My name is Graf (real first name), and I just joined here recently. I currently live in New York. Honestly, I'm no football buff and I've only been watching the sport since the beginning of the UEFA 2008 matches. My mother is from Hamburg (father is American), but she does not follow the sport. My European friends have gotten me addicted to the sport, and I only regret that I have not discovered it sooner.

MLS - no offense to those who follow it - seems sort of bland to me compared to the European leagues, so I decided I would follow the Bundesliga, and probably a team from Hamburg to honor my heritage or some nonsense like that... Just some common connection. Originally I decided I would support HSV, having not even heard of St. Pauli, but then I got sort of annoyed with the HSV fanbase. For the second-largest German city, Hamburg pales in comparisson to the amount or passion of other fanbases, and I have yet to find a single active HSV fan on an English-speaking website. I spoke about this with my friends, and one of them suggested becoming a St. Pauli fan instead. I never heard of St. Pauli, so I did some research on the club and decided that St. Pauli was infinitely cooler than the obscure "raute" business of HSV. And St. Pauli even has an English-speaking fansite with more than 800 members! It's such an interesting and unique club; it seems to be way more than just a club, it's like a lifestyle.

So, as I begin my first real season as a football spectator, I'll also have to catch up on everything about St. Pauli. I'm excited to be here. My only concern is my ability or lack thereof to watch St. Pauli games from across the pond.

I also have to acquire a shirt, and I think I'll have to end up paying through-the-nose from St. Pauli's site because I doubt any place in the USA carries St. Pauli apparell.

Respect,
Graf

welcome graf,
man that is the most rational involvement with a club that I have seen in a long time . But hey, that all doesn't matter when you pick the best one available - and yes for some of us it is "a lifestyle" pretty much, sometimes it's hard not to ponder on the makeup of the squad, recently signed players (or those we didn't sign!), club politics, the usual financial turmoil that is quite common at St. Pauli, the upgrade of stadium and the beer prices, the look of next season's kit etc etc.... Just have a look through this forum's topics
By the way, the main german forum has an english section as well check:

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and go to "visitors from abroad".
In regards to watching FC St. Pauli games, there is the "Flimmerkiste" (

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) that allows you to watch all the games for something like 5$ US a month online (as soon as 5 min after the games actually have ended). If you need help to set that up (e.g. translating) post it here, there is always someone who can assist you.
last but not least: I prefer to buy directly from the fanshop

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, but others here might help you with how to get shirts and stuff eelswhere (maybe even in the US).
Hope that helps you a little more to develope a lifelong addiction to St. Pauli!
Forza!

welcome to the board

I've got family who live on Long Island. They support Newcastle United In return I follow the Mets in MLB and the Jets in NFL. Glad to see you on here.
I'm due another visit soon, maybe October.

Nice to see another fan from the United States. To add to where you can get ST Pauli shirts are two more websites,

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(They are in Bergen, NJ and NYC.) and

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If you go to Subsidesports, scroll down and at the bottom lefthand side click on the US flag. That will take you to the US website. Subsidesports carries a lot of ST Pauli shirts and stuff. I have bought quite a few shirts from them. Also, on eBay a seller name gomaith sells ST Pauli shirts and is trustworthy. I have bought a few shirts from him, too. I hope these sites help you out.

Thanks, Pucks. Onionbag.com seems like an excellent site, but it appears that they haven't restocked yet for the new season. I'll probably order from them in the future. I love how St. Pauli is one of only six Bundesliga teams they have.

Onionbag.com in the past just carried the home shirt. Subsidesports.com carriers the home and away shirts as well as a ton of other shirts and stuff. I never ordered from Onionbag.com before and I think they ship via UPS. Subsidesports.com has fast delivery too. It usually takes two weeks to get your order from the time you place your order. Once I get the e-mail saying the order left their warehouse in England (That is where everything is shipped from.), I get it in 3-4 days.

Boogey, the commentary fostpauli.tv is in German, yes? I think I am also going to pick up Rosetta Stone in German so I can understand the language. I know some people who have had success with it in other languages.

yup, it's in german but the important stuff is visual and you could argue that you learn some german just by watching the Flimmerkiste...

I would love to put that introduction onto the HSV supporters forum

You should try to get over soon, as there's nothing like the real thing

Hi Graf,

Glad to see I'm not the only greenhorn in support of St Pauli.

Here's to a BRIGHT FUTURE.......