1. Having trouble logging in by clicking the link at the top right of the page? Click here to be taken to the log in page.
    Dismiss Notice

Lisbon Lions-how many were from a Celtic supporting background

Discussion in 'Celtic Chat' started by gunt, Apr 6, 2010.

Discuss Lisbon Lions-how many were from a Celtic supporting background in the Celtic Chat area at TalkCeltic.net.

  1. Quiet Assassin

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2008
    Messages:
    5,334
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Rocket Land
    Fav Celtic Player:
    Jinky, Paul McStay, Henrik
    Fav Celtic Song:
    YNWA
    Rangers didn't approach Danny to sign him as they thought the name McGrain sounded Catholic and as a result supposed Danny was Catholic. Their loss, through bigotry they lost out on one of the best right back's in the world at that time.
     
  2. gunt

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    16,668
    Likes Received:
    9
    I actually thought of it more as a handy quote or stat to show just how open a club we were 45 years ago while they remained a prod-only outfit till the mid 80s. I agree about them becomng fans. I actually think most players who serve long enough for a club become fans. I actually believe WGS when he said he left us as a fan for example.
     
  3. gunt

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    16,668
    Likes Received:
    9
    yeah I saw that. It is true that a lot of guys who played football (juniors up) hardly ever saw games anyway when 99% were at 3pm on a Saturday.
     
  4. gunt

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    16,668
    Likes Received:
    9
    His son is Celtic fan too. His wife is a catholic. A very mixed family as far more than would admit it are. I remember a thread on TC where people talked about this and most Scottish TC posters had a mixed religious background-either parents or grandparents. Thats why I cannot take the us v them thing (beyond just the football) seriously. We are mainly mongrols!! Fergie has writen about the bigotry he felt at Ibrox against him and his wife.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 6, 2010
  5. hairytoes

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2007
    Messages:
    5,655
    Likes Received:
    25
    Location:
    I'm not from London you know
    Fav Celtic Player:
    Ceasar, Maestro, Lubo, Henrik, Naka, Boruc
    Fav Celtic Song:
    Fields of Athenry

    I know mate, I would never suggest you were anything other than a true (K)Celt through & through - just ribbing.

    It does show them up, your right.

    It still goes on now, my father in law is an avid Gers fan & when talking about Celtic is always ready to point out all the successful Huns we had & how we would never have been a successful without them.

    I then use this to point out, that their religion & background was never an issue for us & we were gald to have them in our ranks, as they were great players - simple as that.

    That normally shuts him up...lol. He's mellowing in his old age now, but he was a real bigot in his time. :rolleyes:
     
  6. DanniGhirl

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2009
    Messages:
    11,294
    Likes Received:
    4
    Cheers for that, great read :50:
     
  7. gunt

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    16,668
    Likes Received:
    9
    One of the first moments in time I would take the tardis to if I was the new doctor who:50:
     
  8. Taz Blind Justice Gold Member News Writer

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2009
    Messages:
    29,002
    Likes Received:
    15,169
    Location:
    ...In Exile
    Fav Celtic Player:
    Paul McStay
    Fav Celtic Song:
    Celtic Symphony
    Although many of you grew up in this environment and may never have known anything different, this may seem obvious, but for someone who was born outside of sectarian culture, the whole concept of this prejudice sometimes seems so petty and ridiculous. I remember hearing stories of it, of course, and although I didn't dare doubt the validity of what I was told as a kid, it seemed so alien amidst a society that was, if not yet multicultural, at least accepting of an array of cultures and beliefs. Furthermore, although I have lived here for 7 years, these attitudes are so deeply entrenched that even if I were to live here another 30, I imagine there will always be moments when that feeling resurfaces, of being an outsider looking in.

    I am priveledged to be a Celtic supporter, and proud to be amongst Celts for the acceptance I have always felt. I am sure any of the Lions or any other Celtic player, regardless of ethnicity, culture or creed, feels the same.
     
  9. WaterfordCeltic

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2010
    Messages:
    636
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Port Lairge (Waterford)
    Fav Celtic Player:
    Keano
    Fav Celtic Song:
    Celtic Symphony
    mixed marriages is very uncommen in southern ireland anyway, i know a couple of protestants in my neighbourhood but they tend to keep themselves to themselves, 1 family i know for a fact, eventhough they were all born and bred in ireland, wont carry irish passports but have british ones instead.
    (sorry, i know not football related but...)
     
  10. emmetf

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2010
    Messages:
    5,782
    Likes Received:
    2

    ugh, i always fecking hated that, my da told me of the loyalists in donegal, and how they acted as if they were better than the "filth" in the rest of donegal

    back on topic, have i been the only one to notice how many huns played for celtic and have became fan favorites and tims themselves (ex: robson), but not as much the other way round?
     
  11. Taz Blind Justice Gold Member News Writer

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2009
    Messages:
    29,002
    Likes Received:
    15,169
    Location:
    ...In Exile
    Fav Celtic Player:
    Paul McStay
    Fav Celtic Song:
    Celtic Symphony
    Thats because Celtic have pursued and preached for acceptance and inclusion, rather than exclusion. Who better than to quote a man who grew up with a R****** background and went on to become not only the captain of Celtic, but the manager responsible for the finest chapter in our history.

    Here are some of his thoughts:

    "I lost some friends when I made the move, but if that's what matters to them, then they're not really friends at all."

