Ont Road

Ont Road

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Punk Football: Falling in love (again) with FC St Pauli


Punk Football: Falling in love (again) with FC St. Pauli. A self-reflection and review of Pirates, Punks, & Politics by Nick Davidson.


Reading Nick Davidson’s ‘Pirates, Punks, & Politics’ has reminded me why I fell in love with FC St. Pauli. It was when I first read about them during my ‘Football & Society’ module taught by Adam Brown, in the second year of a Sociology degree at Manchester Metropolitan University. Funnily enough, I now stand sided by side on the terraces with Adam, as a co-owner of the Punk Football team, ‘FC United of Manchester’. FC St Pauli are probably the most famous ‘Punk Football’ team throughout the world, and there is no surprise of the effect that Nick Davidson’s book has had when it contains the by-line ‘Falling in love with a radical football club’.  


I was so enamoured by what I had read during the course that I chose the club as a focus for my 3000-word essay questioning whether regional identities in football had been eroded by the globalisation of the game. Of course, St. Pauli were a perfect choice to argue against the claim, and it was during this time I started to research more about the club through it’s fanzines, and liaising with supporters through online message boards. Following the course, FC St Pauli fell off the radar somewhat, eclipsed by my hometown clubs venture in the Champions League and upper echelons of the English Premier League.

The fire was rekindled during the World Cup of 2006 in Germany. I was on a train from Copenhagen to Koln, and I decided to break the journey up with a few hours stop off in Hamburg. Even though there was a game on, the only thing I had on my mind was going to visit the Millerntor Stadium, the home of FC St. Pauli. It was great to have a look at the concrete logo outside the ground, visit the Club Shop, and circumvent the stadium trying to peer in as much as possible.  It just so happened that the World Cup ‘Fanladen’ was situated net door, yet after a brief investigation it was too crowded and the beer too expensive. Instead I opted to watch the game inside a FC St Pauli clubhouse, amongst like-minded people, drinking beer half the price, and supporting the clubs coffers rather than the World Cups sponsors.

My first visit to a match took place in the summer of 2007, and it was documented in the first issue of my fanzine ‘Ont Road’. Here is a selection from that article:

“Thankfully I got to the ground in plenty of time, despite the late train from Dresden. I picked up my ticket from Heikko, who runs the St. Pauli fan laden, which basically keeps tickets aside for foreign fans. I had emailed him a fortnight before and he kept one aside for me. It cost only 15 euros and it was for the home stand. Unfortunately there were no tickets for the anarchist stand, so I had to settle for second best.

The ground was busy, and I treated myself to a couple of fish butties, as all I had eaten all day was a couple of croissants. Inside the ground, they were only selling local beer, named ‘Astra’ and the food outlets were all run by local businesses. I liked this. Although I wasn’t feeling 100% (due to illness), the fact that it is still legal to drink football in the stands at German football games was enough to persuade me to get a pint and watch the game. It was a blazing hot day, and here I was in the middle of the stand (yes, you could actually stand up and watch a football game!) supping a pint of beer whilst watching the teams enter the pitch.

With the amount of black clothes, leather, patches and skulls on display, it actually seemed that I was at a heavy metal concert for a moment. Songs such as ‘Come on you boys in Brown’ and ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ were regularly sung throughout the game. St. Pauli took the lead in the first half, scoring a near post header into the goal at our side of the pitch. They held their nerve, and despite a few close moments at the end, managed to finish up victorious over FC Koblenz. It was a great feeling to sing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ during the closing minutes of the game. I certainly hope to be going to watch St. Pauli again in the future.”

Thankfully I held true to my word and in 2009 I was over in Hamburg to watch neo-crust punk band Tragedy, playing on the Onkel Otto’s stage, located on the punk street behind the Reeperbahn, as part of the unofficial ‘Hafengeburstag’ celebrations. This particular part of the district is synonymous with the birth of the FC St Pauli ‘mythos’ that started back in the 1980s when the local punks from the area started to go to the matches. And that is one of the fundamental things about FC St Pauli, it’s encompasses the whole district and community – it is an extension of the local identity in the immediate area around the stadium. It’s a state of mind.

A friend of mine who is a Bohemians FC supporter was over at the same time, and he had arranged to get us some tickets for the game the following day. A 2pm kick off is way to early, especially when you have been up late drinking Astra in Onkel Ottos, only to be kicked out at 6am, and to carry on the drinking with some punks on the street you have only just met. I was a complete wreck, but in good spirits and well behaved. The festival vibes of the ‘Harbour Birthday’, and the alternative punk streets events, had permeated me. After careful investigation on the Internet it turns out the match I went to was against Mainz, and ended with a 2:0 victory to St Pauli. The atmosphere was cracking again, and I even managed to see someone score with a lob from 40 yards out, before passing out on the Gegengerade for the whole of the second half. That was just a small part of one of the craziest few days in my life, and another reason what makes St Pauli so special.

