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St. Pauli
En los años ochenta, gracias a los jóvenes vinculados al movimiento autónomo, al punk y al fenómeno de ocupación de viviendas, el St. Pauli se convirtió progresivamente en un club de culto. Desde entonces reconstruyó su identidad alrededor de unos parámetros completamente diferentes a los precedentes. A pesar de su escaso éxito deportivo, consiguió proyectarse como un equipo alternativo dada la serie de iniciativas de carácter social que emprendió una parte de su afición. Gracias a la identificación con ideas políticas de la izquierda, su escudo y sus estandartes han estado presentes en movilizaciones como Can Vies en Barcelona, Gamonal en Burgos o Gezi en Estambul (Turquía). Se ha convertido en un símbolo y suma más de 500 peñas repartidas por toda Europa, media docena de ellas en España.
El St. Pauli es la constatación de que otra forma de entender el mundo y el fútbol es posible. Es romanticismo en estado puro y es lo más similar al fútbol de barrio, a aquel fútbol popular que nuestros bisabuelos contemplaban desde las gradas cien años atrás. La forma de ser del FCSP ha hecho que personas de cualquier punto del mundo utilicen la bandera y el escudo en los movimientos sociales en los que participan. El año que viene seguirá en la Segunda División alemana, pero sus escudos estarán por toda Europa en primera línea de las protestas.
El St. Pauli es la constatación de que otra forma de entender el mundo y el fútbol es posible. Es romanticismo en estado puro y es lo más similar al fútbol de barrio, a aquel fútbol popular que nuestros bisabuelos contemplaban desde las gradas cien años atrás. La forma de ser del FCSP ha hecho que personas de cualquier punto del mundo utilicen la bandera y el escudo en los movimientos sociales en los que participan. El año que viene seguirá en la Segunda División alemana, pero sus escudos estarán por toda Europa en primera línea de las protestas.
304 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2017
63 people are currently reading
583 people want to read
About the author
Carles Viñas
17 books9 followersCarles Viñas i Gràcia (Barcelona, 1972) és un historiador, escriptor, professor universitari i excantant català, doctor en Història Contemporània per la Universitat de Barcelona. Especialista en subcultures urbanes, ha publicat àmpliament sobre el tema dels caps rapats i ultres del futbol. És membre del Grup de Recerca en Estats, Nacions i Sobiranies de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra i de l'Estanding Group on Extremism and Democracy (European Consortium for Political Research).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
February 6, 2021
Eye opening club but last chapter on the destruction of class consciousness in modern global-capitalist football has shattered how I see football. Excellent.
June 7, 2021
Infumable. Edición nefasta. Letras juntas, párrafos monstruosos, datos, datos, cifras, minuciosos sucesos que tienen muy poco de interés para mi gusto. Demasiado académico y sesudo, aburrido, lo dejé en el primer cuarto del libro.
January 5, 2021
Review
This book is packed with facts, touching on St. Pauli, the city of Hamburg, and German history. The authors have taken meticulous care to collect a lot of information, and there are lots of interesting tidbits (see my favourite highlights below). For anyone new to St. Pauli, this gives a solid overview of its fan history. I was especially intrigued by the club's tension between its anti-sexism principles and close links to Hamburg's red-light district.
However, in terms of structure, I found this book to be all over the place. The book sorts everything chronologically and does not have any themed (sub-)sections. That way, we jump from an explanation of NATO's Double-Track policy to Bundesliga match results within the same paragraph and without any apparent link. There is also the problem that some whole anecdotes get repeated. Sometimes this happens just a few pages apart. I also have some smaller gripes with some of its factual omissions.*
Additionally, I should point out that the use of footnotes is quite excessive -- possibly almost a quarter of the book. There is nothing with that per se. But most of the exciting stuff only happens in the footnotes, and I suspect many readers will miss out on it. In fact, for people who are already vaguely familiar with German/St. Pauli history I honestly think you are better of just reading the footnotes (at least until we get to the 1980s).
