The Dominant Underdog
The
first Celtic history conference was held at Celtic Park this weekend and it was
both educational and enjoyable. A full house turned up to listen to diverse and
interesting speakers give their take on different aspects of Celtic’s history
and how that history was shaped by the social, cultural and political context
of the times. Dr Joe Bradley, academic, author and editor of the ‘Celtic
Minded’ series of books gave the keynote speech and emphasised the pivotal role
of An Gorta Mor in the Celtic story. The influx of tens of thousands of Irish
refugees to Scotland, fleeing the horrors of a man-made starvation brought about by imperial mismanagement and cruelty at home, was a key factor in the birth of
Celtic. Joe emphasised that the revival of the Catholic church in Scotland, a
church most of these immigrants adhered to, was another strand in Celtic’s DNA
as it brought teaching orders and other religious bodies to the country. It is
from the charitable work of the Marists that the idea of football as a vehicle
for community pride, fitness and fund raising was born.
Joe
was clear that there is nothing to be ashamed of in the Catholic roots of
Celtic FC. The society Celtic was born into was deeply anti-Catholic and there
was a time when the city of Glasgow had more anti-Catholic societies than it
had actual Catholics. Celtic, as the identifiable symbol of the Irish-Catholic
community in the west of Scotland did not escape this prejudice. Cartoons in
sports papers like the ‘Apes and Aryans’ image which appeared in 1905 showed a
Celtic and Rangers player involved in a game of snooker. The Rangers man is
handsome and intelligent looking. The Celt is portrayed as ape like. Those overtly
racist images are gone now but there are those still uncomfortable with this
club and what it represents. You only have to look at the reaction in some
quarters to Celtic’s league win in May to see that. The phrase ‘the dominant
underdog’ was used and in some ways it fits the recent history of Celtic.
Dr
Joe was followed by Dr Michael Connolly. Michael is known to Celtic fans for
his pioneering work in uncovering a fuller picture of the life of Brother
Walfrid. His PhD Thesis ‘Walfrid: A life of faith community and football was
published in book form and I can highly recommend it. His work uncovered
previously unknown photographs of Walfrid and details of his life before and
after his time at Celtic. Before being given his Marist name, Walfrid had been
part of the post An Gorta Mor Irish diaspora arriving in Scotland as a teenager
in the 1850s. Walfrid’s chief motivations were discerned as his Catholic faith,
a commitment to community-based charity and his lifelong association with
Celtic FC. From his years in London, to his time in Kent and retirement in St
Joseph’s, Dumfries, Walfrid would receive telegrams keeping him up to date with
Celtic’s latest results.
Dr
Margot McCuaig is best known to Celtic fans for her films on the lives of Jock
Stein, Jimmy Johnstone and Tommy Burns, though her work in film and story is
far more extensive than that. Her input to the conference examined the gendered
authorship of Celtic’s history and asked why so little of the printed and
online material about Celtic is created by women. Her stated goal was to ‘challenge
assumptions about who possesses the authority to write the club’s football
history and why women remain marginalised in documenting Celtic’s past.’ She
asked at one point about women having ‘permission’ to write about Celtic and I
thought immediately that they don’t need permission. Nobody gave me permission
to write about Celtic. I just decided I wanted to do it. I understand the
deeper meaning in her question though. Society has historically wanted to keep
women ‘in their place’ and that patriarchal outlook hasn’t died out completely.
Would some men take women writing about Celtic as seriously as they do male
authors? I think most judge the quality and content of the writing rather than
the gender of the author, but Margot’s input was well received and thought
provoking.
Matthew
Marr, known to many of you for his excellent guided walking tours of Celtic
related sites around Glasgow, spoke next on ‘Celtic's story around Glasgow' His
knowledge of Celtic’s early days and the sites around the city where many of
the club’s early dramas unfolded is first class. He delivered his input with
clarity and humour, illustrating his points with maps and photographs. His
knowledge of Celtic’s first finals and trophies was built on detective work
which uncovered many interesting facts that may otherwise have been lost to us.
Matthew is the author of ‘The Bould Bhoys! "Glory to their name,’ a book
detailing Celtic first league winning season in 1892-93 season. He is working
on a book about the trophies Celtic has won over the years and the interesting
stories about them. Matthew’s enthusiasm and affection for the club came across
in all he said.
Stephen
Murray will be known to many of you from his excellent ‘St Anthony’ account on
twitter, though he recently had to start from scratch as Mr Musk’s faceless bots
shut his account down. Stephen spoke of his ‘labour of love,’ the Celtic Wiki
and the countless hours he and others put into creating and maintaining this
encyclopaedic bank of information and photographs on Celtic. Stephen has more
Celtic photographs on his computer than there are seats in Celtic Park which
gives you an idea of the scale of what he has achieved with the wiki. Like the
other speakers, his love for Celtic shone through his input and we owe a debt
of gratitude to folk like Stephen who provide us with accessible information
and photographs on the history of our club.
The
speakers encouraged the audience to ask questions about what they’d heard and
give their opinions on the topics raised. One recurring theme was the need for
Celtic to invest in a proper museum in keeping with the status of the club.
There are so many artefacts, stories and images illustrating Celtic’s history
which go unseen and unheard. I love the Celtic Park tours and have been on them
several times, but when one looks at the museums of other major European clubs,
Celtic is way behind.
The
first Celtic history conference was a huge success and the numbers in
attendance suggested that there is an appetite for this to become an annual
event. There is so much Celtic history which could be explored in future
conferences and I hope and believe that this is just the start of something
which will grow in the future and become a date in the calendar we all look
forward to.
On
a personal note, I did allow myself a wee smile when one of the speakers used a
quotation I had written myself. It read…
‘We
handed on our stories of Celtic to the next generation as if it were the most
valuable thing we had to give our children. In some ways it was. It was the
green thread which ran through the fabric of our lives. It was and is, part of
us, part of who we are, and we should thank those dad’s, mothers and uncles who
taught us to love Celtic. It was a fine gift they bequeathed to us.’
In
some ways that is the essence of what the conference was all about. Well done
to all involved.
