i got my curiosity for st pauli from a shirt about drinking beer to save the club.

what was that all about then?

Way late on a response but I just got here...

A few years ago (IIRC May 2003) St. Pauli nearly went into "administration". While in the UK, that is bad, in Germany it would have sent the club into a downward spiral and relegated them to the fourth or fifth division. So, the club decided to conduct fundraisers of various sorts - the Retteraktion - as it was called. They sold T-shirts with RETTER on the front (originally only in Brown and all of the money went straight to the club), they asked for donations (thousands of Euros poured in), and they enlisted their sponsors support. One of which was that Astra (the St. Pauli beer) would contribute a certain amount of money for each Astra bought during this time. Hence, drink beer to save the club. The club scraped enough together to stave of "administration" and get their professional license renewed. It was a crazy time for those that lived through it because it all basically happened in a few weeks and the outpouring of support was massive.

Bayern offered to play St Pauli at this time, and (I believe) accepted just enough to cover their travel costs. I was at the game, and felt very emotional as Uli Hoeness walked around the touchline wearing a Retter t shirt.

Yea, I imagine it was very cool. I was stuck here in the States at the time. I was surprised that Bayern made the trip and put their drawing power on the line for FC St. Pauli. Especially because the Retter shirts said "Weltpokalsiegerbesieger" (Defeater of World Club Cup Champion), which was about the terrific game against Bayern at Millerntor, 2:1 to the Boys in Brown!, just after Bayern Munich won the Toyota Cup or whatever the Club Cup is called these days...

stpauliami wrote:

Yea, I imagine it was very cool. I was stuck here in the States at the time. I was surprised that Bayern made the trip and put their drawing power on the line for FC St. Pauli. Especially because the Retter shirts said "Weltpokalsiegerbesieger" (Defeater of World Club Cup Champion), which was about the terrific game against Bayern at Millerntor, 2:1 to the Boys in Brown!, just after Bayern Munich won the Toyota Cup or whatever the Club Cup is called these days...

well, a lot of correct info, but some confusion as well.

you are talking of two different shirts. "Weltpokalsiegerbesieger" has nothing to do with the Retter ("Saviour") shirt. The first was created right after the 2:1 win against Bayern at the Millerntor on Feb 6 2002. The Retter shirt(s) look similar but don't have anything to do with that. The Retter shirt was actually sold more than 100,000 times, still counting. At some point in the campaign, brown shirts were said to be sold out in most of Europe and they had to switch to black. The first series of Retter shirts can be identified by the bank account for donations stated on the back of the shirt.

It's actually not so surprising that Bayern München helped out. Though I don't agree with some of their behaviour, they are still run by former football professionals and have a consciousness for tradition and sportsmanship (and for good publicity as well). They are helping out more often when a (smaller) club is in danger of going bankrupt.

Drinking for St.Pauli: as far as I remember, it was not sponsored by the brewery (though they helped out as well), but the bars and pubs in St.Pauli raised the price of a beer by 50 Cent and donating that to St.Pauli.

Another big help - not often told as it not as cool and "alternative" - came from the conservative mayor and city council by buying half of a training ground for I think some 700,000 Euro.

The whole campaign was an amazing display of sympathy and support throughout all different kinds of people for our wee little club, though some help was not so well received among the supporters (e.g. selling the shirts at McDonalds). Corny played quite an essential role as well, using his media contacts to hold the shirts into the camera of what seemed to be dozens of TV shows and his contacts to the mayor (he is gay as well and reportedly partied quite often in one of Corny's bars. Still pisses me off that Corny does something really good in the one moment and something bad in the next...)

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you are talking of two different shirts. "Weltpokalsiegerbesieger" has nothing to do with the Retter ("Saviour") shirt. The first was created right after the 2:1 win against Bayern at the Millerntor on Feb 6 2002. The Retter shirt(s) look similar but don't have anything to do with that. The Retter shirt was actually sold more than 100,000 times, still counting. At some point in the campaign, brown shirts were said to be sold out in most of Europe and they had to switch to black. The first series of Retter shirts can be identified by the bank account for donations stated on the back of the shirt.

The one I got has Weltpokalsiegerbesieger on it above the RETTER on the chest. I ordered in on the first round of shirts but didn't get the bank account donation on the one they sent (doesn't surprise me because they shipped mine to the US rather than picking it up at the store).

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Drinking for St.Pauli: as far as I remember, it was not sponsored by the brewery (though they helped out as well), but the bars and pubs in St.Pauli raised the price of a beer by 50 Cent and donating that to St.Pauli.

Thanks for the clarification, I thought it was Astra that donated based on consumption... Good to know the real story.

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Another big help - not often told as it not as cool and "alternative" - came from the conservative mayor and city council by buying half of a training ground for I think some 700,000 Euro.

Didn't they do this because of the volume of flat out donations? They justified it by saying that with this kind of support, they could not allow a Hamburg Icon to go under...

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Still pisses me off that Corny does something really good in the one moment and something bad in the next...)

Isn't that the fun of Corny? For all the good he has done, there are plenty of things to question.

stpauliami wrote:

Quote: you are talking of two different shirts. "Weltpokalsiegerbesieger" has nothing to do with the Retter ("Saviour") shirt. The first was created right after the 2:1 win against Bayern at the Millerntor on Feb 6 2002. The Retter shirt(s) look similar but don't have anything to do with that. The Retter shirt was actually sold more than 100,000 times, still counting. At some point in the campaign, brown shirts were said to be sold out in most of Europe and they had to switch to black. The first series of Retter shirts can be identified by the bank account for donations stated on the back of the shirt. The one I got has Weltpokalsiegerbesieger on it above the RETTER on the chest. I ordered in on the first round of shirts but didn't get the bank account donation on the one they sent (doesn't surprise me because they shipped mine to the US rather than picking it up at the store).

just checked in my wardrobe: I am stupid and u r right!! I just don't wear them so I forgot about that detail. It might be that are some with the bank details on the back and some without, but as soon as the campaign was over, they defo didn't print them on the backs anymore.