Lastly, the biggest problem I had with this book is that it is really dry on analysis. Maybe I was going in with the wrong expectations based on the title and its publisher, but until the last 50 pages, the book re-tells "what happened". I often felt like I was reading a very long Wikipedia article. Towards the end, the book unpacks St Pauli's challenge of not commercialising its brand and its historical neglect of its women teams. But in my opinion, that is too little too late. It could have gone into these topics a lot further.
There are also loads of other things the book could have touched on. How did football lose its initial bourgeoise status in Germany? Why was the left-wing opposed to the sport until the mid-1980s? And what led the DFB to adopt the 50+1 rule as opposed to other leagues?
Often, the history of St. Pauli lends itself to give an interesting perspective on German history. Case-in-point, the story of Otto Wolff -- St. Pauli's star player in its 1931. As the footnotes document, Wolff (who fittingly played on the right-wing) became one of Hamburg's highest-ranking SS officials and personally expropriated Jewish properties for his wealth. After being shorty imprisoned at the end of the war, he founded a successful insurance company using his connections to Hamburg's ex-governor. With Wolff remaining involved with St. Pauli, the club awarded him a Goldenen Ehrennadel in 1960. St. Pauli only undid this honour posthumously in 2010. If that is not the perfect example to showcase Germany's de-Nazification programme's failures, I don't know what is!
Favourite Highlights
Fascism never again, war never again, Third Division never again!
Littmann [the first openly homosexual president of a German football club] dressed in drag when accepting the role and made a declaration that became a motto: I'm as faithful to my club as I am unfaithful to my lovers.
Frosch also had a reputation of being a compulsive smoker -- smoking (it is said) up to 60 cigarettes a day -- and alcoholic, drinking a record of 30 beers in a day.
[When St. Pauli played in the third division] the 2004-5 season was launched with the slogan "Viva St. Pauli Third Class Struggle" as a tribute to Fidel Castro's Cuba. In the official team photo, the players appear wearing military caps and shirts and saluting with closed fists, against a background of Cuban flags in brown and white team colours.
This aversion [to a new police premise being set up next to the fan area] was ironically subverted when a banner with the acronym ACABAB (All Cops Are Bastards Apart from Boll) was displayed in the stadium, in reference to former St Pauli captain Fabian Boll, who combined his football career with his job as a police inspector.
On 3 December, during the match played at home against Wolfsburg, a protest was held in which 7,000 yellow cards were shown when the players went on the pitch.
One of the places that was least affected at first by the shelling was St Pauli, of which only a third was destroyed.
According to the [Nazi] regime's calculations, 40% of St. Pauli residents were anti-social.
The club's support was questioned when the African team's managers expelled two players for being lesbians. The controversy generated and FC St. Pauli's complaints led to the reinstatement of both players. Bizarrely, the African team thought the German club wanted all players to be lesbian.
___
*Given that a plethora of footnotes and tangents characterises the book, I found it awkward that it omitted the following facts (there might be others I am unaware of):
"In 2014 [Uli Hoeness] resigned as a result of personal tax debts." -- Hoeness resigned because he had to go to jail for evading 28.5m€; in taxes. This was one (if not the) biggest Bundesliga story that year.
"... to win support for the RAF prisoners, who had been on hunger strike since 1984 in protest against their solitary confinement." -- The Rote Armee Fraktion was a far-left militant organisation responsible for murdering 35 people, and most senior members committed suicide in prison after the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181 failed. I point this out because the book documents every far-right organisation in great detail, but I couldn't find any reference to what the RAF did.
"Nearly 30% of spectators who attend matches at the Millentor are women -- a record-breaking figure in Europe. This can be explained by the club's commitment to supporting equality and sexism" -- Much earlier in the book we are also told that "in the first half of the 1980s [before the club became kult], a quarter of St Pauli's fans were women". It would be interesting to understand these two facts better. A 5% gain over 40 years does not seem very significant? Did women follow football an unusually high amount in the early 1980s? If so, why?
December 30, 2017
Excepcional libro que explica de una manera detallada y entretenida, la linea de vida y la línea ideológica de este club que ya es un referente de como vivir el fútbol de una manera distinta. Las referencias históricas utilizadas para entender la sociedad alemana (los pies de página son exquisitos) y como estas influyeron en el pensamiento del club, sitúan al lector en un contexto ideal para interiorizar de una mejor manera el movimiento sanktpaulista. Gran trabajo que combina narrativa con investigación.
