{"id":6001,"date":"2014-11-14T14:43:30","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T14:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6001"},"modified":"2014-11-14T14:44:51","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T14:44:51","slug":"is-it-scottish-blood-but-irish-heart-for-celtic-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6001","title":{"rendered":"Is it Scottish Blood but Irish Heart for Celtic Fans?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A final thought, on match day, for Scottish Celtic fans<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

As an Irishman, it is only recently that I have found myself able to support Scotland during international matches.\u00a0 A Celtic supporter, I have spent time in Glasgow and travelled through the Highlands, meeting many Scots over the years and I generally have a good vibe of the people and the place.\u00a0 But I could never support the Scottish national team, and even struggled to cheer for you when playing England.\u00a0 A few years back I was in Canada when Scotland played a qualifier against Italy. I slipped into a Celtic club to watch and couldn\u2019t help myself but cheer when the Italians opened the scoring.\u00a0 And I wasn\u2019t alone.\u00a0 A good number of the Celtic fans in the pub that day couldn\u2019t help but cheer.\u00a0 A man, the club president it turned out, looked around the room disdainfully, and then observed with a wry smile: \u201cI guess we know who the true Celtic fans are.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I cheered, the girl I was with nearly hit me, so betrayed was she.\u00a0 I explained to her that a team managed by Alec McLeish, captained by Barry Ferguson, and populated with the likes of Whittaker, Naismith and whichever other huns, was never going to get my support.\u00a0 No matter how much I wanted to be there for her, it just couldn\u2019t happen.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t look at Barry on the ball and think, \u201cGo on son, boss that midfield.\u201d\u00a0 Truth be told I was driven to manic distraction every time Alan Hutton\u2019s grotesquely hun mug flashed on the screen.<\/p>\n

And so my thoughts drifted to today and Ireland\u2019s visit to Paradise.<\/p>\n

These days, the hun horde dead and absent from the national side, it is easier to cheer for Scotland.\u00a0 In fact I rather enjoyed the pulsating contest with the Germans, cheering aloud when Anya scored only to find myself sat in disbelief when the Germans again took the lead, ignoring, in camaraderie, what a result may have meant for our own chances of qualification.\u00a0 So of course now, when the petty dislike of all things rangers is no longer relevant, we would of course find ourselves pitted together; we would be forced to test our allegiances to one another and the bond we share with this great club of ours.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For banter and all good nature aside, this is about qualifying for the Euros.\u00a0 This about fecking holidays come the summer of 2016.\u00a0 To be sure, there is a great deal at stake here.<\/p>\n

And it occurs to me that while der hun may not be explicit on the pitch, they will be in the stands and they will be wearing the dark blue suits and brown brogues in the executive boxes.\u00a0 Simply because the current side has made it palatable for the likes of me doesn\u2019t change what lurks behind in the corridors of Hampden.\u00a0 At least in a world where the majority of Scotland chose to vote against independence, voting instead for the death of Labour and the rise of UKIP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As such it is poignant the game is to be played in Glasgow and at Celtic Park.\u00a0 It is fitting that Martin O\u2019Neill is our manager, and that ex-Celts\u00a0and those with a strong affinity for Celtic are in the Irish side, and significantly, in both ends of the stand.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Considering all this made me wonder how many of the those Celtic supporters who cheered that day when Italy scored were from Scotland.\u00a0 How many had grown bitter about a national game that was infested by bluenoses, which had seemingly made a pastime of over looking Celtic players when it came time to selecting the national side?\u00a0 I have lost track of the number of times I have read it mentioned in the Etims diary, on message boards or heard it raised sitting in a Celtic club having a pint, about the travesty of how few caps Jinky and Danny McGrain collected.\u00a0 And if I have got the players name\u2019s wrong, I have not misunderstood the sentiment.\u00a0 Why do you think McGeady and McCarthy will line up on our side of the halfway line?\u00a0 Because their families knew that they, as Scots of Irish Catholic stock, had never been fully accepted in your country.\u00a0 I could be wrong, but as I understand it the decisions of McGeady and McCarthy to play for dear ole Ireland are as much political statements as they are sporting choices.\u00a0 Because really, playing for Ireland or Scotland, in the grand scheme of international football, is six one half and a dozen, or something of the other (though it should be stressed that we at least have managed the knack of progressing beyond the group stages).<\/p>\n

And so my thoughts continue, progress\u00a0and evolve and I am drawn back to the memories of Italia \u201990.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Argentina beat Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals.\u00a0 An Argentine squad captained by Diego Armando Maradona (Franco) of Napoli was set to meet Italy in Naples in the semi-final.\u00a0 As the chosen son of his adopted city, Maradona was acutely aware of the political and social dynamics of Italy and the stark divide existing between the north and the south.\u00a0 And so, appealing to his fanatic fan base in Naples, the hand of god observed: ”The Neapolitans must remember one thing.\u00a0 Italy makes it feel important one day of the year, but forgets about it the other 364.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Neapolitans didn\u2019t cheer for Argentina.\u00a0 At least I don\u2019t think they did.\u00a0 But I am sure his comment struck a chord with most, if not all, and even more so as the years passed and the divide between north and south persisted and grew stronger.\u00a0 And I think the reality for Scottish Celtic fans, particularly those in Glasgow, is much the same.\u00a0 You live in a country that systemically targets you and the club you support because of your real or perceived links to Ireland.\u00a0 And now, when you play Ireland in a crucial international match, the narrative established by the press, a press that did all it could to orchestrate a \u2018No\u2019 vote, is the betrayal of your choice if you choose, like McGeady and McCarthy, to embrace a country the Scottish Unionist establishment despises.\u00a0 A country the mob that populated George Square on independence night with its bigotry, intolerance and tribalism simply cannot abide.\u00a0 So soon on the heels of the independence referendum, when you now clearly understand what Scotland stands for, you are being asked to boo Aiden (and James before injury), and to embrace everything we all know is anathema to you, to your vision of Scotland, and Celtic itself.\u00a0 Even if only for one night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And so channelling Diego, I suggest the choice is yours to make.\u00a0 For some 300 years (likely more) the country has treated you with contempt, as nothing more than second class citizens, and now, for one day, they want you to stand behind, if not beside, them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And so, where will you stand?\u00a0 What will you feel when you see that first Union Jack fluttering in the Glasgow night air?\u00a0 Who will you will to score?<\/p>\n

But hey, who the hell am I and what the hell do I know?\u00a0 It was just an innocent thought you know.\u00a0 And truth be told, whoever you choose to cheer for to night\u00a0in Glasgow, this afternoon where I am I will be watching the game, quaffing Guinness and smoking cigars with a wanderlust Scot, all the while wearing a Paddy McCourt Celtic top – figure that one out!\u00a0 Rocky Patels, if you are wondering.\u00a0 After all, next week, against Dundee, we should all be standing side by side, singing \u201cOn the one Road\u201d, cheering for the only side that really matters to us all.<\/p>\n

Yours in the \u2018Hail hail\u2019,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cathal O\u2019Riada<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A final thought, on match day, for Scottish Celtic fans\u00a0 As an Irishman, it is only recently that I have found myself able to support…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/irishscottishflag.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-1yN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6001"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6003,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6001\/revisions\/6003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}