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Artikel und Veröffentlichungen
Gastartikel Wales No1 CSC: HOOPS IN HAMBURG / St.Pauli-Celtic-Party
Well, on the 4th February, 4 members of the South Wales No1 CSC, left Cardiff at 10am in the morning, on the one road, to join up with our friends from St Pauli at a party their CSC had arranged for us. Our journey was to take us from Cardiff to London and then eventually onto Lubeck, then Hamburg. Travelling with me were Ali, Chris and Sean from our club, South Wales No1 CSC.
We got to Stansted airport without too much fuss and eagerly awaited our flight and friends. The flight flew by (haha) and it was no time till we were in Lubeck and climbing aboard the bus to Hamburg. Chris and Sean had arranged a meet with some pals from St Pauli when we got there so Ali and myself made our way on the underground to St Pauli, to find our accomodation for the weekend, the hotel Kogge. A favoured haunt of those into alternative music, from rock and roll, to Oi! looking at the posters everywhere. It was clean and not as noisy as the earplugs on my bed hinted it would be.
Myself and Ali started at the bar in Kogge and after indulging in a good few Astra beers (brewed locally) we set off to see what joys were to be had. Eventually we made our way to The Jolly Roger, which we were advised, was the home of St Pauli CSC. When we got there the place was smaller than I had expected but was absolutely jammed full, with hard drinking, singing and dancing St Pauli and Celtic fans, with Celts from all over in attendance. Sean and Chris were already in attendance with the mad O'Hara from London. One great memory is when Torsten (some loony from Coatbridge had called him Holsten!) from St Pauli lead the whole pub in a massive chant of "We love St Pauli, the Fabulous St Pauli". I thought I had lost my wallet as it had fell out of my pocket but upon enquiring at the bar, it had been safely handed in by one of the trustworthy and amiable St Pauli fans. Thank you. We were even greeted to a reggae version of "The Fields of Athenry" by the excellent German DJ in between some other Irish and Celtic classics.Being a scooterist I spent a good while chatting with Sam and his Skinhead St Pauli crew as we had quite a lot in common (The Oppressedfor example, Oi Sam!). All too soon it was 5am and the partying had caught up on us so we left, safe in the knowledge we were the last Celts to leave the St Pauli stronghold of the Jolly Roger.
The next day started at 2pm, what with a lie in being required due to Hotel Kogge being open till 6am and being very generous with their servings of Vodka. The day started with Bloody Mary's and a pattern developed early. The Reeperbahn is a fine place and a landmark that helps keep you in a rough idea of where you are in St Pauli. We duly made our way to the Fanladen. I can honestly say I was greatly impressed with the layout of the shop/bar and we stayed there for a good few hours. They have amazing memorabalia and some cracking photos. The hoops hand over the entrance. A wonderful selection of t-shirts were on sale with a rather snazzy selection of badges and stickers, so I invested in a pack of "gegen rechts!" stickers. Also, our new wee pal, Astra was available at a very reasonable price which had to be indulged in, over and over again, just to make sure it was so well priced of course.
In the early evening we decided it was time to head to the do and instead of heading back to the hotel as originally planned, we decided to venture on round some more of St Pauli's pubs. It was noted that not many bars served draught beers so bottles and shorts became the orders of the night. It was quite cold by night and the biting wind drove us into many fine hostelries as we made our way towards the converted slaughterhouse (I think it was called Knust) where the bands were to play. I even met a chap George who used to DJ in England at a club called "The Pink Toothbrush" which was famous amongst scooterists for its music and its trouble! All to soon we were queuing up to get into the gig and there on the frontline was our friend from last night, Sam. We duly handed over our tickets and marched into the dark noisy venue which at first seemedd small but opened into an impressive main hall. The 2nd punk band were on stage, all wearing Celtic shirts and giving it laldy. We made our way to the bar, giving out our South Wales No1 CSC badges to all we met. The bars were always busy but still you didn't have to wait very long to get served anywhere. By the time Spirit of Freedom came on, the large travelling Celtic support had mostly squeezed to the front of the already packed floor and started to party like only Celts in Hamburg could. Our flag was hoisted many a time as St Pauli and Celtic joined voices in an overpowering display of unity between 2 sets of supporters, the likes I had never witnessed before. Spirit of Freedom put on a powerful display and by the end of their set there was many a casualty due to teh singing and dancing tiring folk out.
All to soon it was staggering home time and we made our way back to the Reeperbahn, which at after 3am in the morning was as busy as Cardiff or Glasgow would be at 5pm. There were loads of open bars everywhere but me and Ali settled for a Selik (yes as in the Cellik) kebab shop before flagging a taxi. One word of warning beware of an African fella in a creme Mercedes Estate (yes I know, most taxis are like this in Hamburg), as he blatantly tried it on with us, even when we showed him a map and pinpointed what he had done. He got very angry and even though Ali and I gave him money (4 Euros as opposed to the 20 he wanted) but he got out of the car and threw it at us, suddenly shouting in English (though he had earlier said he could not speak English!) shouting we had wasted his time, as we could have walked to the hotel from where he picked us up, con man, WE DID KNOW THIS!. He took off rapidly when Ali started towards him, as I dont think he was returning to help him collect his Euros off the road.
The next day came all to soon. We knew St Pauli had a reserve game on but we had arranged to meet Danny from Nottingham (and his lovely lady friend whose name escapes me) in Finnegans Wake in the rathouse area of Hamburg to watch Celtic ease past Dunfermline 3 - 0 in the Scottish Cup.
Then it was back on the bus to Lubeck and homeward bound. A wonderful time was had and many good stories will be spread around Celtic Park and the Gallowgate about the friendly atmosphere, and the fun we had, when we teamed up with St Pauli. Danny from Nottingham is a regular at Milerntor, St Pauli's home ground, and I daresay a few of the travelling Celts will be back. Who said no Tims in Europe? Thanks to all St Pauli, on behalf of all Celtic, we will party together again.
Kind Regards
Gerry McGonagleSouth
Wales No1 CSC
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