The Essence of Being a Celtic Supporter

I was watching some youtube vids of Reamonn Gormley at that Thai school, and it got me to thinking...

Is there a particular aspect or a moment that best sums up to you the very essence of what being a Celtic supporter is all about? By this I mean games, incidents, characters - absolutely anything apart from individual players!

Now, I'm not talking about your personal favourite moment, but rather what is it that encapsulates the hopes and heartbreak, the agony and the ecstasy of what it means to back the Bhoys - and that obviously means the bad, as well as the good.

In short - if you had to try & explain to a stranger, be it at your local pub or some far off foreign shore what it meant to support Celtic, what would you tell them about?

For example - would it be McCann saving the day? The Lisbon Lions? Jock Stein? The Celtic Way? The politics & Irish connection? The Sense of Community? The 10 Men That Won The League? Seville? Tommy Burns? Wim the Tim & Stopping the 10? Brother Walfrid?

These are but a few...

This thread is dedicated to the memory of Reamonn Gormley. RIP.

 

To me being a Celtic supporter is much more than just the football, it's a sense of belonging, there's a spirit about the club that is hard to explain.

Personally I know that in the supporters club I'm in any of the lads would help me if I needed it, I phoned up a few years ago to go to a game after seeing an advert in a fanzine that non-members were welcome to travel as well.

Was Celtic v Livingston in February 2004 and even although I was the only female on the bus I was made to feel really welcome, 7 years later and that supporters club is like my extend family, we've been to Christenings, weddings and funerals together. We're there for each other no matter what.

At a wedding a few years ago, I found out that at that first trip they took bets on how long I'd last - I got the last laugh as I'm still a regular travel with them :icon_mrgreen:.

The laughs we have whether we win, lose or draw is unbelievable and everyone get's the mick taken right out of them at some stage of the season, but that's all part of being one of the bhoys.

 

Seville,the scenes and emotion at Paradise when Jinky and Tommy Burns passed away,the Thai Tims was actually unbeleivable and an extremely good reminder of how great a club this really is.This video is right up there though.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLXh-JUub3M[/YOUTUBE]

 

Everyone doing the Huddle at Parkhead last month, I'd maybe gone to 15 Celtic games before this season which was the first I got a season ticket and that's definitely my favourite moment of being a Celtic supporter. Humping the huns, singing and jumping around so much we forgot to watch the game for a while, and it was also my birthday :icon_mrgreen:

 

To me it is being part of the family of Celtic. It started from infancy
and has grown to maturity. To me it is part of your identity from the cradle to the grave.

 

ynwa

 

for me it was may 9th 1998.my missus went shopping to town liverpool and i was listening to the match on the radio.she came in as the match was finishing and i was crying buckets..she thought something was wrong and got my 2 neighbours(liverpool fans) after i calmed down a bit and scraped myself off the ceiling they realised what happened, my 2 neighbours have been celtic fans ever since and often tell the story and are amazed what our club means to us!! hail hail
Also my 1st old firm. 1979 the 4-2 win at ibrox to seal the league..the late great johnny doyle,
Tommy burns
And Henrik crying after his last game thats why this club is loved..........

 

For me it is the sense of family. I have moved about a lot through travelling and studying. The first thing I do when I get to a new place is find the local CSC.

No matter where I have went as soon as I walk through the door I am treated like one of the family. To me that sums up our club and our supporters.

 

I like how being a Celtic supporter is passed down through the generations.

 

For me, it's about one night - in a bar called Scruffy Murphy's in Sydney.

It was around dawn (Sydney time), just minutes AFTER the UEFA Cup final had finished in Seville. The game was over, yet the place was still jam packed & every single person in the place was singing 'Over and Over'. We could still see the Hoops fans in the stands, and I dare say that same scene would have been repeated in bars all over the globe at that very same moment. It was then that it it really encapsulated what Celtic was all about. That in every corner of the world there would have been scenes of such unity & a sense of pride , despite the heartbreak, and that we were proud of the team and of each other. It was something that is at the very core of being part of the Celtic community; regardless of creed or culture, near or far, we all belong.

Hail, Hail.

 

My fathers side of the family are entirely Celtic through and through. It's just a family thing. My grandfather, father, uncle, aunts, cousins, brother, nephews are, with one and one exception only, [a nephew] Celtic supporters. My children, now adults themselves are Celtic supporters.

We are not all Catholics, we don't all vote for the same political party or have the same taste in music or anything else but Celtic is the one thing that for me defines our family name.

I love my family and Celtic Football Club is part of my family and I am very proud to be part of theirs!

 

I travel all over the World with my work and always try to hook up with the local CSC. No matter where I've been, these bhoys and ghirls have made me welcome. They've treated me as if I was a lifelong member of their club, not a visitor and I've had the feeling of being close to home and Celtic FC, even though I am thousands of miles away from Scotland.

Being part of that family has also rewarded me with meeting some real characters, like the Belgian guy in the Brussels CSC who was one of the noisiest, most fanatical Hoops supporters I've ever met. The guys at the LA CSC who took me into their group on New Years Eve in LA. The bhoys and ghirls in the Auckland CSC who got me trashed on Jagerbombs the first time I visited the club..........so many stories and memories from encounters with my extended Celtic family.

 

For me it's the sheer honest passion our fans show for the club. It's meeting someone for the first time, finding out they're a Celtic fan and then getting along like best friends straight away (this has happened to me a lot). It's the pre-match buzz when you're putting your top and scarf on and head out the front door, on the way to the pub before the game. It's discussing the game with your mates beforehand and telling jokes. It's the bands and songs that are sung in the pub. It's being there and seeing there's so many people who care for the club just as much as you do. It's discussing the clubs history and knowing ours is both unique and special. It's the roar that's unleashed when we score a goal. It's beaming with pride when foreign teams come to Parkhead and are blown away by the atmosphere. It's jumping for joy when you see the players lifting a trophy. It's being born a tim, dying a tim. :icon_mrgreen:

 

well said minty, good post there!

as has been said previously its hard to some up exactly what makes me love the club or that 1 defining moment which makes you take stock of the enormity of it. however the moment which brings me great pride has to be our fans in seville - id been to every home and away leg en route to seville but unfortunately due to higher exams couldnt be in seville for the final. our fans done both the club and scotland as a whole proud and showed the world why we can be recognised as one of the best supported clubs in the world.

 

Great thread guys. Tears in my eyes here. We are all lucky to be a part of this. HAIL HAIL!

 

Sums it up for me

 

Great Vid

Nice insight into what other fans must think seeing the parkhead wall of noise!

 

For me it is the fact that our great club unites so many people from so many places whether they be young or old, black or white, protestant or catholic, scottish or australian - we are all part of the same family and always will be.

The memories that this club has given to me will never be forgotten nor will they ever be taken away.

In fact, the best way to describe what being a celtic supporter is all about is the fact that it is impossible to describe to someone who is not the sheer joy and pride that you feel when watching, listening to or hearing about our beloved hoops.

Hail Hail bhoys and ghirls! :icon_mrgreen:

 

i love being one of the bhoys i get some stick from friends about playing in a terrible league or how the epl is far better than ours or making excuses so my wife will let me watch matches even giving her money to go shopping or telling her im to sick to go places with her then sneaking out to watch my beloved hoops . i often get caught but its worth her not speaking to me for a week ijust cant get enough