Berlin Football - Babelsberg 03 v FC St. Pauli | Hardcore Punk!

[GuyGermanLatic]

Sorry that it's been a while since I've done one of these reports: the end of the Berlin-Liga has really put an unfortunate end to what was a brilliant season. I was at the final game of Tennis Borussia's season which was played on a humble football field directly next to their stadium as Berlin's American football team was rocking the terraces. Nevertheless it was a brilliant day, great weather and TeBe managed to win 2-1 adding 3 points to an already secure position above the relegated pack. Sadly Türkiyemspor Berlin were relegated but will hopefully be back in the Berlin-Liga in no time!

Anyway, after all the Mancs has filled up the EasyJet flights, it was time to find a new friendly to go to. Just a week after the match, Babelsberg announced their monumental annual friendly against FC St. Pauli - easy, boys, easy! The Hamburgers (wahey!) and the Postdamers are very well-known for one thing: they are both very left-wing fans. Hardcore, you could say. It wouldn't be outlandish to even call them extreme. With the promise of flairs, beer and a decent football match, I bought myself a ticket and headed on down to the Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion last night for a memorable night.

If anyone's easily offended by extreme leftists, I suggest you look away now.

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To say it'd previously been 35 degrees the week before, tonight was a cold one. My St. Pauli hoody wasn't quite breaking the chilling wind and neither was my scarf. Fortunately a 45 minute train ride out of Berlin warmed me up nicely as we finally arrived in Berlin's neighbouring state: Brandenburg. Potsdam, to be exact. The famous minnows Babelsberg were once against playing host to another openly criticised yet determined side, this time old friends instead of new buddies.

Sat on the train as well as walking to the ground, it was strange to see such a large number of Berliners sporting St. Pauli clothing or scarves. Many St. Pauli fans feel hurt that their unique stand against fascism and capitalism is being used and abused as a brand for the indie scene. It was hard not to agree by the look of some fans - especially those dressing "hardcore" but making their way quickly to the sitting section beside the long strip of terrace. As an Engländer, perhaps I can't say much, but when you have a unique idea that goes big, it's gonna be hard for even the most adamant St. Pauli fans not to let their skull and crossbones slip into the wrong hands.

After getting into the ground and meeting a few familiar faces, I decided to have a walk around and see what was going on. The ground was full of 3 things: beer, fags and punks. I thought I'd turned up to a Sex Pistols concert being held at a small stadium in the middle of nowhere. Punks as far as the eye could see, anti-Nazi badges on every shoulder and hair colours bright enough to send you blind. Welcome to "real" punk football!

I saw these pieces of graffiti which I can't help but think summed up the type of people there last night. Walking around the ground, I noticed a huge gathering of fans on another small field across and the mumbled roar of what could only be punk music. It was packed! There were people everywhere. The attendance last night must've been a record for 03 and this was only a friendly match. As I got closer to the stage, it seemed like Sex Pistols-lookalike act were on the stage rocking away to the raised beer cups and hands in the air beneath the stage. The original kick-off time was scheduled for 19:00 but the actual match got underway much later - probably an hour behind schedule. The music was decent. The chorus to the last song, however, was... interesting?

# Deutschland muss sterben, damit wir leben können! / Germany must die, so that we can live! #

With all that soon over, I headed back to the terraces which were very slowly starting to fill up with fans. The idea that so many fans were still moshing whilst kick-off was -20 minutes ago was odd. Even the Sektion Nord Ultras were nowhere to be seen.

Soon enough, as the concert finally ended, a wave of fans filled the terraces. They were awash with black, blue and brown as the two old friends came together for a 90-minute song sing. The atmosphere was great but it somehow didn't quite live up to the wild party I expected it to be. Arguably I think the FC United-Babelsberg match was louder but hey. The Babelsberg fans looked stronger in numbers and were soon bouncing up and down to the sound of the drum at St. Pauli fans clapping them along.

The football did little but reflect that of another friendly match. St. Pauli were playing the likes of their famous captain Fabian Boll who championed his side to a 1-0 scoreline after just 7 minutes of play. As the game went on, recently-relegated Babelsberg quickly pulled back to make it 1-1 and even managed to put it a second past 2. Bundesliga stopper Phillipp Tschauner to the surprise of the Karli-Stadion. Fans behind me remarked "4. Bundesliga and we're losing?!"

The goals hadn't quite stopped there. St. Pauli managed to seal the end of the game with a skull and crossbone treat: 2, 3 (penalty) and 4 (penalty) followed in quick succession after the small bursts of flares from fans and the "duet" of the Potsdamers supporting the small but loud St. Pauli end. The score meant very little yesterday. I think most fans were too drunk or high (on life) to even realise that a game was being played.

There was a friendly, punk-rock vibe to the match which was very welcoming and is definitely one of the most unique matches I've ever attended. I decided to leave early as I was needed at 5:30am the following morning and the idea of being harassed by the waiting batallions of Polizei didn't seem so appealing considering it was fecking freezing!

It was no mega party but it was nice to see St. Pauli back in Berlin. Again, it wasn't the mega party I expected, more like a beer binge on the terrace, but it was well worth the money.

Sadly that's it for a little while in Berlin. I have another 2 older reports I could write up but the season is well and truly over. Celtic face Union Berlin in early July but I sadly can't make it. I will get a video of this match uploaded as soon as I can but, as for, here's a few photos of the match from the brilliant No Dice magazine bringing Berlin football to the English-speakers of the capital!

"Shoeligans"

Edited June 28, 2013 by GuyGermanLatic