Showing posts with label fifi wild cup. Show all posts

#22 St. Pauli (Home, 2008/2009)


Ah, St. Pauli. A truly cult club, and surely my favorite team in Germany (even though they didn't sign Jong Tae-Se).

Some of you might ignore the fact that this Hamburg-based club has more than 11 million supporters (at least that's what they say). There's actually many reasons why one should love St. Pauli.

Reasons why you should love FC St. Pauli:

- Their home stadium is located right next to Reeperbahn. Something like a mini-Amsterdam in Hamburg, except a lot more hardcore, with many bars, prostitutes and alcohol around. A real red-light district, with many no-children-allowed areas. And some bad things, too, but I really can't remember any. There's actually a funfair near their ground, the Millerntor-Stadion.

What if PSG moved to a Stadium near the Disneyland?
- St. Pauli was the first club in Germany to completely ban right-wing activists from their home matches, and obviously any right-wing symbols or displays on the terraces. That attracted an alternative fan-base, with many left-wing supporters.

- They famously display a Skull and Crossbones symbol everywhere - flags, scarves and even on their shirts. It's like their unofficial badge. Pirates rock, so they rock too.

Looks great on my shirt!
- Their fans are passionate and, above all, great lads (except when they're fighting neo-nazis somewhere). In 2006, they organized the exciting FIFI Wild Cup, a sort of World Cup for national teams that aren't allowed to enter in FIFA competitions, like Tibet and Greenland. St. Pauli fans competed as "Republic of St. Pauli". Wicked. Also, they usually organize displays against racism and sexism in football. The fans were also involved in an organization called Viva Con Agua de St. Pauli, that worked on improving water quality in developing countries in Africa. Pretty noble, I'd say.

Tibet in St. Pauli with the very same shirt I own.
Hell yeah!
- The club stuggled many times, but always survived. A few years ago, they were playing 3rd Division football and facing severe financial problems. A huge fan operation was set up, and they manage to save the club. Last season they played in Bundesliga.

- Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros bass player supports St. Pauli, and there's a great song by british band Art Brut named St. Pauli. They usually play Blur's Song 2 at their home ground whenever they score a goal. Nice choice. Vaduz used to play that song too.



When I visited Hamburg (a nice city by the way) a few years ago (in 2008 I think), there was keine chance  not coming back with a St. Pauli shirt. After a nice walk in Reeperbahn, I headed to their stadium. St. Pauli's club shop was unsurprisingly not posh at all, but it had a lot of stuff for sale. It was also a nice way to practice my german. The girl in the shop didn't understand why a portuguese family would visit Hamburg in the summer though, as everyone in Germany was dreaming about sunny beaches in sunny Algarve. I can understand that. But I kindly smiled and told her that the weather in Porto (my home town) isn't brilliant either.

But well, I managed to buy my shirt and everybody was happy.


The shirt is, at least, a bit unusual. How many teams pick brown as their home colour? Not many. The shirt has very thin brown and black stripes, but it looks mostly brown. They did a nice job with the sponsor too, it doesn't ruin the shirt at all. St. Pauli kits are manufactured by Do You Football, a german sportswear firm I never heard of before buying the shirt. But they've been doing some good jobs with the Pirates.





I actually don't like brown that much, and their away kit always look a little bit better. But a white St. Pauli shirt? No no, it makes no sense. It had to be the home one.


 Got to love St. Pauli. It'd be just awesome if there were more clubs like this one.
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#16 Tibet (Home, 2006/2007)

This shirt is obviously one of my favourites, for several reasons. First of all, it's a really rare shirt, that fits perfectly in my collection. It also looks amazing, with a lot of beautiful details and a retro-look that makes it even more interesting. Third, it's from a quite remote location. Last but not least, it is made by Hummel, and Hummel rocks.My housemaid said this one is her favourite. I really can't pick a favourite one, but this one is certainly in the top 10.

Tibet, as you might now, isn't a country. It is an Autonomous Region in China, and independence movements have been fighting for years, demanding political separation from China, and of course, the independence of the lands where Tibetan people live. Tibet makes the headlines every now and then for political reasons, but never because their sucess in football.

Actually, as they're not an independent country, they can't play in official competitions. I believe their FA (formed by exiled Tibetans) is trying to gain official status, and hey, if the Faroe Islands can play, why can't Tibet?

Love the retro style!
I don't think they have any professional players, so their national team is composed mostly by amateur players, most of them political activists too. No surprise they always suffer heavy defeats. They played in a couple of unofficial tournaments, such as the FIFI Wild Cup in 2006, and the ELF Cup. Tibet faced other teams that don't have FIFA status, like Greenland, Northern Cyprus and Gibraltar. They used this shirt in FIFI Wild Cup:


Cool things about the shirt: as I said, the retro look is great, and I love the flag on the sleeve. It also has some words in Tibetan on the collar. And, of course, those iconic Hummel arrows. Brilliant job, guys.

Love the flag, love the FA badge that looks like a Picasso painting

Maybe it says "Free Tibet", but I have no clue


Tibet recently changed sponsors from Hummel to Copa, and the good thing is that their shirt still looks awesome.

Dalai Lama will be their defensive midfielder in the next few years.
It's really amazing and beautiful to see how football can unite these people, and also how it can boost their independence thoughts. It's certainly not a huge boost, but it's a way of spreading the word, and making a statement: we're here, and we want to have our own country. After that, we want to play football together, under our magnificent flag with our amazing kits.

There's a documentary called The Forbidden Team about their first international match, against Greenland. I couldn't find the whole thing, but there's a trailer on Youtube. "It's not just playing football, it's more than that. It's playing for the country that is longing for freedom.".


(their kits always looks incredible, in the video you can see their old Hummel one).
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