The last time I visited the stadium was during the post-season of that same year. I was in town anyway, and it perfectly so happened that they were playing a friendly against Hearts of Midlothian. This was well documented in my ‘top 10 games of all time column’ in issue 3 of Ont Road Fanzine. Here is a copy of the text:

The week before the game, there was the annual ‘Schanzefestival’ in the St Pauli district of Hamburg. It is a generic street festival, which is traditionally followed by a night of rioting from the extreme left and bored youth. During the night, the police raided the St Pauli fans bar, The Jolly Roger. They proceeded to beat up a few people and they ended up knocking one of the fans teeth out. The stadium was littered with an array of anti-police banners, and the 8000 strong crowd all gathered in the clubs car park after the game. They then proceeded to go on an ‘anti-police brutality ‘ march around the streets of Hamburg.

* This was also the first time I got to stand in the ‘Sudkurve’ section with all the Ultras. We were drinking pints in the stands, and socialising with the other fans. The match was nothing more than a backdrop. One of the bizarre rituals of the ultras was during a St Pauli corner, the fans got out their keys and started to shake them up until the ball was kicked. There was also a gadgie in a Celtic shirt singing Henrik Larrson songs throughout the game. St Pauli went on to comfortably win the game, yet on this occasion there was more at stake than the result on the field. “No justice, no peace, fuck the police”. 

After reading Nick Davidson’s book, I will make another written vow to go and see St Pauli again. Next time in Germany it will have to be an away game, and in the UK when they come for a return friendly match with FC United of Manchester, when they have moved to their new stadium in Moston.

The book itself is the most comprehensive English language book about the club, which is testament to the time and research put in by the author. It documents the history of the club, it’s relationship with the local community, the fan scene, the politics, how it came to be in its current guise, everything that makes the club unique, and it is peppered with refreshing short trip reports that the author has made to watch them.

It’s a comprehensive guide, and an essential piece of reading for anyone interested in the club, or Punk Football. I just hope that Nick and people in his position don’t give up on English football completely, substituting their youthful experiences with the modern German game. There is a new football revolution taking place in the lower echelons of the league structure with the birth of fan-owned teams, putting the power back into the fans, who are taking a post-modern approach by trying to make friends not enemies, and bringing the soul and atmosphere back into the stadiums. Perhaps the ethos and ideals that the fans at St Pauli first pioneered will eventually permeate into the structure of other clubs worldwide and lead to an increasing inter-connected community of Punk Football Clubs. 

 
Lukas Schwarzbrennan

Punk Football Nomads
International Co-ordinator, Eccles & District Branch, FC United of Manchester
Member of Yorkshire St. Pauli (http://yorkshirestpauli.com)

* Massive respect to Nick Davidson for holding true to his clubs fans beliefs and donating all the profits from his book to the 1910 FC St. Pauli Museum Fan Project. Punk Football through and through.

Buy the book here

Friday, March 14, 2014

Lonkero - Original - The national drink of Finland - Gin Long Drink


Lonkero

 
Finland is a nation where half the population are pissed by dinnertime. They like to drink themselves into a state of suicidal depression. Long dark winters, a high dependency on the welfare state, and a lack of human interaction due to a low population density are some of the explanations banded around for this phenomenon. However, one idea often overlooked is the popularity of their national drink, Lonkero, which in English simply means ‘Long Drink’. However, before we take a closer look it’s important to look back at the history of alcohol in Finland, in order to understand the rise of the drink.


Following the first world war, Finland introduced a strict policy of prohibition, which managed to last until 1932, and just like the USA, a large illegal industry grew in the production of homemade alcohol, or moonshine as it’s colloquially known. This brought in a wave of popularity for strong alcoholic drinks. In 1952, Helsinki had the prestigious honour of hosting the summer Olympics. As a result, Finland was expecting a huge influx of foreign visitors, and given the fact that there was no cocktail culture in the country, the state monopoly on alcohol decided to introduce ‘long drink’ as a way of courting their foreign visitors. It is essentially a pre-mixed drink containing Gin and Grapefruit soda. It took off in a big way, and today it is still one of the most popular drinks in Finland. In order to widen the market it is now available in a variety of styles in the state run alcohol shops and on draft in the bars and nightclubs. Here is a guide to the variety of Lonkero available today:

Hartwall, Original Gin Long Drink, 5.5%, 33cl Can – The original and best without doubt, a light grey colour, slightly carbonated, and a subtle bittersweet taste of Gin and Grapefruit.

Hartwall, Light Gin Long Drink, 5.5%, 33cl Can – As is the case with light versions of any alcohol drink, it’s an attempt to widen the market to include people who are concerned with the media fuelled obsession of having a perfect figure. Whilst this version contains a tenth of the carbohydrates, it is replaced by three times as many E numbers, which makes the taste distinctly more artificial.