November 17, 2024
The story of a club who's fans have some influence over it's focus and direction and the vociferous minority who insist politics and football are intertwined. St. Pauli, since the 1980s has been a trailblazer in the campaign for equality, diversity, and support for the most vulnerable, including refugees. However, the commercialisation that has consumed football and the changing supporter demographic as a consequence of the gentrification of a once working class neighbourhood, threatens the very essence of this proud peoples club.
July 16, 2023
It doesn’t have to be this way. Football need not be a morass of sportswashing and hyper-partisan trolling, with a discourse dominated by the increasingly unsustainable transfer-industrial complex, its most prestigious clubs becoming the playthings of the now-omnipresent betting corporations and middle eastern sovereign wealth funds. At FC St. Pauli of Hamburg they do things differently, showing that – as declared by the sub-title of Carles Vinas and Natxo Parra’s book on the history of the German club – “another football is possible”.
FC St. Pauli has attained an iconic status – despite negligible on-field success throughout their history – having become perhaps the predominant example of a ‘cult club’ in world football. The club has achieved this paradoxical standing by forging an identity for itself as football’s ultimate rebel outsiders, taking a forceful position against all forms of discrimination, becoming the first football club in the world to adopt an official stance against racism, homophobia, and sexism.
In this book, Vinas & Parra trace the history of the club, taking us down some surprising alleys. They take us from its early roots in bourgeois Hamburg society, the accommodations the club leaders had to make during the Nazi era to keep the club alive, through to FC St. Pauli finding their current identity in the 1980s as an anti-fascist counterforce to the rise of right-wing extremism on Germany’s football terraces.
The authors are enlightening on how St. Pauli’s 80s shift to becoming an anti-establishment ‘cult club’ was integrally linked to the autonomist and squatter movements in the Hamburg of that time. This inspired fans’ vision for FC St. Pauli as one where the club would “actively participate in the life and defence of its neighbourhood”. This symbiosis between football fandom and political activism paved the way not just for St. Pauli’s trailblazing stance against discrimination, but also later allowed it to address such differing societal issues as male depression, refugee outreach, the promotion of women’s football, police brutality and even beekeeping.
While the club’s on-field performances are arguably the least interesting aspect of FC Pauli, Vinas & Parra’s detailing of The Pirates’ Bundesliga history feels perfunctory, as if the authors have merely done a cut and paste from Wikipedia because they are in a rush to get to the cool lefty stuff. This can be a peculiar book to read in that – particularly during its first half – the authors’ footnotes are far more interesting than the main text. Vinas and Parra deploy the footnotes to assist the reader with areas such as the intricacies of German history, the complexities of far-left politics, the origins of the Bundesliga, and the intrigues of Hamburg cultural life.
All of these are fascinating subjects, but their incessant presentation in a footnote format too often takes the reader out of the headspace of the standard text and disrupts the flow of the reading experience. Such a structure gives the impression that Vinas & Parra actually wanted to write a broader book about German football or the political history of the country – or that they failed to mould their considerable research into a coherent narrative that might integrate these footnotes.
This inaccessibility is compounded by the authors’ frequent use of Marxist academic language (their final, impenetrable chapter on the concept of ‘Against Modern Football’ is particularly guilty of this tendency) and a leaden, plodding translation (the English language version of the book I read had, I assume, been through at least one and possibly two translations).
There is undoubtedly an excellent book to be written about the many facets of FC St. Pauli’s inspiring story, not least on the uneasy tensions between idealism and the seemingly unstoppable commercialisation of modern football. Unfortunately, this is not that book. That is a shame, and a missed opportunity on the part of Carles Vinas & Natxo Parra, as FC St. Pauli undeniably have a tale to tell, and they continue to stand as a symbol of hope for millions of anti-establishment football fans around the world.
FC St. Pauli has attained an iconic status – despite negligible on-field success throughout their history – having become perhaps the predominant example of a ‘cult club’ in world football. The club has achieved this paradoxical standing by forging an identity for itself as football’s ultimate rebel outsiders, taking a forceful position against all forms of discrimination, becoming the first football club in the world to adopt an official stance against racism, homophobia, and sexism.
