[citation needed] This group did not play its first match until 1907, when they faced a similar side assembled from the local Aegir swimming club.

[citation needed] The team played as an undistinguished lower-to-mid table side until making their first appearance in 1934 in the top-flight Gauliga Nordmark, 1 of 16 premier level divisions created in the re-organization of German football that took place under the Third Reich.

[citation needed] In the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, St. Pauli were overtaken by rivals such as Werder Bremen and VfL Osnabrück, but finished fourth a number of times.

The club was also able to turn the location of its ground in the dock area part of town, near Hamburg's famous Reeperbahn – centre of the city's night life and its red-light district – to its advantage.

An alternative fan scene slowly emerged, built around left-leaning politics, social activism and the event and party atmosphere of the club's matches.

St. Pauli became the first team in Germany to officially ban right-wing nationalist activities and displays in its stadium during a period of fascist-inspired football hooliganism across Europe.

[18] Although precise details are uncertain, the story goes that named "Doc Mabuse", a singer in a Hamburg punk band, nailed a Jolly Roger flag to a broomstick and brought it to the Millerntor-Stadion.

[19] In 1989, Hamburg screenprinter Steph Braun created an image combining a detailed representation of a skull (taken from an anatomy textbook) with the words "ST. PAULI" underneath.

Intended to represent the area itself, and sold in various record shops around the district, Braun's graphic was adopted by St. Pauli fans and came to be seen as specifically associated with the club.

[19][20] In the early 1990s, the media in Germany began to recognize the Kult-image of the club, focusing on the punk part of the fan-base in TV broadcasts of the matches.

A win against Bayern Munich, the reigning Intercontinental Cup winners, led to the popular "Weltpokalsiegerbesieger" ("World Club Champion beaters") shirts.

The 2002–03 season ended up in chaos, with the team fighting relegation (ultimately in vain) from the very beginning, various coaches departing and other problems internal to the club.

During the 2005–06 season, the team enjoyed unprecedented success in the DFB-Pokal, with wins over Burghausen, VfL Bochum and, significantly, Bundesliga sides Hertha BSC and, in the quarter-finals on 25 January 2006, Werder Bremen.

[23] On 16 February 2011, during the 2010–11 season and for the first time since 1977, St. Pauli defeated their cross-city rivals, Hamburger SV, away at the Volksparkstadion, courtesy of a Gerald Asamoah goal.

[citation needed] The Italian brand would provide a set of kits for the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons in which the shirt, shorts, and socks were all available in white and brown, meaning that the team would wear a different combination each game, reminiscent of the club's look between the 1960s and 1980s.

[citation needed] However, this name became highly controversial when it was discovered by historian René Martens that Wilhelm Koch had been a member of the Nazi Party from 1937 to 1945, as stated in his 1997 book "FC St. Pauli - You'll never walk alone".

St. Pauli enjoys a certain fame for the left-leaning character of its supporters: most of the team's fans regard themselves as anti-racist, anti-fascist, anti-homophobic and anti-sexist, and this has, on occasion, brought them into conflict with neo-Nazis and hooligans at away games.

[32] Team supporters traditionally participate in demonstrations in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, including those over squatting or low-income housing, such as the Hafenstraße and Bambule.

[citation needed] Georg Holm, the bassist of the Icelandic post rock band Sigur Rós, has performed at several festivals wearing a St. Pauli shirt.

[citation needed] Alex Rosamilia, the guitarist for The Gaslight Anthem, frequently wears a St. Pauli hat and hoodie and displays a flag of the club's logo in front of the speakers of his guitar amp.

[citation needed] Dave Doughman, the singer for Dayton, Ohio's Swearing at Motorists, who has been spotted in concert with the skull and crossbones on his guitar and amplifier, moved to St. Pauli in 2010.

[citation needed] Also, British band Art Brut has written a song about the club called "St Pauli" which is featured on their album It's a Bit Complicated.

For the occasion, the fan club 18auf12 recorded the song "Happy Birthday St Pauli, One Hundred Beers for You", with words and music by Henning Knorr and Christoph Brüx.

[49] The Canadian punk rock band The Pagans of Northumberland recorded a song in 2014 called simply "St Pauli" for their first 7-inch detailing their love of the club and its supporters around the world.

[citation needed] In January 2017, FC St. Pauli announced an extensive co-operation with Irish-American Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys.

[53] In January 2020, the club's skull and crossbones flag was listed by the United Kingdom's counter-terrorism police in a guide sent to public sector workers, to notice potential extremism, prompting a backlash from St. Pauli's Welsh defender James Lawrence.

[43] The former club president Corny Littmann, long active in German theatre and head of the Schmidt Theater on the Reeperbahn, is openly gay.

[citation needed] The club hosted the 2006 FIFI Wild Cup, a tournament made up of unrecognised national football teams like Greenland, Tibet and Zanzibar.

The Low Dunk (featuring a smooth white colorway, and holding the team's logo impregnated in the side panel leather) was released only to shops in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with only 150 pairs produced.

– "St Pauli FC is conscious of the social responsibility this implies, and represents the interests of its members, staff, fans and honorary officers in matters not just restricted to the sphere of sport."