Its decision to close, after 16 years of operation, was announced on Saturday by the official association of St. Pauli in Athens, expressing its opposition to the fact that the German club sided with Israel.
“The solidarity that until today has offered generously, suddenly does not apply to the Palestinians”, he states, among other things, in his statement.
The relevant announcement in detail:
“After 16 years of operation and safeguarding our beliefs, Athens Club FCSP, one of the oldest in Europe – outside Germany – declares its complete differentiation from the football team FC Sankt Pauli Hamburg on the burning issue of the war in Palestine.
Our common path, based on what St. Pauli, ended on October 7th, when we suddenly found ourselves in completely opposite camps.
Our differences are chaotic and immediately after our protest for the position in favor of the state of Israel that the team took (as an Association and as a fan movement within Germany), in cooperation with various international clubs of St. Pauli around the world, we even got to the point of being attacked by our hitherto “own people” from Hamburg, who accused us of being “terrorist sympathizers” and “anti-Semites”, accusations that have NOT been retracted since, and even worse NOT we were given no apology for them.
In conclusion: From the first day of Athens Club’s creation, we stayed true to our values, our beliefs and what we thought St. Pauli.
And we were wrong after all. St. Pauli has completely let us down… The solidarity that he has generously offered until now suddenly does not apply to the Palestinians. But solidarity is not a la carte.
Along with our own decision to self-dissolve, the operation of other international clubs is also suspended.
A chapter closes for us, but it gives us the impetus to embark on our own pirate ship for other ports… football, political, cultural.”
Tags: Saint Paulis connection Athens closes completely disappointed
