St Pauli On Sea: Punkpokal 2

Words: Tom Reed

Images: Tom Reed

Solidarity comes in many forms but can often mean turning out for your friends, even when it might be a bind or you feel like you have something better to do.

You feel the energy of other people doing good things and join together to match it and take things forward.

The same can be said of a successful football team.

At St Pauli on Sea, a registered supporter club of the Millentor team based in Southend on Sea, they turn out for their friends and community as a very basic of solidarity.

Each year, they take part in a football match and music event, called Punkpokal to raise money for Southend Foodbank.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. St Paul On Sea.

This year’s Punkpokal 2 saw St Pauli On Sea team up with local independent record label Cool Thing for a day of clattering shin pads and strumming of guitars.

The weather couldn’t have been any better as St Pauli On Sea took on Cool Thing United at the local cricket club, just a couple of minutes back from the sea front.

St Pauli On Sea are turning into a bit of a crack outfit, having played on the Millentor pitch in FC St. Pauli’s supporter competition held annually.

The seaside St Pauli fanatics have their own unique kit manufactured by Kit and Bone which has help raise funds for initiatives such as Football Vs Homophobia, Love Football, Hate Racism and Refugee Action among others.

Obviously, a strong sense of social responsibility is writ large at FC St. Pauli and its offshoot supporters clubs and St Pauli On Sea always do their bit.

Indeed, the notion of foodbanks having to be a thing in modern Britain pisses of the organisers at St Pauli On Sea.

“Foodbanks shouldn’t have to exist. What is the U.K. the seventh largest economy in the world? A country with a supposed social welfare system? It’s a travesty that years of this government’s legislation has eroded the social safety net and introduced punitive measures on the help that should be available to all of us if we need it.”

“In doing so they’ve created an ‘I’m alright Jack’ mentality and less empathetic society. We were invited to the Southend foodbank warehouse a couple of weeks ago and I can honestly say it was one of the most humbling things I’ve ever experienced” said Ben Bray, who helped put the day together.

Not that he could stop for much of a chat at half-time as the match went on in a spirit of real competition with players turning out from various local bands.

“I always find it difficult to not be competitive in friendlies, you’re not going to go half arsed into a challenge are you, it’s probably more dangerous” added one of the players with a tremendous red beard.

The match finished 4-3 to St Pauli On Sea, with a pimped up Timpsons trophy given the Millentor treatment, courtesy of some pink spray paint.

The cricket club had certainly not seen a crowd that big for a while, with families and friends having a good time and contributing by buying beers, with 20% of the bar take going to the foodbank.

Often, a few pints in the clubhouse is where a match will end but Punkpokal 2 saw everyone decamp to seafront events space Twenty One, where a host of local bands took the party late in to the night.

Any holidaymakers heading to the arcades would have operated the claw machine to the soundtrack of Thomas Prescott of Suspects, Admissions, Outcries and Teleforme doing their thing.

St Pauli On Sea had reconnected the link between football and music, bringing together a day of sunshine, beers and tunes.

Just over £2.5k has been raised for Southend Foodbank, which will do incredible things.

They will continue to look out for each other and those less well off, as the skull and crossbones club in the North of Germany do.

That’s solidarity, that’s football.