This letter from Nicolas Sarkozy's office requesting a box at Croke Park on the weekend kicks off what may be the great diplomatic blowup since WWII. Some, all or none if this may be true/legit. What's inarguable is that it's fantastically hilarious. Well wishes for bike accident victim Carlo Cudicini. Click to continue reading...

Big Story
Jack Warner has returned a handbag given to him by the England World Cup bid because of "embarrassment", launching even by his absurd standards a bizarre rhetorical attack on the Football Association.

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Thanks to our friends at Dirty Tackle for bringing this to our attenion. Imagine you have two teams who quite literally hate each other to the core, two local rivals who can't stand the sight of each other. Then you take an away team who takes the spoils and you add a player who wishes to create mayhem.

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Germany
Police reacted when about 500 violent supporters of Hansa Rostock tried to breach a police barrier and threw bottles and firecrackers after their club had lost to visiting St. Pauli 2-0. About 1,500 police were on hand for the game between the clubs whose supporters have a history of animosity. Click to continue reading...

Something to read while you watch St Pauli's Deniz Naki rile up the Hansa Rostock fans. It all ended with water cannons... Did you renew your Ebbsfleet United subscription? (Pitch Invasion) Maicon's agent not a True Blue(Dirty Tackle) Who do you trust: Bloggers or lubricant salespeople? (France Offside) Cape Verde vs Portugal. Click to continue reading...

All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award winning Dirty Tackle...

The derby match between St. Pauli and Hansa Rostock once again brings fire and violence and police involvement, this time inflamed by St. Pauli's Deniz Naki. [101gg]

Every fan attending the Dynamo Kiev v Inter Champions League match will be given masks to protect against the terrifying dangers of swine flu.

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The second division rivalry between the German clubs FC Hansa Rostock and St. Pauli ended with a 2-0 victory for St. Pauli and some Hansa Rostock supporter being on the receiving end of a water cannon.
Angered by the loss on their home pitch, 500 die hard fans of FC Hansa Rostock tried to breach a police barrier and began throwing bottles and firecrackers. Click to continue reading...

German DFB Pokal Werder Bremen vs FC St. Pauli : Live Stream here Werder Bremen - FC St. Pauli : Highlights here Pre-register at the NEW football site 11×2 today Click to continue reading...

According to Toby Davis at Setanta Sports, Blackburn might loan-out teenager David Hoilett to St. Pauli if they are unable to secure a work permit. Hoilett played for St. Pauli on loan last year as well.

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In other words: our Wolfsburg Offside is looking for someone to take over and join our lively Bundesliga family here at The Offside.

Please send your fake takeover applications to admin@nufc.co.uk and the real ones to daryl@theoffside.com.

Update: Just as I write this post the Borussia Dortmund Offside goes up for auction as well.

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Philadelphia Union's Sons of Ben appeal to the anti-establishment sports fan.
"MLS is like the Punk Rock of American sports."
Prophetic words.
Something tells us that when former MLSR contributor Jade1MLS (her BigSoccer nom de plume) wrote that many probably questioned where she was coming from. Click to continue reading...

Seit geraumer Zeit geistert ein neues Trendwort in der Fußballszene umher: Papierkugel. Ein Wort, welches aus der absoluten Bedeutungslosigkeit empor kam, schließlich handelt es sich für gewöhnlich bei einer Papierkugel um Müll. Doch wie kam es zu der plötzlichen Popularität? Doktor Fußball klärt den Hype auf.

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• There's a St. Pauli Offside now! There must be a better way to integrate it into the Bundesliga Offside than hoping for an extra quick promotion to the first division. (St. Pauli Offside)
• A close Bundesliga title race decided on the final matchday? Happens 50% of the time, so what's all the buzz about?

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It all started so wrong for FC St. Pauli. And air of impending doom hung over what has become Germany's Politischen Derby with Hansa Rostock visiting. The threat of violence was once again on the cards with the neo-nazi supporters of Rostock visiting the radical left kult team of Hamburg. In fact [. Click to continue reading...

This is from Mainz vs St. Pauli in the 2. Bundesliga, and the awesome official flashing two simultaneous yellows is Thomas Metzen. The word awesome gets thrown around a lot these days as a synonym for "good", but in this case I mean it literally. Great entertainment, but also the sort of smooth move that might [. Click to continue reading...

Here is a mini documentary on FC St. Pauli from Trans World Sport. It's two years old, but will give anyone uninitiated in the anti-fascism team a little background on the "Kult" club from Hamburg. Bookmark to: Click to continue reading...

According to several reliable sources, oft-injured American defender Cory Gibbs is looking to make a return to Major League Soccer in the next couple of weeks.
Should the one-time MLS defender return, he would be made available through an allocation process similar to the recent Brian McBride situation, meaning the Los Angeles Galaxy would have first crack at signing the 28-year-old center-back, as they sit at the top of the allocation order. Click to continue reading...

It looks like FC St. Pauli of the German Second Bundeliga is still looking for defensive help since the anticipated return of US defender Cory Gibbs appears doubtful. St Pauli sports director told Bild that "I assume he is not now coming." Gibbs, whose contract with Charlton Athletic (a team for which he never appeared due to injuries) just ran out, had recently been training with the Hamburg-based side. Click to continue reading...