In this book, Vinas & Parra trace the history of the club, taking us down some surprising alleys. They take us from its early roots in bourgeois Hamburg society, the accommodations the club leaders had to make during the Nazi era to keep the club alive, through to FC St. Pauli finding their current identity in the 1980s as an anti-fascist counterforce to the rise of right-wing extremism on Germany’s football terraces.
The authors are enlightening on how St. Pauli’s 80s shift to becoming an anti-establishment ‘cult club’ was integrally linked to the autonomist and squatter movements in the Hamburg of that time. This inspired fans’ vision for FC St. Pauli as one where the club would “actively participate in the life and defence of its neighbourhood”. This symbiosis between football fandom and political activism paved the way not just for St. Pauli’s trailblazing stance against discrimination, but also later allowed it to address such differing societal issues as male depression, refugee outreach, the promotion of women’s football, police brutality and even beekeeping.
While the club’s on-field performances are arguably the least interesting aspect of FC Pauli, Vinas & Parra’s detailing of The Pirates’ Bundesliga history feels perfunctory, as if the authors have merely done a cut and paste from Wikipedia because they are in a rush to get to the cool lefty stuff. This can be a peculiar book to read in that – particularly during its first half – the authors’ footnotes are far more interesting than the main text. Vinas and Parra deploy the footnotes to assist the reader with areas such as the intricacies of German history, the complexities of far-left politics, the origins of the Bundesliga, and the intrigues of Hamburg cultural life.
All of these are fascinating subjects, but their incessant presentation in a footnote format too often takes the reader out of the headspace of the standard text and disrupts the flow of the reading experience. Such a structure gives the impression that Vinas & Parra actually wanted to write a broader book about German football or the political history of the country – or that they failed to mould their considerable research into a coherent narrative that might integrate these footnotes.
This inaccessibility is compounded by the authors’ frequent use of Marxist academic language (their final, impenetrable chapter on the concept of ‘Against Modern Football’ is particularly guilty of this tendency) and a leaden, plodding translation (the English language version of the book I read had, I assume, been through at least one and possibly two translations).
There is undoubtedly an excellent book to be written about the many facets of FC St. Pauli’s inspiring story, not least on the uneasy tensions between idealism and the seemingly unstoppable commercialisation of modern football. Unfortunately, this is not that book. That is a shame, and a missed opportunity on the part of Carles Vinas & Natxo Parra, as FC St. Pauli undeniably have a tale to tell, and they continue to stand as a symbol of hope for millions of anti-establishment football fans around the world.
February 28, 2021
A very strong last few chapters (especially the final one on modern football), but let down by earlier ones that are a bit muddled, and could do with better editing (way too much information and discussion is given through footnotes)
June 13, 2021
What is certain is that once you know its history, past and present, it is difficult not to love St. Pauli
I don't think this is a particularly well-written book, and I thought the translation was poor, but I did enjoy reading about St. Pauli. Their continued work in the community and commitment to anti-racism, anti-fascism, anti-discrimination, etc. is really impressive, particularly as football becomes increasingly commercialised and globalised. The rising tension between these values, which give St. Pauli global appeal, and the commodification of their image was also interesting to consider.
The epilogue which criticises modern football from a Marxist perspective - "...modern football exemplifies the process of alienation and depoliticisation and is the opium of the people" - is especially relevant today given recent developments during the COVID-19 pandemic and the attempt at forming a breakaway Super League by some of Europe's 'elite' clubs. The community work of players like Marcus Rashford, and united response of fans and players against the Super League, hint at a social consciousness that is not altogether lost. However, whether this builds into something bigger remains to be seen.
I don't think this is a particularly well-written book, and I thought the translation was poor, but I did enjoy reading about St. Pauli. Their continued work in the community and commitment to anti-racism, anti-fascism, anti-discrimination, etc. is really impressive, particularly as football becomes increasingly commercialised and globalised. The rising tension between these values, which give St. Pauli global appeal, and the commodification of their image was also interesting to consider.
