St Pauli create buzz with stadium beehives

BERLIN (Reuters) - St Pauli are causing something of a buzz in Germany by becoming the country's first professional football club to produce their own stadium honey.





The Hamburg second division side, long defined by an alternative fan scene that grew out of the punk movement and a left-wing supporter base, have installed two beehives at their Millerntor ground to raise awareness of the insects' need for protection.

The honey they produce will be called Ewaldbienenhonig, a wordplay on the name of their coach Ewald Lienen and 'Bienen', the German word for bees.

"The city bees will be feeding in a radius of three kilometres. I hope local residents will have flourishing balconies to welcome the bees," said the club's managing director Andreas Rettig said in a statement.

"Others have balconies to celebrate championships and we have them for the bees," he said in a dig at Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich, who celebrate title victories from the city hall balcony.

St Pauli, whose players run out on to the pitch to 'Hells Bells' by heavy rock band AC/DC, are known for their strong community spirit and anti-racist traditions.

Experts say a widely documented decline in European populations of both managed and wild honeybee colonies is due to a combination of pesticide use, loss of habitat, climate change and disease.









(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ossian Shine)


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