DFB over-turn St. Pauli's spectator ban

The German Football Association (DFB) on Thursday over-turned their own decision to force Bundesliga side FC St. Pauli to play behind closed doors after a plastic beer cup was thrown on an assistant referee. Under the new ruling the club will have to play the new first match of the new 2011/12 season, in which-ever division, at a ground which is at least 50 kilometres away from Hamburg with the capacity of the ground restricted to 13,750 spectators.

Club coach Holger Stanislawski said, "I have great respect for the DFB control board and the DFB sports court. This is called fair play from a sporting point of view and we very much appreciate that we can host the last two home games this season with the support of our fans."

The German Football Association (DFB) had earlier decided that FC St. Pauli will have to play their Round 31 Bundesliga home game against SV Werder Bremen on April 23 behind closed doors. The DFB had taken the decision following the abandonment of St. Pauli's match against FC Schalke 04 on April 1 after one of the assistant referees was hit by a full plastic beer cup.

The match was abandoned by referee Deniz Aytekin in the 87th minute after his assistant Thorsten Schiffner was struck by the plastic cup at the back of the neck, Schiffner went down but thereafter came back on his feet again to report to Aytekin what had happened. At the time of the incidence St. Pauli were trailing Schalke 0-2 and were down to nine men which had infuriated local St. Pauli fans.

Now the crucial North derby against SV Werder Bremen next weekend will go ahead as planned infront of a sell-out crowd and ensures the club also generates the expected revenues.

About the opening game of the next season St. Pauli will only think once this seasons relegation battle is over because only then will they know which division they will play next season which could be a deciding factor on where to play. The name of the city of Lübeck was mentioned as a potential host as it falls outside the 50 kilometre radius as its 17.500 seater stadium would fulfil the necessary Bundesliga criteria.