The epilogue which criticises modern football from a Marxist perspective - "...modern football exemplifies the process of alienation and depoliticisation and is the opium of the people" - is especially relevant today given recent developments during the COVID-19 pandemic and the attempt at forming a breakaway Super League by some of Europe's 'elite' clubs. The community work of players like Marcus Rashford, and united response of fans and players against the Super League, hint at a social consciousness that is not altogether lost. However, whether this builds into something bigger remains to be seen.
September 28, 2020
Un libro que te habla de la pertenecía y la asociación en un mundo cada vez más individualista
December 13, 2017
El FC St. Pauli hoy en día es ciertamente más conocido, pero la mayor parte de sus seguidores son más burgueses que aquellos de los años ochenta, en los que la verdadera gente del barrio, obreros, artistas, punks y militantes ocupaban las gradas.
September 10, 2023
FC St Pauli, Hamburg’s other club and very much the darling of the critics of corporate football, including those working to the slogan that ‘another football is possible’, has attracted attention mainly for the sense that it is deeply grounded in its neighbourhood, and for its strong stances in support of equality and social justice. This engaging, and broadly supportive book, explores the genesis of the club, and unpacks some of the claims made for the depth and longevity of those social justice commitments, recognising the important role played by fan groups in the club’s practice and image.
Viñas and Parra are very good at unpacking the tensions around the club’s recent anti-racist, including migrant support, anti-sexist, and gay rights activism, including exploring the contests within the club’s leadership and ownership groups. In doing so they make clear the distinction between the club as an institution and some of its supporter groups, where the activism rests and that continue to build pressure on the club to take stronger and more consistent stances. These issues are well contextualised in three frames; the club’s need to remain commercially viable, changes in Hamburg’s political complexion, and the requirements of the Bundesliga. There is also a clear sense that they see a good degree of fan autonomy as a positive thing, allowing action unconstrained by these frames.
They are cautious in their analysis. Their scrutiny of the claims that the club was an anti-fascist force during the Nazi era leads to the conclusion, for instance, that while some members may have been the evidence for the club taking a position is weak. That would be in line with many civil society organisations during the Nazi era. It is this kind of approach to the evidence that reveals Viñas’ and Parra’s scholarly credentials as historian and lawyer respectively, as does the extensive use of footnotes, in places to cite evidence, in other places to carry on critical discussion or to provide institutional and structural contexts.
It is also this scholarliness that is the book’s principal difficulty – it seems to be pitched a t a more general, non-academic, audience, yet some of the writing and the accoutrements of academia (extensive footnoting, for instance) suggests otherwise. I don’t want to overplay this – it’s not the anti-intellectualist red herring of some critics (I’m n academic who struggles to write for wider audiences – and have great respect for those who manage to do so); it is merely a question of market and therefore readers’ expectations.
Even so, it remains an engaging, sharply insightful, critically nuanced exploration of football club and its fans, whose collective actions so us that indeed another football is possible.
Viñas and Parra are very good at unpacking the tensions around the club’s recent anti-racist, including migrant support, anti-sexist, and gay rights activism, including exploring the contests within the club’s leadership and ownership groups. In doing so they make clear the distinction between the club as an institution and some of its supporter groups, where the activism rests and that continue to build pressure on the club to take stronger and more consistent stances. These issues are well contextualised in three frames; the club’s need to remain commercially viable, changes in Hamburg’s political complexion, and the requirements of the Bundesliga. There is also a clear sense that they see a good degree of fan autonomy as a positive thing, allowing action unconstrained by these frames.
They are cautious in their analysis. Their scrutiny of the claims that the club was an anti-fascist force during the Nazi era leads to the conclusion, for instance, that while some members may have been the evidence for the club taking a position is weak. That would be in line with many civil society organisations during the Nazi era. It is this kind of approach to the evidence that reveals Viñas’ and Parra’s scholarly credentials as historian and lawyer respectively, as does the extensive use of footnotes, in places to cite evidence, in other places to carry on critical discussion or to provide institutional and structural contexts.
It is also this scholarliness that is the book’s principal difficulty – it seems to be pitched a t a more general, non-academic, audience, yet some of the writing and the accoutrements of academia (extensive footnoting, for instance) suggests otherwise. I don’t want to overplay this – it’s not the anti-intellectualist red herring of some critics (I’m n academic who struggles to write for wider audiences – and have great respect for those who manage to do so); it is merely a question of market and therefore readers’ expectations.
Even so, it remains an engaging, sharply insightful, critically nuanced exploration of football club and its fans, whose collective actions so us that indeed another football is possible.
February 23, 2025
The last chapter is so strong I'd almost forgive the rest of the book [though I do wonder if the understanding of social movements at the end is arborescent in a way D+G would frown upon, and it offers a somewhat unflexible understanding of identity and the self]. In some ways that also highlights the issue though - it would've actually made a fantastic introduction; and if the author's could've threaded those politics into the other chapters and tied their argument against modern football together using the example of St. Pauli and their historical transformation; this would've made for a much better read.
Instead; the book comes off as kind of confused - labouring through the history slowly and often without seemingly like it's going towards any particular point; repeating the same points/events across multiple chapters but treating them as if they're new [whoever edited this should never be forgiven for not addressing this]; and it feels like 50% of the book takes place in the footnotes. Just write a longer book! And organise it better!
That's not even addressing the big elephant in the room - the anti-Deutsche left and Zionism; and particularly how that relates to St. Pauli. Obviously this book was published prior to the events of October 2023 and the rejection of St. Pauli from a lot of their international fans; but if you want to talk about the context and limitations of the club's ideology; this feels like a pretty big one to miss.
I would honestly recommend the final chapter to most football fans I know; but the rest of the book is a slog.
Instead; the book comes off as kind of confused - labouring through the history slowly and often without seemingly like it's going towards any particular point; repeating the same points/events across multiple chapters but treating them as if they're new [whoever edited this should never be forgiven for not addressing this]; and it feels like 50% of the book takes place in the footnotes. Just write a longer book! And organise it better!
That's not even addressing the big elephant in the room - the anti-Deutsche left and Zionism; and particularly how that relates to St. Pauli. Obviously this book was published prior to the events of October 2023 and the rejection of St. Pauli from a lot of their international fans; but if you want to talk about the context and limitations of the club's ideology; this feels like a pretty big one to miss.
I would honestly recommend the final chapter to most football fans I know; but the rest of the book is a slog.
December 9, 2020
This review also appears on my blog: https://livemanylives.wordpress.com/
It can feel like football has lost its way. Since the inception of the Premier League in England back in 1992 there has been an inexorable trend towards money being more important than the game itself. Fans now clamour for wealthy foreign owners, with no historic connection to their club or town, to come in and “save them” from the trauma of being unable to complete with the already filthy rich, as the gap between the top clubs and everyone else becomes a chasm.
The fear of missing out is greater than all other concerns as fans close their eyes to human rights abuses, financial irregularities, accusations of corruption, a bit of casual racism, anything that might have to make them face the realities of who is paying the bills or scoring the goals. Often when a crack appears in our appreciation of the game we turn to Germany for some hope, with their fan orientated ownership rules and natural engagement. At our moments of greatest clarity, we turn to FC St Pauli.
Another Football Is Possible is the history of that club, researched in remarkable detail by the Spanish authors, (Carles Viñas is a historian specialising in football and music and Natxo Parra is a labour lawyer). It tells the story of this unique club from its early days as a bourgeois institution in a troubled country, through its transformation into a defining beacon of its community, to the modern day globally recognised, free-spirited pirate club.
The early chapters are fascinating as much for their history of football’s development in Germany alongside the horrors of Nazism and the changing political, social and economic climates of two world wars. At a very personal level to the club and its community, Wilhelm Koch, who was a defining leader in the club’s early years, was later disowned and had his name removed from the stadium due to his links to the Nazi party. Such a leading figurehead so at odds with the club we know now.
It is the club’s later development, however, through the 1970s and 80s, as it became one with the vibrant, alternative community that dominated the local streets around its stadium, that matter most. This is where we see a football club that is defined by values rather than results. A club that would rather do the right thing by itself and its members than lose itself in the short-term chase for fleeting glory. This is the rare jewel of FC St Pauli that draws so many around the world towards it.
