A Friday Night in St. Pauli for the Hamburg Derby

The Hamburg clubs went into the first Stadtderby of the season occupying the top two spots in Germany’s second tier. Ryan Hunn was at the Millerntor, to experience the Hamburg derby for the first time.

WordsRyan Hunn9 December 2023Hamburg, Derby, Bundesliga, St. Pauli, HSV, Jackson Irvine, Millerntor

An Ode On Gestures

In July, the German publication Sport Bild gave Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and TSG Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp their “Gesture of the Year” award for “standing side by side against hate”. Rummenigge and Hopp were standing up against the Bayern ultras who were protesting against Hopp’s for his three-year ban of Borussia Dortmund’s fans from TSG Hoffenheim’s ground. The award was met with widespread ridicule, given that it was made at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, when black footballers around the world were making gestures of a far greater scale and significance. Jonathan Harding, the football writer, broadcaster and author of the brilliant Mensch: Beyond The Cones, addresses this award below in his “Ode to Gestures”.

Marcus Thuram does his dad proud

In making a stand - or, more accurately, by taking a knee - against institutiuonal racism, Marcus Thuram made a gesture of which his father Lilian must surely be proud. Musa Okwonga examines some of the wider implications of Thuram's moment of on-field activism.

The Bundesliga Theory of Time

The Bundesliga returned last weekend and oh, how it has been missed. Ryan Hunn was at the Olympiastadion for Hertha against Bayern and rounds up the opening weekend of the Rückrunde, including Erling Braut Håland’s brilliant debut.

Dortmund and Leipzig light up a festive Bundesliga Englische Woche

Borussia Dortmund hosted RB Leipzig in the highlight fixture of the midweek Bundesliga fixtures. Ryan Hunn was at the Westfalenstadion to witness one of the games of the season, and rounds up the rest of the Bundesliga Englische Woche talking points.