Searching for the Meaning of Football - At the Birthplace of the fuckin' Hamburger

Episode 8 of Nick Thomson's podcast Around the World in 90 Minutes takes him to Hamburg in northern Germany, birthplace of the hamburger, launch-pad of The Beatles and home to Hamburg SV, one of Germany's largest and most successful football clubs and a previous winner of the European Cup. But that was then. Today, Hamburg SV is not even the top club in Hamburg, having been usurped by a bolshie upstart from one of the city's poorer districts.

From modest beginnings, FC St Pauli has garnered a cult following that spreads way beyond the city's boundaries with its reputation as the world's most foremost left wing football club. The club's present day popularity was borne out of the squats and alternative music scene of Hamburg's seedy port area. FC St Pauli gradually became the cool club to support in the city whilst their once illustrious neighbour "stepped on a lot of rakes" in a gradual decline that eventually saw them relegated from the top division in 2018 for the first time in their history. If it wasn't bad enough having to play their football in the same (second tier) division as their scruffy neighbour (Hamburg fans call St Pauli fans "the fleas"), St Pauli's promotion to the top division in 2024 must have been particularly hard for them to take. But for the fleas, this was the equivalent of social justice, both reward for and justification of their liberal credentials.

Sven Brux - not reminiscing about the 1980's

Sven Brux is Head of matchday organisation and fan affairs at FC St Pauli. He's been a fan since the 1980's, not that he remembers too much about those early days because I was so fuckin' drunk in the 80’s. When asked what the club means to him? It's my fuckin' life! 

But what does the skull and crossbones have to do with FC St Pauli?

What was backpack-gate?

And why do Germans swear so fuckin' much?

For answers to these and other questions, tune in to Around the World in 90 Minutes via the links below.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw

Searching for the Meaning of Football - At The World's Most Inspirational Football Club?

Nick Thomson's search for the true meaning of football continues and in Episode 7 of his podcast Around the World in 90 Minutes, he heads south from Manchester to that there London to visit possibly the world's most inspirational football club. A club which once (well, twice actually) provided all eleven players in an England football team, was the inspiration for Real Madrid's iconic all-white kit and took one hundred and one years to complete a tour of Brazil which got interrupted by the First World War although not before providing the inspiration behind the formation of one of the world's biggest and most successful football clubs.

Nick with Corinthian Casuals' chairman Brian Adamson. 

Corinthian-Casuals Football Club was formed in 1939 by the merger of amateur clubs Corinthian FC (founded 1882) and Casuals FC (founded 1883). Whilst it was the Corinthian club that the above narrative refers, both clubs were pioneers of their time in taking football around the country and beyond, at all times championing the ideals of sportsmanship, fair play and amateurism. And Corinthian-Casuals remain an amateur club to this day which, whilst not without its challenges, is nonetheless what makes this club very special. 

Nick with player Marcos Vinicius from Brazil, one of
a number of Brazilian players on the club's books.

What do you get at this ground that you can't get at a Premier League ground? The answer Nick receives to this question is one that will resonate particularly with Manchester City fans right now as they protest against exhorbitant ticket prices.

Also, hear the word juxtaposition used possibly for the first time ever in a football podcast.

How did Corinthian-Casuals become so inspirational?

Why is "pot-hunting" ungentlemanly?

And what does juxtaposition mean?

For answers to these and other questions, tune into the Around the World in 90 Minutes podcast via the links below.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw

Searching for the Meaning of Football - In the Shadow of Manchester United

Access all areas for Nick at F.C. United's Broadhurst Park stadium.

In a search that's already taken him to Sheffield, Croatia, Northern Ireland and Austria, Episode 5 of Nick Thomson's new football podcast Around the World in 90 Minutes takes him a little closer to home this time round. Four miles across town to be precise with a visit to F.C. United of Manchester, the football club borne out of disgruntlement with the Glazer family's takeover of Manchester United. 

On a quest for the true meaning of football, one would hope that a visit to F.C. United ought to provide some meaningful clues. And it does!

