HAMBURG

MEET YOUR MATCH

The weather in Hamburg may often be overcast but, if the fun-loving fans of FC St Pauli are anything to go by, the city is far from gloomy. They are always up for a party, says Johnny Sharp

IT’S raining and the sky is the grey. Walking through Hamburg’s famous Reeperbahn during a recent weekend break I remark out loud, to no one in particular, what a miserable day it is.

“Miserable? Vot are you talking about!

It’s a beautiful day. It’s beautiful, baby!” says a voice behind me. Looking round, I find a pair of hippy-looking gents in their mid-40s, sporting patched denim jackets, grinning and punching their fists in the air, waving skull and crossbones-emblazoned scarves.

Hamburg lights upThe man who spoke, who goes by the name of Kurt, adds: “It’s match day, baby, be happy, baby! Come along or you’ll miss it,” before grabbing me by the arm and dragging me along with him. I suddenly feel like I’ve been transported to some alternative Alice in Wonderland universe, as I’m caught up in what is quickly becoming a motley crew of punks, bikers, arty types and people who look like they may start fire-eating and riding unicycles in the street at any moment.

We’re not on our way to a rock festival, but to a football match and not just any football match, but a game featuring local heroes FC St Pauli. Now this is what a weekend away is all about. FC St Pauli proudly claims to represent the bohemian, party-loving side of Hamburg, the counter-culture of the artists, musicians, students, dockers, prostitutes, punks, anarchists and intellectuals who live and work in the St Pauli area of this port city.

One of the main streets of St Pauli, Grosse Freiheit, is translated as “great freedom”, which just about says it all. This is an area that has more in common with Amsterdam than most other German cities; a place where anything goes, everyone is at home and all are welcome as long as they’re prepared to open their minds and let their hair down.

on the pitch at the sacred
MillerntorAnd it’s the local football club that epitomises this attitude. It gained cult status in the mid-1980s, when fun-loving fans of neighbouring Hamburg SV, disillusioned by the small but vocal fascist elements among its supporters, defected to FC St Pauli.

“People wanted to go to football games where all types of people were accepted,” says Sven Brux, a long-time fan who founded one of the first German football fanzines, Millerntor Roar, named after FC St Pauli’s stadium. “They wanted to go to a ground where it is OK if you have pink hair, and where nobody chants racist slogans or is looking for a fight.”

As attendances rose, games began to take on a party atmosphere. And, before long, the whole club seemed to have been taken over by a scruffy coalition of punks, hippies, bikers, and even transvestites. The club’s fans adopted the Totenkopf emblem, a skull and crossbones that reflects the city’s maritime traditions and the fans’ rebel character. Over the years, while they might not have always done well on the pitch (they’re presently in the Bundesliga’s third division), when it comes to turning a sporting event into a party, they’re undisputedly world class.

Club president
Cornelius Littmann
shows off his big cup
Cornelius Littmann, president of the club since 2002, is a typical example of how the character of the fans is reflected throughout the club. Universally known as “Corny”, he is an openly gay, 54-year-old Motorhead fan, and theatre impresario who often appears in drag in his own musicals. Now how many football clubs in the world can boast they have a transvestite president?

“Football is part of the lifestyle here,” Corny told reporters during the World Cup last year, “and St Pauli, as a place and a club, has a special identity in German football.” Maybe that’s why St Pauli declared itself a separate republic for a week last summer, when the stadium played host to its alternative to the FIFA World Cup, the “FIfi Wild Cup”, featuring teams from places that are not recognised by the United Nations or FIFA — Greenland, Tibet, Zanzibar, Gibraltar, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and, of course, the host nation, the “Republic of St Pauli”.

Despite the team’s modest league status, their dilapidated 19,400-capacity ground is invariably full, attracting more fans than many top division sides. The team runs out onto the pitch to AC/DC’s heavy metal anthem, Hell’s Bells, and when the strains of Blur’s Song 2 greet a goal, it can make the terraces seem more like a gig than a football game.

“Even the away team’s fans like to come here,” says Brux, “because it’s an old-fashioned football ground where you can drink a beer on the terraces. Everyone is welcome, and it’s in the middle of the St Pauli area, so you can go and have a good time afterwards, too.”

The club’s reputation has spread overseas, and there are numerous worldwide FC St Pauli fan clubs. “Now there are cheap flights, it’s easy,” says Brux. “We are good friends with Celtic fans, for example, and some of them say it’s cheaper to fly to St Pauli for a weekend and pay for a hotel and drinks than to go and watch Celtic.”

“Compared with games in Britain, it’s like landing on another planet,” says Rich, 32, a Sheffield United fan who went to a game last year. “The crowd is more like you get at Glastonbury. It’s a real fans’ club — you can drink in the bar before the game, tickets are really cheap and there are flags, flares, singing and ticker tape. It’s a proper party, whether they win or lose.”

The locals showed their commitment when the club was threatened with bankruptcy in 2002. Fans printed up T-shirts, selling 140,000 in just six weeks. They also persuaded Germany’s biggest club, Bayern Munich, to play a fundraising friendly at the Millerntor, and there was a campaign to “drink for St Pauli”, where bars donated 50 cents from each beer.

After one visit, you can’t but be a convert. FC St Pauli and the city of Hamburg celebrate all that is different. And the party after a match among the Reeperbahn’s lively bars and clubs is one not to be missed.

It may have been raining all afternoon but, as Kurt was constantly reminding me, there was nothing to be unhappy about. FC St Pauli are a living legend and Hamburg is beautiful, baby, beautiful!

A show on and off the pitch

Though born in Münster, FC St Pauli’s president, and showman (or woman), Cornelius ‘Corny’ Littmann fell in love with Hamburg and the St Pauli quarter when he first moved to the city in the early 1970s.

“Hamburg is quite simply the coolest city (in Germany),” Littmann has said. “The Alster, the Elbe, the Reeperbahn, St Pauli — you have the beauty of an elegant city with its rivers and parks, combined with the vibrancy of the mix of cultures in the local neighbourhoods, in St Pauli, St George and in the Schanzenviertel.”

Littmann founded the Schmidt Theatre in 1988, with the aim of providing unconventional theatre, variety and comedy to locals and visitors alike — and the venue is still going strong today. Shows at the Schmidt are spectacles unto themselves — quirky, eccentric and hysterically funny.

The theatre crew write, create, produce and perform all their own material, refusing to buy in popular shows from New York or London. So if it’s authentic German theatre and musicals you’re looking for, the Schmidt provides. Littmann often performs in the shows himself (almost always in drag), when he’s not managing the football club. It’s certainly not something you’d ever expect to see billionaire Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich doing.

As for Hamburg’s other attractions? Littmann’s favourite is the port. “I think it is the freedom that you feel there — the wind at the port that gives you the physical feeling you could sail away anywhere at any time, on a ship with eight sails, like Brecht’s Pirate Jenny,” he says. “Even if you didn’t want to, you could.”

Walk on the wild side

The clubs, the bars, the Grosse Freiheit

Although the Reeperbahn’s notorious strip clubs and sex shops are still there for those who want them, they’re a relatively minor part of St Pauli’s nightlife these days. All manner of watering holes, from achingly hip to spit-and-sawdust, populate the narrow streets, along with hair-raising entertainment both in the clubs and outside. Spielbudenplatz is a good starting point, where you’ll find the camp-but-cool Das Herz Von St Pauli (7 Spielbudenplatz) and Meanie Bar (5 Spielbudenplatz). For cocktails, check out The Havanna Bar (7 Fischmarkt).

Club-wise, a single street, Grosse Freiheit, houses most of the best ones. Halo and Funky Pussy are the pick of the bunch for dance music, while Grosse Freiheit 36 specialises in rock and indie. Beatles obsessives may also want to start off here. The site of the Star Club, where the Brit superstars used to play, is at number 39, and further up the street at number 64 is Indra, the first club they played here, and it’s still going strong.

Theatre, cabaret, musicals and comedy are all a big draw in St Pauli. Spielbudenplatz (pictured, left) plays host to Schmidt and Tivoli theatres — both owned by Cornelius Littmann — as well as the St. Pauli Theatre. A short walk away is the Pulverfass Cabaret (147 Reeperbahn).

Being a fishing port, seafood is always a strong suit of the city’s restaurants, although the large immigrant population means all tastes are catered for. On Sunday mornings, if you happen to be passing through at 5am on your way home, you can check out the Fischmarkt on Hafenstrasse, where the popular flea market is also situated. Tuck into some breakfast while listening to live folk bands, even at that ungodly hour. And, yes, the beer will still be flowing, if you’re still thirsty!