It hasn’t all been a smooth democratic process. There have been disagreements, with some fans not liking the politicisation of their club and more recently younger fans not having the same direct link to the struggles of the older communities. There are disputes between fans and the club’s senior management and indeed between different groups of fans, as you would expect of any organisation of any size.
There is also a constant tension between the club’s values and the dominant culture of consumerism that drives a commercialisation of absolutely everything, including the club’s soul. How do you remain true to what you believe when the merchandising of your identifying insignia is cynically sold around the world. Like a Che Guevara t-shirt, the Jolly Roger of St Pauli has been absorbed into the very system that it was designed to rile against.
What is clear is how FC St Pauli reflects its specific people and place, both geographically and historically, and that for any other club taking inspiration from it there is a need to understand their own roots and identity, rather than trying to claim a part of St Pauli’s. It is good that we are able to admire this club and explore both its values and its tensions, but that shouldn’t let our own clubs off the hook. We need to demand a place at our own tables too.
It can feel like football has lost its way. Since the inception of the Premier League in England back in 1992 there has been an inexorable trend towards money being more important than the game itself. Fans now clamour for wealthy foreign owners, with no historic connection to their club or town, to come in and “save them” from the trauma of being unable to complete with the already filthy rich, as the gap between the top clubs and everyone else becomes a chasm.
The fear of missing out is greater than all other concerns as fans close their eyes to human rights abuses, financial irregularities, accusations of corruption, a bit of casual racism, anything that might have to make them face the realities of who is paying the bills or scoring the goals. Often when a crack appears in our appreciation of the game we turn to Germany for some hope, with their fan orientated ownership rules and natural engagement. At our moments of greatest clarity, we turn to FC St Pauli.
Another Football Is Possible is the history of that club, researched in remarkable detail by the Spanish authors, (Carles Viñas is a historian specialising in football and music and Natxo Parra is a labour lawyer). It tells the story of this unique club from its early days as a bourgeois institution in a troubled country, through its transformation into a defining beacon of its community, to the modern day globally recognised, free-spirited pirate club.
The early chapters are fascinating as much for their history of football’s development in Germany alongside the horrors of Nazism and the changing political, social and economic climates of two world wars. At a very personal level to the club and its community, Wilhelm Koch, who was a defining leader in the club’s early years, was later disowned and had his name removed from the stadium due to his links to the Nazi party. Such a leading figurehead so at odds with the club we know now.
It is the club’s later development, however, through the 1970s and 80s, as it became one with the vibrant, alternative community that dominated the local streets around its stadium, that matter most. This is where we see a football club that is defined by values rather than results. A club that would rather do the right thing by itself and its members than lose itself in the short-term chase for fleeting glory. This is the rare jewel of FC St Pauli that draws so many around the world towards it.
It hasn’t all been a smooth democratic process. There have been disagreements, with some fans not liking the politicisation of their club and more recently younger fans not having the same direct link to the struggles of the older communities. There are disputes between fans and the club’s senior management and indeed between different groups of fans, as you would expect of any organisation of any size.
There is also a constant tension between the club’s values and the dominant culture of consumerism that drives a commercialisation of absolutely everything, including the club’s soul. How do you remain true to what you believe when the merchandising of your identifying insignia is cynically sold around the world. Like a Che Guevara t-shirt, the Jolly Roger of St Pauli has been absorbed into the very system that it was designed to rile against.
What is clear is how FC St Pauli reflects its specific people and place, both geographically and historically, and that for any other club taking inspiration from it there is a need to understand their own roots and identity, rather than trying to claim a part of St Pauli’s. It is good that we are able to admire this club and explore both its values and its tensions, but that shouldn’t let our own clubs off the hook. We need to demand a place at our own tables too.
