1966 And Not All That
Pirates, Punks & Politics at Harvard University
University of Brighton: guest speaker
The many faces of St. Pauli: some reflections
Latest blog: read it here
Reflections on another trip to St. Pauli, partly inspired by (and in response to) an interesting blog by oldmangroom documenting his first ever trip to the Millerntor.
Straight (In &) Outta Sankt Pauli
A day trip to the Millerntor to watch a 0-4 defeat and to interview the President. Read all about it here.
Royalty time!
It's
always nice when a royalty cheque drops through the letterbox. It's the
only time you get an idea of how well books sales are holding up
(especially as we are discouraging people as much as possible from using
am*z*n, so their sales rankings don't hold much truck). But also, it is
great to then be able to forward my royalties on to the 1910.eV. Museum
project. This time I was able to send a payment of €480, meaning the
book has raised nearly €3000 in total. Pleased with that! Thanks to
everyone who has bought a copy.
'Gladbach all over!
Click here for a few words about FCSP's annual first round Cupxit. Lost 1-4 at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Third edition
Just unpacked a batch of books and noticed we are on the third edition. Look forward to the next sales update and sending another cheque to the 1910 e.V. Museum.
Safe from relegation! #Klassehalten
FC St. Pauli avoided relegation to 3.Liga on the final day of the 2014/15 season. It was nail-biting stuff, losing 1-0 to Darmstadt (who secured promotion to the Bundesliga), we had to rely on other results, after a tense wait (the mobile network had long since collapsed under the weight of people frantically refreshing the phones) news came through that we were safe. All this drama was conducted in the middle of the annual Sonderzug – a bonkers 13 hour round trip on the disco train. Read about it here.
A trip to Karlsruhe with floodlights and elephants...
Read about my trip to Karlsruhe for a routine 3-0 defeat here. There were elephants. And floodlights. So, above is a picture of neither. Well, there is a tantalizing hint of floodlight...
€2500 donated to the Museum
It's that time of year when book publishers forward royalty cheques to their authors. Delighted to announce that UK book sales of Pirates, Punks & Politics have raised around €2500 for 1910 - Museum für den FC St. Pauli e.V.
Happy World Book Day!
A lovely #WorldBookDay mention from the Football Beyond Borders crew. In some pretty esteemed company there... Goldblatt, Zirin! Although, quite rightly, I'm at the bottom of the pile!
25-years of the Fanladen
TWENTY. FIVE. YEARS. It's hard to believe, that a quarter of a century has passed since Sven Brux established Fanladen St. Pauli (there's a great photo on the club website that even shows the container where it all began). The fantastic work for the local community and for football has been documented brilliantly elsewhere. I'd just like to add a more personal thanks as - quite simply - without the Fanladen, I'd never have got that ticket for the Gegengerade. I'd never have fallen in love with FCSP. I'd never have met the fantastic people that I've met through St. Pauli. Thank you.
Now available in the Museum's online shop
The 1910 e.V. Museum now have an online shop. If you are in Germany, this is the best place to buy your copy as it maximises the amount of money that goes back to the project.
Here's the link.
All Together Now
Happy winterpause! Thanks you for all your help and support with the book this year.
(Football) season's greetings
This will probably upset my publisher, so I'd better put in the caveat that copies of Pirates, Punks & Politics are still available here! But really, as FCSP fans all we want for Christmas is #Nakiback with apologies to Half Man Half Biscuit and others.
Bollzen
with Ian Joy
Socialist Review
"More than just a story of a love affair with a football team
— to describe it as Fever Pitch with politics would be a huge insult."
Rebecca Bryson, Socialist Review
Rebecca Bryson, Socialist Review
Just published, a lovely review of the book in Socialist Review. Including my favourite pull-quote of all time (although, to be fair, I love Fever Pitch!) Many thanks! Read it here.
Available at The National Football Museum...
Pirates, Punks & Politics is available at The National Football Museum in Manchester. Many thanks to Nicole Cunliffe and Fuzz Meister for the photo! Forza Sankt Pauli!
Playing Politics: Politics in Sport
Back in June I was delighted to take part
in Playing
Politics: Politics in Sport festival at the People’s History Museum in Manchester.
Having not visited the Museum before, I
found it a really inspiring place. Documenting the history of working people in
Britain, it was so refreshing to wander through the exhibits, seeing the
achievements of real, working people celebrated. In an era where the political
and economic elite persist in demonizing the working class, using the age-old
(but finely-tuned) techniques of divide and rule to drive a wedge between
public and private sector workers; the unemployed and the working poor;
economic migrants and more established communities it was incredible to see the
progress that can be made if we put aside the crap the elite feed us and work
together. Of course, hysterical stories about migrants and refugees, stealing
‘our’ jobs and bringing the country to its knees is just Daily Mail hyperbole designed to protect those really looting the
nation for all it is worth – big business and the bankers. We live in a time
where wages are suppressed to record lows, yet corporate profits and
shareholders dividends continue to grow. They really don’t want us to work that
out. Owen Jones pretty much nails it here.
The trade union banners were a particular
highlight. I especially loved the Country Standard banner, embroidered with the
legend: ‘Peace and Socialism in the Countryside’ – stick that in your pipe and
smoke it Countryside Alliance!
After an enjoyable wander around the
museum, it was time to attend the talks. I was on near the end, which gave me
plenty of time to feel nervous, but also to listen to some other really
interesting presentations. I enjoyed learning about the ‘Tennis Radicals’
Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King along with the story of Dick, Kerr Ladies FC –
a factory team – who back in1921 played to over 900,000 fans. Both papers were
presented eloquently by Peter Marsden.
Of obvious interest to me was Michael Lavalette’s presentation on the Green Brigade, there being so
many close links between the Green Brigade and Ultra Sankt Pauli. We also
managed a nice book swap, which saw me bag a copy of the excellent Capitalism and Sport.
My talk went ok, with my overview
of the fan scene at St. Pauli turning into its usual recruitment drive, trying
to persuade people to visit the Millerntor!
It was a pleasure to discuss
sport and politics with so many distinguished speakers and a well-informed
audience. It was even nicer to discover that a place like the People’s History
Museum exists. It’s about time our story was told and celebrated. People not profit.
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