PIRATES OF THE BUNDESLIGA

Watching the Melbourne derby over the weekend, I thought both teams provided an entertaining spectacle until of course the hooligans took over. After struggling yesterday to get a link between the Irish colonising Victoria and the Dublin riots of 1995, I thought it relevant to tell you about the German club FC St. Pauli, based in the Reeperbahn, Hamburg's red light district. Yes, a place where ladies of the night operate.

St Pauli is a genuinely KULT club, with left leaning politics at its heart, social activism prominent, such as raising money for charity, for example the Viva con Aqua de Sankt Pauli, that helps finance development schemes in Cuba and Rwanda. It bans hooliganism, has a large number of female fans and its ground is known as "Das Freudenhaus Der Liga" literally the house of joy, or in some eyes the brothel! Of course the club supports gay rites.

Founded originally in 1899 the club played in the German league from 1910 and has found itself competing successfully in the Bundesliga in recent years. Like many European clubs, it supports a multitude of teams and sports under the club banner. It is a truly community club.

In the 1980s a part of the docks near the ground became news worthy because some working class houses were due to be demolished by the local authorities. Squatters moved in and a mosaic of characters from punk rockers to eco-warriors adopted St. Pauli as their club. The team runs onto the pitch to the tune of AC/DCs Hell's Bells and they play the opposing team's anthem too. When the home team scores a goal Blur's Song 2 is played over the tannoys.

The club and the crowd respect fair play and greets the opposition supporters as guests. No anti-banners are allowed and if the opposing crowd sings anti-St. Pauli songs they are met with applause and sarcasm.

The club flag is the skull and cross bones respecting Hamburg's famous pirate Klaus Stortebeker!