾😎🏴☠️), a chance to feel all the positive energy outside the stadium and finally a chance to live the stadium experience such a long time. During this period squad went all the way from the terminal agony of Liga 3 to the frustration of missing promotion to the Bundesliga, we had to watch all this from distance…
To be honest, the way things had turned out sporting wise wasn’t really sure what to expect, nevertheless what I got was much more than I expected and I believe this applies also to my Scum colleagues and everyone else that travelled from abroad from the game. Despite all frustration (and believe me there’s lots of it, at which level they are justified it’s another discussion), everybody stood up to par with the occasion and said farewell to the squad for the season and all those who left for good in the most beautiful way possible. A comment here on the guest block, they were absolutely proper guests and contributed as well in this lovely atmosphere, there were a couple of “Scheiß St. Pauli” for the protocol of course (after all, we also did the “beat the fuckin’ Düsseldorf” pop 😆) but they were exceptional overall, well done 👍🏾 Highlights to keep
- The absolute silence during the farewell message from Rainer Wulff (our stadium announcer and much more for more than 30 years, who passed away due to cancer (the biggest bastard, took away a few fine people lately)on 11/5, at the age of 79) and the huge amount of stadium which flooded the stadium at the end of it. USP stayed initially silent honoring his death, the proper choreo took place immediately afterwards as well and then the lovely chaos you all know and love in the Süd
- The feeling when singing “Das Herz von Sankt Pauli” along with the entire stadium after so long before the game
- The moments of Ziereis and Buchtmann substitutions with standing ovations from the entire stadium
- The farewell ceremony after FT (that was really moving and this means something when coming from the Scum indifferent bastard) and the lap of honor at the end
After the game, it was simple the streets of St. Pauli like old times. A big mass moved of course to the Knust for the gig afterwards. This outdoor space turned out to be too small to hold this thing, was totally packed in front of the stage and there was lots of other people spread around. At some point Oke, Andreas Bornemann and squad (not sure if I missed Timo or someone else) appeared on stage to say hi to the crowd and to say a few words each. Lovely atmosphere over all, however what got my focus was the “squad”. It was actually a subset of the squad, not more that 12 guys and I believe that maybe these are more or less the ones that are certain to stay next season (even though Kyereh is not really certain, “street says” that he would love to take the next step in his career but there are currently no serious offers, never mind, others were nowhere to be found the whole day, whatever), this makes you think…
<moaning section>
I have the feeling that, in the pursuit of success, this squad is losing a part of its soul… Was really sad seeing James Lawrence go, decision for him to leave was based purely on sporting reasons. Alright, let’s assume that we’re able to replace Lawrence in the pitch, are we able to replace this?
Buchti and Ziereis were maybe “too old” for another contract, Matthias Hain? Alright Greg, you don’t know your shit here, there could be significant reasons for each one of them. Yeah alright but at the end still there are too many of them. You can’t have a squad worthy of a value driven club when changing in it and bringing in new ones (which actually cost) every summer. And you know something? Even if you want success so much, even at the expense of team’s character (you shouldn’t but let’s leave this out for now, some could argue “what character?” anyway), there are better ways to do it (and more compatible with us as a club actually). Don’t know, I may be naive here, football was never really my thing anyway, but I have the impression that we’re doing things the wrong way. What should we do? Take a step back, and set up a really long term plan, starting from the academies. We have the ability to cultivate talent, let’s also create a mindset and mentality that keeps them in the Club instead of selling them, buy two or three guys with their money and so on, and so forth. Let’s leave aside the big talk, maintain a viable (being also ambitious would be nice to have) for Liga 2 squad without doing crazy stuff and slowly transform it to a squad based mostly on our boys and having only the necessary reinforcements. This way we can build a squad that will eventually make it to the Bundesliga at some point and stay there without maybe needing some extra millions to survive, something that would probably be the case in case we were promoted on Sunday. I’m saying shit, right? Ask Athletic Bilbao…
There will be some who will argue that we need the Bundesliga money to continue being viable. Sorry but if we are in such a situation (I don’t believe that things are so bad, at least as we don’t want to promote next year), instead of spending more, we should probably examine how we have ended up this way… (COVID is NOT the answer here)
</moaning section>
Otherwise, all bloody good! Been a while since I saw so many people in the Jolly so late on a Sunday night and it was actually a long time since I have seen the neighborhood so lively on a Sunday evening but what the fuck should I know, haven’t been there on a home matchday since 2019 🤣
Aye, said also goodbye to my two Scum pals, with whom we met after some months, to meet again early June in Athens. What do you care? Hmmm…in case you’re into media shit, Helena was very busy on the weekend, there will be a lot of extra stuff upon her arrival, just asked her to send me the Women’s goal, report would look “incomplete” without it 🙃
Monday: friends and afterthoughts
Met friends, improved my German (been called a “Kackwurst” by a 3 yo gentleman, FUCK YOU young Dimi!!! 🤣🤣🤣) and ended up <where else?> to say goodbye to friends in a Monday family atmosphere. The good thing in Mondays is that you really can talk in there. However talk became again a little depressing (no moaning section here) at some point, when subject became the thing that this post started from, the ruins and the construction site at the corner of Budapester and Feldstraße… OK, this gentrification thing is not new but it’s progressing steadily and it becomes asphyxiating… Talked with friends living in the neighborhood for years, they face more and more problems with rents staying in the neighborhood and the price per value that they pay, simply to be able to stay there, is simply outrageous. I said at some point that, the way things are going, in 10 years from now, the only things left in the area could be Millerntor and the Jolly, only to be corrected that Jolly and the entire building are rented properties as well… To make a long story short, this area took value and was attacked commercially only because of its special character as a neighborhood. What will happen there when, at some point in the future, the entire area has been occupied and there’s nothing left to see there? This is a question that certainly can be answered here and couldn’t of course be answered on Monday night, so discussion was cut short to avoid depression. Was a good idea, the rest of the night was really alright 😉
Tuesday: the way back
This is always the saddest part of the trip but it’s a little different when you’re working abroad and, instead of going back to your workplace, you’re going back home 😉 This one of course doesn’t worth a section here, Tuesday is more about a shout out to Zach, who I met 5:45 AM in S1 on the way to the airport, on his way back to Atlanta and a chance for a shout out to all friends (old and new, too many to mention – exception only for GSP, hopefully Tich is alright 😅✊🏾🏴☠️) that helped me had another unforgettable time over there (needs effort, I forget easily nowadays 😇), see you all soon, FORZA SANKT PAULI ☠️☠️☠️
FCSP Athens South End Scum 
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