    "If there were two players, one Catholic and one Protestant. Who would you sign?"
    "The Protestant"
    "Why?"
    "Because I know that Rangers would never sign the Catholic"

    "Celtic jerseys are not for second best, they don't shrink to fit inferior players"
     
  12. celtic_bhoy81

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2006
    Messages:
    6,099
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Rönninge, Sverige
    Fav Celtic Player:
    Mjälby
    Fav Celtic Song:
    Celtic Symphony
    Not every catholic in Scotland is Irish or has Irish lineage or any other lineage outside Scotland for that matter.
     
  13. gunt

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2006
    Messages:
    16,668
    Likes Received:
    9
    True. There has always remained a native Scottish catholic element in the NW Highlands around Fortwilliam, Morvern, Ardnamurchan, Moidart etc and Hebridean islands like South Uist, Benbecula, Barra etc. Also in the north-east on the old Gordon clan lands too. Basically the old Jacobite heartlands.
     
  14. samson81

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    819
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Stewarton
    Fav Celtic Player:
    It certainly isn't Loovens
    Fav Celtic Song:
    Over and Over
    I really dont care what religion a player is. As long as they do the business for us.
     
  15. H4nny14

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2008
    Messages:
    234
    Likes Received:
    35
    was watchin that scotlands greatest team last night, and its shokin how many celtic legends have under 20 caps should be a embarresment to the sfa and anybody associated with scotland back then, the guys would have been better off being foreigners would have played more games for their country that way
     
  16. Tully's Corner

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2007
    Messages:
    53
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Glasgow
    Fav Celtic Player:
    Jimmy Johnstone
    Fav Celtic Song:
    The Celtic Song
    The Lisbon Lions are all 100% Celtic men. The religious breakdown at the time was - Catholic - Craig, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Chalmers, Lennox - Protestant - Simpson, Gemmill, Wallace, Auld. Ronnie Simpson's dad played for Rangers, but was delighted to see his son sign for Celtic, Willie Wallace was a Rangers fan as a kid, Tommy Gemmill was a Motherwell fan and Bertie Auld was Partick Thistle, all the others were Celtic fans from the start. And Alex Ferguson's father wasn't a Catholic, his mother was, his father came from a bigoted Protestant background and rebelled against it and became a Celtic supporter. This was said by Ferguson at a night at the Citizens Theatre a couple of years ago. He also said he and his brother Martin never experienced any bigotry in their house and that his mother returned to the church and became a practicing Catholic before her death. By the way, you couldn't get bigger Celtic men than Bertie Auld, Tommy Gemmill and Willie Wallace!
     
  17. WaterfordCeltic

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2010
    Messages:
    636
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Port Lairge (Waterford)
    Fav Celtic Player:
    Keano
    Fav Celtic Song:
    Celtic Symphony
    well in fergies book he says that his father was the catholic and celtic supporter and his mother was a protestant and her father was in the orange order etc. he said his father didnt practice his religion though.
     
  18. rorywasabhoy

    Joined:
    Jan 1, 2010
    Messages:
    289
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Planet Paradise (Near Braehead)
    Fav Celtic Player:
    Present:Marco Fortune...Past: John 'Yogi' Hughes (60s-70s)
    Fav Celtic Song:
    Too many to name.
    Ronnie Simpsons father Jimmy played for the huns and that was during their non-tim policy years, and I know for a fact Bertie came from a very hun background. But this showed the mark of big Jock because he nearly always went for talented prods because it took them out of greyskulls reach. So * them and their bigotted policies.
     
  19. Tully's Corner

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2007
    Messages:
    53
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Glasgow
    Fav Celtic Player:
    Jimmy Johnstone
    Fav Celtic Song:
    The Celtic Song
    Maybe you just misread it mate.

    SIR Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United FC, owes much of his enthusiasm for football to the Boys’ Brigade, he reveals in a forthcoming interview. Sir Alex spoke to Thomas Baldwin for the forthcoming issue of Life and Work, the Church of Scotland magazine:





    Sir Alex was born on Old Year’s Night in 1941, the first son of Alexander and Lizzie. He cannot speak highly enough of his parents, who, he says, made sacrifices so that he and his younger brother Martin could have the lives they wanted.


    It was the kind of family that went against all the stereotypes of the west of Scotland religious and footballing divide. His mother was a Roman Catholic; his father had been brought up a Protestant, but supported Celtic.


    Alex and Martin grew up following Rangers, which their father did not have a problem with; although he objected to the wearing of “provocative” club colours and Martin had to hide his Rangers scarf behind the toilet cistern.


    It is therefore hardly surprising that Sir Alex has no time for sectarianism. “A glance at my family tree suggests why bigotry never had a chance of spreading its pollution among the Fergusons,” he wrote in his autobiography.


    He speculates that the reason he and Martin were baptised in the Church of Scotland was because Roman Catholics suffered employment disadvantages. Later, he was to be a victim of sectarianism when he fulfilled his dream of playing for Rangers, but was not accepted by some because his wife, Cathy, was Catholic.


    Sir Alex attended his local Bible school, Shiloh Hall, on Sundays, before joining the Boys’ Brigade.


    Sir Alex still has his first Bible from the school and, while not an exhibitionist about his religion, attributes two early defining moments — meeting Cathy, and scoring a hat-trick for St Johnstone at Ibrox (the first player to do that against Rangers at their ground) — to divine intervention. He has written about the latter event: “I do honestly believe that some power somewhere gave me a break and that it was a signal for me to grasp this opportunity and not ever to forget the responsibilities that came with it.”