Our neighbours across the city have spent the last two days on a PR Offensive regarding their “125th” Birthday. Now a simple understanding of Celtic’s history will tell you they were founded in 1888. While there have been many guffaws about the obvious calculation error, Celtic are justifying moving their celebrations forward by a year by citing that a meeting on 6th November 1887 was the birth of the club.
So, despite celebrating their centenary in 1988 with a “double”, telling everyone for 124 years that they were founded in 1887, and having 1888 on their badge, Celtic have revised history and now state they were formed in 1887.
Why is anyone’s guess, but revising history is not new for Celtic, who have been selling the world a romantic fiction version of their foundation in 1888, emphasising that the club was founded to feed the poor oppressed irish Catholic community in Glasgow.
In fact, Celtic’s unofficial outlet, CQN ran a nauseating piece restating this propaganda yesterday, which was interestingly being retweeted on Twitter by many prominent Celtic fans, including MP Jim Murphy.
The propaganda is being hammered, without question. Obviously some knowledgable supporters of many sides know the propaganda is verging on crossing that boundary between spin and fabrication but it’s worth restating again that Celtic’s origins were far more cynical and contrived than they will ever admit, and that’s being polite.
Two more accurate descriptions of that time are here
From Bill Murray’s book on the “Old Firm”:
““It is well known that one of the reasons brother Walfrid, a Marist brother, sought the formation of a catholic football team was to help feed and clothe the poor of the parishes where he worked. But as well as concern for the suffering poor, brother Walfrid was also prompted by a fear that protestant soup kitchens might tempt young Catholics into apostasy. Moreover he was equally worried about the dangers of young Catholics meeting Protestants in their place of employment or leisure, particularly during the years after leaving school which he considered the most dangerous as far as "religious duties" were concerned. A catholic football club then could serve the dual purpose of easing the pain in starving stomachs at the same as it kept young Catholics together in their leisure time, free from the temptations of Protestants and Protestantism. The aims off his helpers may have been more prosaic, but when the circular announcing the formation of a catholic club in the East End of Glasgow was circulated in January 1888, its religious foundations were stressed".”
Notably, the Celtic Wiki, refer to Pat Welsh as a “fenian activist”.
Another piece of Celtic’s history tells us that Michael Davitt laid the first piece of turf at Parkhead
Also notable is the fact that Celtic supporters have been updating the Wikipedia history of Celtic to make changes from 1888 to 1887, although the changes have not been made throughout the page, which makes it look inconsistent and inaccurate.
The real history is hardly the most romantic story then, is it, no matter what year they were constituted (1888 byraway)
Segregation, bigotry and Anti british sentiment formed that club and underpin everything they stand for to this day.
Bill
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