The club plays its football in the Northern Premier League's Premier Division, Tier 7 of the English football pyramid and is the third largest (by membership numbers) fan-owned club in the UK. Nick took in their home match against table toppers Macclesfield F.C. - another club with a great recent story to tell - amongst a crowd of 1,601 creating an old school atmosphere, very much Manchester United influenced, enjoying crunching tackles and no VAR. As one supporter put it, "Real football. Getting back to what football used to be". 

Nick was the 1 in a crowd figure of 1,601.

Success isn't everything in football and the fans of F.C. United appear to be very happy with their lot, enjoying their football and everything that comes with it. To find out why, listen to the podcast via the links below.

As for fans of Manchester United? 

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw

Searching for the Meaning of Football - In the Sex Capital of Europe?

Nick chatting to fans outside Sturm Graz's Merkur Arena stadium

Still on the search for the true meaning of football, Episode 4 of Nick Thomson's new football podcast Around the World in 90 Minutes is out now and where better to continue on this earnest quest than in the self-proclaimed sex capital of Europe. What?

Graz is the capital city of Austria's second largest state of Styria and home to SK Sturm Graz, current champions of Austria's Bundesliga. It is also home to two UNESCO world heritage sites, the futuristic Kunsthaus (be careful how you spell that) Graz exhibition centre and a funicular connecting the city centre to the Schloßberg, a historical site atop a hill from which the world's tallest indoor slide can be taken thus enabling you to return back down the hill very, very quickly. And alongside all the history, culture, thrills and football, Graz has a thriving (and legal) sex industry. Very smart move to take the wife Nick. 

Cheers!

All of the above information is almost certainly news to you, unless you're Austrian of course. So is Austrian football any good? Do they have real football fans? Why would a Brit from Colchester support SK Sturm Graz? And what does Nick sound like when hurtling down a slide? 

For answers to these and other questions, tune in to Episode 4 via the links below.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw

Searching for the Meaning of Football - What's the Craic?

Nick in solitude at Solitude.

Episode 3 of Nick Thomson's new football podcast Around the World in 90 Minutes is out today, searching for the true meaning of football and off to Northern Ireland to visit the oldest football club on the island of Ireland, Cliftonville Football & Athletic Club. Based in north Belfast, a city still scarred by "the troubles", the club has a fan base which bridges historic divides and epitomises the quiet progress made over the last twenty six years since the Good Friday Agreement. 

You don't normally go to a football match for solitude. But you can go to Solitude for a football match. How and why does that make any sense? Well, Solitude just happens to be the name of Cliftonville's stadium and that's where Nick took in Cliftonville v Glenavon in the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Premiership earlier this season, taking the opportunity to speak to fans about what their football club means to them.

Nick not in solitude this time, but rather
with local guide Donzo who provided a
brilliant, concise history of "the troubles".

So, how did the club bridge the historic divide? What's it like to watch football in Northern Ireland? What is the meaning of football? And who on earth is Donzo? For answers to these and other questions tune in to the podcast via the links below and find out.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw

Searching for the Meaning of Football - and Why do Croatia Always Beat England?

In Episode 2 of Nick Thomson's new football podcast Around the World in 90 Minutes, Nick travels to Croatia in his search for the true meaning of football. A stop-off in Zagreb is followed by a trip to Rijeka where the local team HNK Rijeka are currently unbeaten and top of the Croatian First League ahead of rivals Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb. 

Based on the performance of its clubs in European competition, Croatia is positioned nineteenth in the EUFA rankings, eighteen places below England. So why is it that Croatia always beats England when the two countries meet?

Nick takes in the match between Rijeka and fierce rivals Hadjuk Split, talking to the home fans whilst avoiding the away fans who are particularly scary. Why do they think Croatia always beats England? What do they think of English football fans? What is the true meaning of football? And what is smash or grab?

For answers to these and other unsolved mysteries, click on the links below.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw

Searching for the Meaning of Football - Sheffield FC - Where it all Began.

If you're going to launch a new podcast about the true meaning of football, then where do you begin? At the beginning of course and Sheffield FC is where it all began. 

Which is why the first episode of new football podcast Around The World In 90 Minutes starts at the home of football, Sheffield FC, the world's oldest football club.

This new series is about football where there isn't too much money, where any prawn sandwiches are probably washed down with a cup of Bovril and the fans and the players have a drink together after the game. It's real football - the people's game.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw