Agency Report –
Hamburg – St. Pauli’s stadium anthem was dropped for the first time in 20 years before the Bundesliga home game with Freiburg on Saturday, prompting an emotional reaction from fans.
The club’s decision on Friday to no longer play “Das Herz von St Pauli” (The heart of St Pauli) due to songwriter Josef Ollig’s previously unknown Nazi past led to some supporters booing club president Oke Göttlich. Others applauded.
St Pauli’s head of security Sven Brux told fans: “We’re all attached to the song, me too. But an anthem in a stadium doesn’t work if 20, 30, 40% are against it. We have to discuss this in a debate that has only just begun.”
Hamburg-based St Pauli has famously left-wing fans.
