HSV v The Tramps

Just back home from Hamburg after the city derby against St Pauli.
1000 police on duty, fan marches of thousands to the ground all orchestrated by the so called ultras if you like that sort of thing, but still looks and and sound impressive. Not much trouble either.
Top quality food, drink and merchandise at really cheap prices although our tickets were expensive this time, but to be expected for this one.
An electric atmosphere with the game held up at times because of the pyros and ensuing smoke, its worth Googling or youtubing to get an idea
Was anyone injured, did anyone even complain? Nope they just stood and enjoyed the flares, fireworks, rockets and crescendo of noise coming from every stand.
In this country we get a poxy little smoke bomb lobbed and the the place goes into meltdown.

Will be the same here in Athens today except there may be a bit more violence, Olympians v AEK, third v second with both teams in with a chance of still catching leaders Panathanaikos. There will be a full on atmosphere and no attempt to stop the flares and fireworks and no one will complain

We all know the whole ‘flares (they mean smoke bombs anyway) are dangerous thing’ is generally nonsense….it’s not what we’ve had hear so we don’t like it.

Been to countless games abroad, even in America where it’s the and of litigation and Health and Safety gone mad and they had them. Atmosphere at all were amazing.

Naturally, I’d be more of a St. Pauli fan…now Greek football is definitely on my list but I know it’s mental and the most bizarre ways are used to stop fans travelling etc…

I remember going to a stag do in Hamburg 20 odd years ago.
We was drinking around the Reeperbahn in a bar full of Hamburg memorabilia , Kev Keegan photos etc.
Most of our group were enjoying the local delights of that area when a group of Hamburg fans starting to come in , they was asking who we supported etc and invited us to go to the game with them and fight against the Stuttgart fans who they was playing that day .
We politely declined but later that day bumped into thousands of Stuttgart fans who seemed to resemble a biker gang or Hells Angels 😂
The Hamburg fans we’d bumped into pretty much dressed the same as us

Been to watch Hamburg twice in the 2000’s, and it was fantastic. The biker-types who supported Hamburg were absolutely annihilated, and scruffy as f#ck! Brilliant atmosphere.

St Pauli is on the bucket list, absolutely.

Both in Bundesliga 2 nowadays, by all accounts.

Quoted from Heisenberg

Been to watch Hamburg twice in the 2000’s, and it was fantastic. The biker-types who supported Hamburg were absolutely annihilated, and scruffy as f#ck! Brilliant atmosphere.

St Pauli is on the bucket list, absolutely.

Both in Bundesliga 2 nowadays, by all accounts.

Wouldn't bother mate, they come across with this all nice as pie, everyone loves us balderdash.
The reality I've seen over the last 25 years is a bunch of bullies who would happily go ten onto one down a sidestreet or out of camera range on the UBahn.
There was a CockSparrer gig where they were picking off middle aged Hamburg SV and skinhead guys just because they were skinhead.
Too thick to understand what Skinhead actually is all about of course.
The HSV firms weren't too happy as there's an unwritten rule in the city that everyone rocks along until there's a game on. As it should be.
Everyone thinks of them as planet loving, environment friendly, lefty, hippy anti fascists.
That's not my experience.
It's incredible to me, the number of times I've been to my punk gigs and seen and spoken to the herberts in their Sankt Pauli tops proclaiming their support of the club without even realising its based in Germany,  never mind Hamburg, or even attending a game.
It's a fantastic marketing ploy by these supposed socialists who claim to hate capitalism.
Once again, football does irony.
It's a beautiful and stunning city and although we've our favourite places, bars and go to places, there's always more to discover.
Unfortunately Reeperbahn is a cliché on weekend, full of drunk Brits, druggy prostitutes and knife wielding Turkish minders, swerve it, although midweek it's quieter with entertainment in the many bars.
The Sankt Pauli waterfront or Sternschanze are cracking.
Both areas are Pauli,  but everyone welcome.
Whether HSV or FCSP you'll have a cracking time in the city.
Volksparkstadion pisses all over the tramps stadium mind. 😉

I went to a game in Germany once. Pre - season friendly. 1980. Newly promoted to the Bundesliga, Armenia Bielefeld against the pride of Lower Saxony, Goslarer SC 08. No trouble amongst the crowd of about 34. Bielefeld won 12 - 0. The Currywurst was ace.

I went to a few Bielefeld games in the early 80s. Saw them play Koln when Tony Woodcock was playing for them.