May 3, 2022
As a history of St Pauli and Hamburg more generally, this is a good read. It gives a lot of anecdotes from people involved with the club and the area and explains how St Pauli became such a cult club. I do think structurally its problematic, there were so many footnotes to get through, and quite often they would have the best information in them which makes you wonder why it wasn't just included in the main text. It didn't flow very well and jumped about a lot between periods and also themes. The chapter on women's football was really short and went into no detail as to why St Pauli has the ‘biggest female followong' - it also offered no evidence to verify this..so I certainly had my issues with it. Also the last chapter made me feel like a scumbag for watching modern football and was quite deflating, eventhough I agree with the points made. Could have been a lot better
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May 12, 2023El St. Pauli es ese pequeño poblado vikingo de la Galia que resiste las embestidas de las legiones romanas del fútbol moderno. Haciendo de sus valores dogmas irrenunciables, se ha erigido en un club único. Es el equipo del pueblo para el pueblo. Fútbol arraigado al barrio pero admirado en todo el mundo. Sí, la entidad de Hamburgo ha demostrado que otro fútbol es posible y nuestro colaborador Carles Viñas y el abogado laboralista Natxo Parra nos lo descubren en este libro imprescindible para los románticos del balón.
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Puedes encontrar esta review en el #Panenka63. Disponible en
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Puedes encontrar esta review en el #Panenka63. Disponible en
tienda.panenka.org.
August 29, 2020
Una parte perimportante del llibru ta dedicada a la hestoria de club, que si bien ye necesaria pa poner en contestu la evolución ideolóxica y la tresformación del mesmu, tien un pesu sobredimensionáu. Amás, échase de menos la visión dende la perspeutiva de los xugadores o entrenadores, o aspeutos de la forma interna de furrular el club.
Nun ye cenciellu de siguir el rellatu cronolóxicu y hai delles hestories repetíes en dalgunes partes del llibru.
Nun ye cenciellu de siguir el rellatu cronolóxicu y hai delles hestories repetíes en dalgunes partes del llibru.
April 17, 2025
Interesting if slightly monotonous look at the history of St Pauli, all the way from the resistance of the port city to the Hanseatic League up to the club's solidarity with refugees arriving in Germany during the 2010s. The authors really grab you in their conclusion, drawing on Gramscian and Marxist theory to construct a notion of democratic football clubs as a bulwark against fascism, a critical analysis slightly missing in the earlier chapters.
February 22, 2021
A fascinating club, and a very interesting story, but unfortunately not a great telling. It comes across as very dry and academic, and the author absolutely loves a footnote.
Good as a potted history of why St Pauli is why it is, but not one to really explain why the club is so beloved all around the world.
Good as a potted history of why St Pauli is why it is, but not one to really explain why the club is so beloved all around the world.
January 19, 2021
Really informative in terms of the history of German football, German politics and how they interact. Certain chapters are a bit heavy going but would recommend for anyone interested in left solidarity in sport
March 29, 2023
Molt bon llibre per entendre el fenomen del FC St. Pauli a nivell històric i social. Els autors, però, fan un ús abusiu de cites i referències, fent que l'assaig adquireixi un caire molt més acadèmic del que es podria esperar. L'epíleg, una anàlisi sociològica del futbol modern, és excel·lent.
September 21, 2024
There's a good book in there somewhere. The use of footnotes is infuriating - half of them should be in the main body of text as they are far more interesting than the main narrative.
However, the epilogue "Against Modern Football" is brilliant.
However, the epilogue "Against Modern Football" is brilliant.
July 23, 2025
not the most objective history at times and dense in spots. wish it talked about the current issue of st paulis support of the genocide in Palestine as it seems extremely antithetical to what the club stands for, and left a sour taste in my mouth when I finished the book
February 7, 2019
Interessant i punt (.)
August 6, 2020
Buen libro para conocer un poco más a fondo la historia de este singular club.
February 25, 2021
Must read for all footie fans.
June 20, 2021
A good introduction to St Pauli
July 26, 2021
Must read for anybody interested in St. Pauli, or German football/grassroots in general.
September 26, 2022
Llibre molt ben documentat, ple de notes a peu de pàgina, com tots els que he llegit del Carles Viñas. Per una part, perceps la veritat del que s'hi explica. Per l'altra, la història perd ritme.
November 3, 2023
So much love for St Pauli. I really wish more football clubs followed their lead.
Modern Football really is a disgrace.
Bucket list is for me to get back to Hamburg to see a game.
Modern Football really is a disgrace.
Bucket list is for me to get back to Hamburg to see a game.
August 2, 2024
O epílogo tem que ser emoldurado, pelo menos, em todo o clube de bairro, para que nunca sonhem em perder sua alma.
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