2018 was a remarkable year…for FC St. Pauli, NordAmerika and Toronto.
In Toronto, our supporters club ended the Winterpause with a showing of Here to Stay, a documentary created by Religion of Sports. This powerful doc about FC Lampedusa and the refugee men who make up the football club was shown in Buffalo, Calgary and New York and later in Glasgow and other cities. A great way to start the year.
FC St. Pauli Toronto Fans walked in the International Women’s Day march with banner in tow, supporting women everywhere.
Toronto was fortunate to join in the launch of NordAmerikurve, a co-operative of established and new North American clubs, with a mission to spread the word about FCSP, its football and values across North America. This union has grown to 10 clubs with more in the process of setting up. Very exciting!
February was a big month for Freundschafts as members of our club visited Toronto clubs for Bayern Munich (Südkurve Toronto) and Celtic (Downtown Toronto CSC) to celebrate the game and friendship. Members of the East River Pirates and FC St. Pauli Buffalo visited Toronto as we joined Südkurve Toronto at their home base and later that weekend joined the Downtown Bhoys for their derby match.
With the end of the season also came the end of our relationship with Scallywags as our home base. Scallywags was a terrific place owned and staffed by wonderful people. Our wish to move to a downtown venue was realized when the wonderful folks at The Dock Ellis agreed to take us in.
While arrangements to our new home were being made, we received news of the unthinkable…The Boys in Brown would be coming to NordAmerika!!!! FCSPGoesUSA was born, and with the eventual escape from the jaws of relegation, became a reality.
FCSP Toronto Fans only took part in the Detroit leg, and it was unforgettable. The events, the hosts in DCFC, the music, the friendships and above all FCSP were amazing. FCSPGoesUSA opened up NordAmerika even more to the ethos and special qualities of this unique club. We also can’t say enough about Detroit and Detroit City Football Club. Beautiful all of you!
As the 2018-19 season began, so did our time at The Dock Ellis. This watering hole in Little Portugal, its patrons, staff, owners and atmosphere is like nothing else. We can’t wait to gather each match day and more.
We marked this new chapter with the creation of our new alter ego, the Trash Bandits, and created stickers to share with others. We also created a new Dock Ellis Totenkopf design to show our appreciation to The Dock Ellis.
Realizing some of our members were ardent sailors, we launched the FC St. Pauli Toronto Sailing Division, which in 2019 will grow to three sailboats.
We also thought is was time to partner with a charity of choice, and given FCSP’s Refugees Welcome stance we thought connecting with Newcomer Kitchen was perfect. NK enables Syrian refugee women to work, by providing space to create wonderful Syrian meals for all of us to enjoy.
As matches began, so did visits to The Dock Ellis from FCSP fans travelling to Toronto. At the same time, members of our club visited Germany to take in matches live, all solidifying our connection to the club.
With H$V relegated came our first opportunity to watch a derby. With Derby Do, we gathered, watch the match, bid on FCSP prizes, with all the proceeds going to Newcomer Kitchen. We also erected a Dudziak kit above the FCSP Toronto Fans table, again illustrating The Dock Ellis’s support for us.
Our other charity venture, Movember, began and saw us raise $1000 in the fight against cancer, depression and suicide. The highlight was the Pub Olympics at The Dock Ellis, which again enabled us to give to Movember in a fun way.
And as the year drew to a close, the Boys in Brown climbed up the division sitting securely in third spot, filling us with pride and excitement for things to come.
We look forward to an exciting 2019 and second half of the season. We’ll have more exciting news to share and look forward to meeting FCSP fans here and abroad in the months to come.
Forza!