Hello fellow St Pauli-ans/St Pauli-ites,

I'm new to the board so I thought I would do the customary introductions. Apart from an ever growing liking for all things Millerntor, I'm also a Yeovil Town fan. Yes, that club that newspaper reporters find it so difficult to mention without using the terms 'plucky' and 'sloping pitch'. Thankfully sloping pitch is certainly in our past, we hope that plucky might also join it as a historical reference only.

So why have I taken an interest in St Pauli? Well it has been around for a while waiting for an excuse to make it to the front burner.

Well, I have had a growing interest in Germany for a few years now having had some great visits over the past few years. Also my other half is from Hamburg (the wrong/H$V side of the tracks, I'm sorry to say ;-) ). She has no interest in football, but coming from Hamburg was enough to spur me on to picking 'the Hamburg club' as my favoured team.

Going back more years than I care to remember, when my brother and I were teenagers, he took a school trip to Hamburg and saw a match at the old Volkspark Stadion. But it wasn't the stories of H$V that interested me, it was the tales of this 'other club', with punks, skull & cross bones and anarchists. As a teenager this made quite an impression, but also stayed in the back of my mind.

The final reason is the one that many quote (apart from girls!), is the politics. I'm not an activist or a campaigner, but my stance certainly has a left lean to it. So to become an ever increasing supporter of a club that shares my ideals is a good thing.

I hope to be an ever increasing member of this board. Hello, and its good to meet you all!

Cheers,

Jon

welcome to the messageboard, i am fairly new myself, tend to read more than reply but its an entertaining place.

am a toon fan myself, but i still follow teams in england too ;-)

all the best, mickie

Greetings Jon

You'll certainly not be the only forum member with a set of green and white hoops - as you may have already gathered!

Welcome aboard Jon.

You may be able to help me with this. A couple of seasons ago when we entertained you at Gigg Lane, my Norwegian mate (who was over for the weekend) spotted a Norwegian Flag amidst the Yeovil fans.
Obviously Norway (and therefore its flag) are pretty much neutral politically but I wondered if it was of any other significance.

Welcome to the board!

Hopefully our two teams will meet next season.

Shakers wrote:

Welcome aboard Jon. You may be able to help me with this. A couple of seasons ago when we entertained you at Gigg Lane, my Norwegian mate (who was over for the weekend) spotted a Norwegian Flag amidst the Yeovil fans. Obviously Norway (and therefore its flag) are pretty much neutral politically but I wondered if it was of any other significance.

Ah Gigg Lane, yes I was there. I can't remember a Norwegian flag off the top of my head (or its reasoning) but I will endeavour to find out. The fonts of all knowledge when it comes to The Glovers is the website Ciderspace or the Green Room forum. Either way, I'm sure the answer can be discovered

Bhachgen wrote:

Greetings Jon You'll certainly not be the only forum member with a set of green and white hoops - as you may have already gathered!

Yes, I've heard that there is another club that wears Green and White hoops ;-) In all honesty the wearing of hoops is a relativity recent thing for us. For most of our history it has been more like the Hibs in styling. When Gary Johnson was manager at Huish Park, he introduced the hoops and from some sections it wasn't a popular choice. Half of those people were slight rotund and were worried about what it would do to their appearance and the others I'm afraid to say didn't want to be confused with Celtic. Not because Yeovil fans have any disrespect or dislike for Celtic (we have no need to). It was more to do with it not being part of our identity as a club.

Johnson's rational was that it made our players stand out more on the pitch, so something like that.

Anyway these days we have the best of both worlds. Hoops on the front (I suppose that is only half a hoop really; a crescent if you will) and a solid Green back.

Anyway, it is always nice to be amongst Green and White brothers and sisters!

Rebel_Bull wrote:

Welcome to the board! Hopefully our two teams will meet next season.

Ha ha, I did notice a couple of Bulls on the board. Greetings from your favourite village club ;-)

Well, the way you guys are going we could be playing each other next season. Fingers crossed relegation to the Greens won't be the reason for a Yeovil and Hereford 'reunion'. As long as there isn't a Carling Cup repeat, everything will be just fine.

Anyway, it's about time you guys caught up with The Glovers ;-)

All that said, its good to make your acquaintance!

Yea thats what i meant. I dont want us to meet from you getting . relegated...that would meen we wouldnt have gone up Im sure the two teams will meet again very soon. Come on the Bulls!

Shakers wrote:

Welcome aboard Jon. You may be able to help me with this. A couple of seasons ago when we entertained you at Gigg Lane, my Norwegian mate (who was over for the weekend) spotted a Norwegian Flag amidst the Yeovil fans. Obviously Norway (and therefore its flag) are pretty much neutral politically but I wondered if it was of any other significance.