Hartwall, Strong Gin Long Drink, 7.5%, 33cl Can – One for the seasoned drinkers and those wanting to put the hammer down. It’s nothing different than the original besides a stronger Gin taste. Be done with it and get to isolation stage of drunk.

Hartwall, Cranberry Gin Long Drink, 5.5%, 33cl Can – A marked variation on the original with Grapefruit being replaced by Cranberry. Now whilst Cranberry doesn’t have the wide appeal as flavours such as orange or lemon, and does keep the drink to an obscure taste, it is too much of a radical departure from the original, and besmirches the original flavour. Again, it’s another attempt to widen the market, but beware of any variation from Grapefruit, no other fruit works well with Gin. Overall: ok for novelty value, and comes in alluring red colour; yet regarded as a different drink altogether.    

Hartwall, Original Gin Long Drink, 35cl Bottle, 5.5% – Novelty, smoother taste. Set yourself aside from the rest by drinking lonkero from a retro bottle. The drink is sometimes referred to as the ‘beautiful lady’, as 1952 was also the only year that Finland won the Miss World Contest.

Solera, Suomi Long Drink, 33cl Can, 5.5% - The closest imitation to the original, which claims to use the original 1952 formula.

Sinebrychoff, Dry Grapefruit Long Drink, 4.7& 50cl Can – It tastes like model trains but is only a first class ticket to stomach pains. Beware of fake imitations that appear in supermarkets. The versions in the supermarkets are just an alcoholic soda that is brewed to match the taste, and drastically fail. Only the versions available in Alko (state run liquor stores) and bars actually have real Gin inside. Sinebrychoff do actually produce a real version, which is not bad. Also the Estonian brewer A le Coq produce a version, which is cheaper, yet does not cut the mustard.

In summary, Lonkero is mainly drunk by young people who use it as a gateway into drinking and old people who enjoy Gin for what it is, and there are few in-between these ages that regularly drink the stuff. It is perfect for a morning drink or to settle the stomach at the start of a session, and it is also good at the end of a session when the beer makes the stomach too bloated.

As with Gin in general, Lonkero has the ability to make you feel amazing if you are already happy, and will lead you to depression if you are already feeling sad. So given the fact that it is such a popular drink, it can be regarded as a factor of a spike in depression and suicide in the country, which aptly reflects the national stereotypical psyche. 

© @Schwarbrennen

Stick to the originals available in Alko

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Martin 'Protag' Neish 1959-2014


Martin ‘Protag’ Neish 1959-2014

Protag working tirelessly behind the scenes

The world has lost another great man: A man who lived by his ideals, with the betterment of the world, and improving the lives of others, often at the forefront of his mind. Cancer is often uncontrollable and inevitable, yet when it hits someone who doesn’t smoke, drinks in moderation, eats organic food, and leads a healthy and active lifestyle – it is often harder to take.

Protag was a stalwart of the Bradford scene. Musically he had been involved with Blyth Power, Alternative TV, and Zounds, as well as a competent and respected sound engineer. Politically he was an integral part of the 1 in 12 claimants union, a backbone volunteer at the 1 in 12 club, an ambassador for alternative energies, an Indymedia volunteer, and he worked alongside many community and activist groups. He was one of those people that put the word active into activist.

I first met Protag at the 1 in 12 Club, when I spent some time volunteering behind the bar, and organising live music events. What resonated with me the most was his passion for the club. He was always doing something for its benefit, and he was always willing to guide and teach those who wanted to learn more. He was almost a moral guide for putting beliefs into practice, and his ways more often than not played on the minds of the more nihilistically minded.

Our working relationship with Protag developed when he agreed to join the Moncada Rocks collective as our sound engineer. The collective successfully raised tens of thousands of pounds for radical left-wing organisations in South America, ranging from rehabilitating families of murdered journalists in Colombia, to providing musical instruments for young people in Cuba. Protag was more of an anarchist, yet what made him unique was his ability not to succumb to divisions and factionalism. He would get involved with many projects that spanned the broad left spectrum, as long as they helped to improve the lot of others who are less fortunate.

 


When I think of Protag, I think of Boxer from Animal Farm: Someone with a staunch work ethic, who always worked harder when times got tough, and worked so hard for the Rebellion. There are many people that are part of our movement, and part of our society, that put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes, and don’t like to brag or show off their achievements. So it is our responsibility to celebrate it for them.

Shortly before his death, he requested that everyone get together to clean up, decorate and fix up the 1 in12 Club. That was a final request that was Protag through and through; the last thing he’d want is for us to all to be sat around being inactive. There is one final anecdote I’d like to share with you. At one Moncada Rocks event he received the sad news that his mother had passed away, and rather than cancel and leave us in the lurch, he decided to carry on and do the event because he knew that is what his mother would’ve wanted. This is yet another example of him putting the greater need of others, above himself.

Protag, we salute you for everything you have contributed to humanity. You will be sorely missed.

A tribute on the wall of the 1 in 12 Club.