Every now and then an event takes place that not only re-establishes your faith in human decency – it also makes you stand taller than you’ve done for a long time, puff your chest out proudly and feel truly galvanised with the too often not publicised anywhere near enough warmth of humanity.
Wednesday April 15th 2015 at Celtic Park was one of those all too rare occasions.
This week was the 100th anniversary of the death (it’s the 17th of April) of Brother Walfrid, the Marist priest integral in the formation of Celtic football club in 1887. Born in County Sligo on the west of Ireland, Walfrid moved to the east end of Glasgow to teach at Sacred Heart and then St Mary’s schools, both a very short walk to Celtic Park.
Since the 1840’s, Glasgow was a city many from Ireland of all faiths made their way to escape starvation and extreme poverty. It was easier to access due to its location but also the potential work opportunities were greater due to the city’s importance at the time in the industrial revolution. With a mass increase in immigrants, came demand for catholic churches and schooling, thus leading Walfrid to Glasgow’s east end to support the local community.
Conditions were appalling with many struggling to eat. Walfrid with the support of many others decided to do something about this and created Celtic Football Club.
On a cold November night in 1887 a hand-written note was passed around those needing most support in the local area. Written by Brother Walfrid it said:
“A football club will be formed for the maintenance of dinner tables for the children and the unemployed”.
If you are reading Walfrid’s words for the first time how wonderfully inspiring are they? A football club was setup as its number one priority to feed starving people. Morally, ethically and for sheer old good human decency it just doesn’t get any better than that.
And so to Wednesday night.
The Celtic Foundation run by Tony Hamilton, one of the good guys, were in talks with some Celtic supporters looking at what could be done by the fans to mark the occasion. Another quality person by the name of Jim Blyth started phoning, e-mailing, contacting fellow supporters asking what they thought about running a foodbank collection to commemorate the event, bearing in mind the scandalous and shameful rise in starving families 127 years after Walfrid started Celtic football club.
Jim put the feelers out to many people and was given terrific support by Tara (who runs Glasgow North East foodbank) and many only too willing to help. Jim first spoke to me about this on the night of the Kano foundation (an incredible group of people) event a few weeks back. I thought it was a terrific and yet humbling idea. What better way for the Celtic supporters to celebrate Walfrid than to follow in his giant steps and donate food to those desperately needing support? Jim set the wheels in motion and shared an image with some fine words of the upcoming collection with the wider online community including many forums and websites asking for support.
I arrived with my daughter quite early. By this time hundreds of bags full of food had been dropped off and there was still almost two hours to kick off! A little later Celtic manager Ronny Deila and club captain Scott Brown arrived and donated bags of food while having their photo taken in front of Walfrid’s statue that sits immediately outside the entrance to Celtic Park. A symbolic moment.
And still the supporters kept arriving with bag after bag full with food donations…..
Celtic would go on to win the match against Kilmarnock 4-1 and move a step closer to winning the league championship but the true stars of the night were the people who organised the food donations event and the thousands of supporters who backed it as we knew they would.
15 vans were organised to distribute the food collected to the many parties who serve their local communities….but 15 vans wasn’t enough due to the scale of food handed over! In the end £3,000 in cash was donated as was the equivalent of £30,000 (Yes, THIRTY THOUSAND) worth of food. It’s enough to make your heart go……
I’ll be the first to admit I can be a misty eyed old romantic about Celtic. I was brought up with the history of the club by my Da and once you have that it never leaves you. It creates an indelible mark in your heart and in many ways creates your core values and beliefs.
Last night demonstrated that people truly care about their community and want to help those in desperate need of our support. To see the scale of donations and so much encouragement and positive energy was wonderful to witness and yet humbling knowing so many children and adults are starving in 2015 and require a basic human requirement.
The roots of our club are special, possibly unique and something to be cherished. The passion that lives on through most of the supporters passed through generations, or to newer fans who feel at home with an environment of welcoming all, is what makes being part of Celtic a way of life and not just a football club.
Thank you all.
Well said.
A fine article which should remind us all, what Celtic is all about! Well done to all involved.
Pleased to make a small contribution to such a worthy cause, well done to the organisers and all the volunteers and contributors to food banks.
Happy to give to such a great cause
Celtic is a wonderful thing to have in our lives, to Walfrid I thank him for this!
Thoughts with the family of Karen Buckley tonight!
R.I.P.
Well said such a shame the media blanked this.
Its actions like this that show what Celtic is all about.
Unfortunately, predictably, it doesn’t get the media coverage these actions deserve. But if one moron let’s off a flair or firework it’s practically front page news in some of the daily rags.
Fantastic story
WELL DONE TO ALL INVOLVED. WAS JUST AS PROUD AS WHEN THE GREEN BRIGADE ORGANISED A SIMILAR COLLECTION EARLIER IN THE SEASON. WE DONT NEED THE PRESS TO HIGHLIGHT IT – WE ALL KNOW HOW SPECIAL CELTIC AND ITS SUPPORTERS ARE – THATS WHATS IMPORTANT. HAIL HAIL
It’s what our club is really about. The article is great and I am proud of all who donated food. Many of my own ancestors in Limerick, Tipperary and Clare died in The Great Hunger of 1845. My great-grandparents were orphaned by it. Nothing could be more appropriate than the donation on Wednesday night. I’m so proud to be a Celtic supporter. Many thanks to all of you for your humanity and basic human kindness.I give to my own local food bank but wish there was no need for food banks.
In memory of Brother Walfrid.
Truly it is a Grand Old Team…as are our Fans. Top article.
Hector
A heartfelt piece. Thank you.
Thank you to all who created that shopping bag landscape and gave their hard earned cash so generously. Thank you to Tony, Jim and everyone else who planned and organised the collections and distributions.
And thank you for all those who gave to their local foodbanks that are not recorded in the photos.
But remember, foodbanks are an outrageous blight on our modern society and the consequence of totally out of touch and unconcerned politicians who prefer to walk on the other side than confront the disaster they are causing. I would hope it will make every Celtic fan, while rightly bursting with pride at each one’s own generosity, feel obligated to vote in May and to seriously consider the desperate need for a caring government when doing so. This abominable scourge that is blighting our society and the humiliation heaped on those who suffer from it can no longer be tolerated.
God bless Celtic fans. Hold your heads up very high. Brother Walfrid would have been more than proud of you.
H H