Last Friday, St. Pauli narrowly lost 2-1 to Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park. From a sporting point of view, many traveling away fans could hold their heads up high as they made the journey back north via bus, train, or car.
However, as reported by Kicker, the club has since come under criticism from its fanbase once it had emerged that the team traveled by plane to Dortmund.
Club Principles
Sustainability is an integral part of St. Pauli’s culture with many of their fans holding themselves to the same standards.
However, when Dortmund Airport posted a photo of the St. Pauli team arriving via plane on Friday, it caused outrage amongst fans.
The journey from Hamburg to Dortmund is a little over 300km, which would usually take around 3 hours to complete.
Many fans believed it was unnecessary to get a plane for such a short journey instead of taking a more economical route via the team bus or train the day before.
St. Pauli’s Reasoning
The club had already communicated via their website that the club would be making the journey to Dortmund via plane.
The main reason being that international players only returned from international duties on Wednesday and Thursday. For example, Australian Jackson Irvine only returned to the training ground on Thursday.
Additionally, due to a public holiday in Hamburg, the club explained that traffic would be too heavy to arrive in Dortmund on time. What’s more, there was a shortage of trains over the holiday weekend.
However, fans were quick to point out that despite traffic, the team bus had made the journey to Dortmund Airport to meet the team as they landed.
St. Pauli are a club of morals and their fans will not let the club forget that, regardless of the league they’re playing in.
GGFN | Jamie Allen
