A labour of love
Celtic’s victory of SS Lazio in the Stadio Olimpico on
Thursday night was one of those occasions which will live long in the memory.
Not since the epic events of seven years earlier to the day when a truly
brilliant Barcelona side was beaten at Celtic Park has a victory been
celebrated so enthusiastically. Of course Lazio are no Barcelona and some of
their defending will show you why but that being said, for an SPFL side to beat
the fourth placed side in Serie A home and away is no mean feat. Of the 26,155 at
the match a good 10,000 were Celtic supporters and they had a ball despite
isolated incidents when local cowards used knives to injure three innocent
people.
Some have played down Celtic’s achievement but consider
Lazio’s performances since losing to Chris Jullien’s towering header at Celtic
Park; Lazio have defeated Fiorentina (a) 2-1 Torino (h) 4-0 and most
impressively AC Milan (a) 2-1 to record their first win in the San Siro in over
30 years. They sit 4th in Serie A in one of the Champions League
positions and have in Ciro Immobile the current Italian national side centre
forward. They are no mugs and for Celtic to beat them twice in a fortnight is
quite an achievement. Italian Newspaper Corriera Della Serra reported on the
night’s events with the following words…
‘N’tcham’s goal
unleashed wild enthusiasm among the 9000 Scots who filled the south curve. The
north curve was closed for racism and listening to the intensity of the
cheering you’d have thought you were in Glasgow. The strong ideological
opposition between the supporters of the two teams had moments of tension
especially away from the stadium on the night before the game. In the city
centre two Scots were stabbed and a German accompanying them. In Trastevere a
group of Celtic fans had to barricade themselves in a pub. Police arrested
eight: three Scots for resisting a public official and five from Lazio who were
found with sticks and knives near the bar.’
Sad as it is that three supporters were injured, the
Italian Police were clearly on the ball and prevented further incidents. This
is to be praised as visiting supporters have on occasion found the Carabinieri to
be just as dangerous as any local hooligans. Predictable excuses from Scottish
based tabloids that Celtic supporters were targeted because of the banners in
section 111 at the home leg of the tie seemed spurious given the reputation of
football fans in Rome for violence. Numerous supporters from Spurs, Liverpool,
CSK Moscow and Manchester United have all been stabbed or badly beaten in the
Italian capital in recent years. A game between Roma and Manchester United back
provided one of the worst examples not only of organised attacks by local thugs
on visiting supporters but of the dreadful behaviour of the local Police
towards the away fans. One UK reporter wrote about what he had witnessed that
night…
‘Eighteen United fans
were ambushed by ultras, ten of them were stabbed and another fifty fans had to
be bandaged up and repaired after unforgivable scenes when the Police embarked
on a military style attack. Their batons hit pretty much everything that moved.
Some images show riot sticks being used the wrong way round, heavy handle
first, in a way which seems premeditated to cause maximum damage. The
Carabinieri that night were having their debrief in the same part of the bus
park and we could see them embracing and high fiving. One guy, sweaty and
breathless with his helmet tucked under his arm was swishing his baton through
the air re-enacting his best shots. His colleagues were laughing and
clapping-celebrating it seemed.’
A young female supporter at that game was videoing the
police brutality when at least three policemen, faces covered, identification
numbers removed from their uniforms punched her and snatch her camera, she is
then hit with a baton for no other reason than filming police officers behaving
brutally.
It’s perhaps correct given the prevailing culture of
violence which hangs around Italian football to say that Celtic’s trip to Rome
was relatively speaking trouble free. Perhaps the much reported ‘ideological differences’ between Celtic
and Lazio fans meant the Police were well prepared and worked to a plan in
order to prevent trouble. They themselves have been under scrutiny after events
at the Roma v Manchester United match outlined above and thankfully behaved
more professionally when Celtic fans were in town.
It’s a labour of love following Celtic around Europe and
something I did more of in my younger days before the demands of work and life
curtailed those opportunities. Those supporters who do travel abroad to back
Celtic occasionally endure poor treatment in places they visit but more often than not their infectious good
humour and passion for their club makes them friends abroad rather than
enemies. There are clubs who have real nasty elements following them, we all
know who they are, but Celtic supporters are not generally in Europe looking
for trouble although they have in the past responded to violence meted out to
them. We saw this in Amsterdam a few years back in the notorious ‘Fenian lamppost’
incident when plain clothes police officers behaved despicably towards visiting
fans. Celtic fans abroad may drink a lot and some may be a bit uncouth at times
but aren’t generally looking for bother.
Some of the incidents I’ve seen or heard of about Celts
on their travels have made me smile. The rush hour commuters on the Brussels
underground treated to hundreds of Celtic fans singing ‘Walk with me oh my Lord’ as they headed to Anderlecht. Or the
disabled school kids on a cross channel ferry, who initially looked nervous as
scores of football supporters entered the lounge. They were soon singing, laughing
and sporting Celtic souvenirs as the fans interacted with them. Their teachers
were given a good amount of money collected from among the supporters for the
children. Then there was Seville. Was there ever a more joyous celebration of
what Celtic is all about? The colour, the noise, the sheer good humour of
80,000 Celtic fans there for a fiesta. Their reaction to defeat that night was
telling too as FC Porto supporters were applauded on the long walk back to town
after the game. Compare that to events in Manchester in 2008.
For younger fans, following Celtic to some European city
is a bit of an adventure. You might never go to Romania or Kazakhstan again but
you can say you were there backing the hoops. Some funny stories from those
travels include the Celtic fan in Germany who was making progress chatting up a
young lady in a bar only to find that ‘she’ was in fact a guy. The online
banter with Fenerbahce fans when two of their misguided supporters posted threatening
pictures with faces covered and cruel looking knives in hand. Celtic fans
responded with faces covered pics brandishing everything from a spoon, a packet
of Turkish delights, a toothbrush and a hoover. The decent Fenerbahce fans joined
in with images of them brandishing items such as hair straighteners, a fishing
net and a food mixer. It was good to see two sets of rival supporters using
humour to relate to each other. Needless to say Celtic supporters enjoyed their
trip to Turkey and there were no problems.
The availability of cheap air travel has made reaching
far flung European cities easier for fans than it was in the days when it took
36 hours to reach Madrid on a bus with no toilet. I hope supporters of the
grand old team continue to follow their team all over Europe and make friends
on their travels. There will be places where caution is required but overall
they will find a warm welcome. Tommy Burns once said "When
you pull on that jersey you're not just playing for a football club, you're
playing for a people and a cause" Most Celtic supporters know that
they too are representing Celtic when they travel abroad and keep that in mind.
Thankfully the vast majority do and impress the locals with their passion for
their club and their friendliness. That’s the Celtic way and long may it
continue.
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