Hello Shakers,

I have found the answer! A little digging has revealed the identity of the Norwegian Flag waver. It was a chap known in Yeovil circles as Blue Stew, who hails from the Blue side of Manchester. He is a marine and the reason for the flag is the amount of time he has spent in Norway on Arctic training over the years.

Cheers,

Jon

stpauliglover wrote:

Yes, I've heard that there is another club that wears Green and White hoops ;-) In all honesty the wearing of hoops is a relativity recent thing for us. For most of our history it has been more like the Hibs in styling. When Gary Johnson was manager at Huish Park, he introduced the hoops and from some sections it wasn't a popular choice. Half of those people were slight rotund and were worried about what it would do to their appearance

Certainly the Hoops are not so flattering for those of us with a "fuller" figure. I tend to favour the away tops myself for that very reason. Or even more likely something in BraunWeiss.

You're not the only green and white team that only switched to hoops in the early part of this decade. I seem to remember TNS (of the WPL) switching at around the same time. Don't know if the (long-awaited) resurgence of Celtic on the European stage at that time had any bearing.

My favourite green football shirt has to be the Green and Black stripes of another WPL team, Aber Town. It's like one of the Milanese teams except in green:

[img]http://www.oldfootballshirts.com/img/season_shirts/thumbnails/football_shirt_1745_1_400x0.jpg?refresh=547a2f83155ce5[/img]

[img]http://www.oldfootballshirts.com/img/season_shirts/thumbnails/football_shirt_1978_1_400x0.jpg?refresh=547a2f8e3aafc6[/img]

Celtic stole that for probably their best away shirt for donkeys.

Unfortunately Aber keep flirting with other, less classic designs, mostly green with some black trim seems to be the preferred option, which I feel is a shame.

stpauliglover wrote:

Hello Shakers, I have found the answer! A little digging has revealed the identity of the Norwegian Flag waver. It was a chap known in Yeovil circles as Blue Stew, who hails from the Blue side of Manchester. He is a marine and the reason for the flag is the amount of time he has spent in Norway on Arctic training over the years. Cheers, Jon

Thanks for that Jon; I shall pass it on to my Nordic chums. Incidentally, it's become a fairly regular thing the Norwegian presence at Gigg Lane. The Ryanair Oslo, Torp - Liverpool route has meant that I occasionally have as many as three Nowegian mates at once down there with me. A couple of them generally support Lillestrom and one Valerenga.
For climatic reasons, the Norwegian season is in the summer months so there's obviously not much going on there at this time of year.

Shakers wrote:

stpauliglover wrote: Hello Shakers, I have found the answer! A little digging has revealed the identity of the Norwegian Flag waver. It was a chap known in Yeovil circles as Blue Stew, who hails from the Blue side of Manchester. He is a marine and the reason for the flag is the amount of time he has spent in Norway on Arctic training over the years. Cheers, Jon Thanks for that Jon; I shall pass it on to my Nordic chums. Incidentally, it's become a fairly regular thing the Norwegian presence at Gigg Lane. The Ryanair Oslo, Torp - Liverpool route has meant that I occasionally have as many as three Nowegian mates at once down there with me. A couple of them generally support Lillestrom and one Valerenga. For climatic reasons, the Norwegian season is in the summer months so there's obviously not much going on there at this time of year.

I'm planning to watch a Tippengaen League match this summer, as I'm going to take a little trek to Norway. I'm determined to watch a game at Tromso. Something about watching football in the Arctic Circle appeals to me.

Should all be good fun!

stpauliglover wrote:

. Yes, that club that newspaper reporters find it so difficult to mention without using the terms 'plucky' and 'sloping pitch'.

You also forgot to mention that game against Sunderland

Chorleyboy wrote:

stpauliglover wrote: . Yes, that club that newspaper reporters find it so difficult to mention without using the terms 'plucky' and 'sloping pitch'. You also forgot to mention that game against Sunderland

I had a funny encounter with some Mackems at Sheffield station a few years back. We were off to the delights of Wakefield & Emley in the FA Trophy. And the Sunderland fans were taking great joy in going 'Ohhhh bless, look at the fans of little Yeovil. Ahhh, isn't it cute to see non-league fans' etc etc.

It just so happened myself and a mate had just picked up a copy of When Saturday Comes, within which was a double page spread picture of Yeovil fans celebrating the 1949 victory over Sunderland. so we felt it only fair to show him. To which he got all upset, said 'Every dog has his day, man' and storms off! It turned out to be quite a good day