Irish Flags

agreed

 

We should always be proud of our heritage afterall we are not Hibs.

 

this

 

A great masterpiece of knowing what your market want to hear. The clue is in the title. I cant believe how often this video is produced as evidence.

 

so just dismiss it then

 

I think people from the west misunderstand clubs like Hibs and Dundee United. They were founded in towns where the sectarianism fell to negligible levels over the last few generations. You will always be able to find a small number of bampots anywhere but sectarianism in the east is probably at about 5% of the level that it is in the west and central belt of Scotland. Because of that the Irish immigrants to the east basically had not much barrier stopping them marrying in with local non-Irish and basically by the 1930s there was no distinct community who were predominantly Irish in blood. There is a lot of irish blood mixed into the populations but there are no distinct Irish catholic and local prod communities. I am from that sort of east coast partly Irish background myself. The crucial thing is people in the east stopped segregating themselves mentally into two groups a long time ago, probably about 80 years ago. The loss of a separate distinct Irish identity of the Irish clubs in Edinburgh and Dundee just reflected the reality that MOST (you will always get a small hardcore element) people didnt see themselves as belong to a particular subculture and developed local pride and a Scottish identity instead of harking back to their ancestors and countries they had never seen. Personally I think it was an achievement of east coast Irish that they didnt keep themselves shut off in a separate subculture. Hibs and Dundee United just reflect the more healthy way all that tribal division melted away around the 1930s in the east.

 

Noone is denying the Irish link but when they wheel out guys like Billy McNeill who is not known for banging on about Irish matters you kinda know they are spinning it to the max. Noone can ever deny the Irish link with Celtic. All I am saying is the video looks like an advert for Celtic to be shown in Ireland.

 

gunt its as much to do with identity, which as i stated before identity is very important to people.
no denying its a good marketing ploy over here * i bought it myself when i was younger and my son wanted it for a stocking filler two years ago, so twice i've bought it.
but even at his young age he is starting to question/learning his identity.

 

no offence, but 'if you know your history' you'd rethink - as Catholicism in Scotland wasn't some kind of Irish import. The English destroyed Highland culture which was displaced to the N. America and Australia, but primarily the Lowlands. I can tell you that the majority of Scottish catholics come from the 200,000 or so Highland families that were forced to flee their homeland (keep in mind Scotlands population has been slowly falling since the late-18th century).

On the other hand, I don't associate Celtic with Scotland or Ireland. It's a team for all people.

 

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END OF STORY

 

Apologies to all for stating the obvious here, but football is essentially a competition, rather than a collaboration.

The strips, team badges, scarves etc are intended to express the individuality of the teams.

For fans of an SPL team to wave Scottish flags at the games is pretty redundant, given that all the teams in the league are Scottish - that's what the "S" in "SPL" stands for.

Celtic's strong historical Irish identity is something characteristic of this particular club, and represented in the club colours and the club badge. So, on a purely logical basis, it makes far more sense for Celtic supporters to fly Irish flags than Scottish ones.

If we were to replace the Irish flags with Scottish ones - which we have in common with all SPL teams - the next logical step is to start singing "We are football supporters, faithful thru and thru" - or maybe Scotland the Brave instead of the Celtic Song.

European games are the place to break out the Scottish flags alongside the Celtic colours.

 

If an Indian man had decided to form Cetic FC, would we then be an Indian team ?

 

If he had founded it in the Indian part of the city, from players mostly of Indian descent, to give charitable support to the Indian community, and called it IndoScottish FC - then yes, the parallel would hold.

 

I can't believe this is being debated between Celtic fans. There's no doubt in my mind and most people feel the same, that the Irish flags have a place at Celtic Park for many reasons.

 

A wee history lesson about 1930s Edinburgh might not be a bad idea.

I'll leave you to look up John Cormack and his Scottish Protestant Action outfit in Edinburgh.

This was no wee subculture.

This book is also worth a look.

Edinburgh Divided John Cormack and No Popery in the 1930's by Tom Gallagher.

If only Edinburgh had have been as peaceful in the 1930's.

And let us not forget the behaviour of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland during that time period.

Religious Sectarianism in Scotland - Frontline 4

I'll leave the Dundee history for another day.

 

I'll dispute that, big time.
The vast majority of Scotland's Catholic are directly linked to the Irish influx before during and after An Gorta Mor.
Even a basic check at the 1851,61,71 census would prove that.
Doubt anymore than 10% to 15% of all Scottish catholics were of Highland stock in 1851 and i'm being generous in my numbers.

And your population figures for Scotland don't add up in the time period you mention.

• 1801 1,608,420
• 1811 1,805,864
• 1821 2,091,521
• 1831 2,364,386
• 1841 2,620,184
• 1851 2,888,742
• 1861 3,062,294
• 1871 3,360,018
• 1881 3,735,573
• 1891 4,025,647
• 1901 4,472,103
• 1911 4,760,904
• 1921 4,882,497
• 1931 4,842,554
• 1951 5,096,000

From Scottish census records 1801 to 1951.

Its only in recent decades that numbers have fallen.

 

Celtic are more of an Irish club than a scottish club, not to say we shouldnt be proud of our scottish parts but the clun has all of its roots and links in Ireland

 

Excellent post mate. I've been waiting for someone else to pick up on this point for a long time.

The bolded bit made me

 

I have always linked the Celtic with the irish flag, and I feel that that´s what makes it different to the other teams in the SPL, because it represents its roots, its origin,.... (In fact the scarf I bought last saturday at my home (San Mamés Bilbao) has 2 parts, the Athletic´s part (red-white stripe with our flag (ikurriña)), and the "hooped part" with the irish flag)

I must say that being Basque as I am, I feel special sympathy for every irish symbol,

Nevertheles, every time I listen Amy McDonald singing "Flower of Scotland" with the scottish flag in her microphone,.... I have to recognise that it´s very special too.

Go Celtic!
Go Ireland! Go Scotland!
Gora Euskal Herria!
Aupa Athletic!