A Legend Is Born
The famous Belfast Celtic was formed at a meeting on the Falls Road in the summer of 1891; the meeting was a result of discussion held by member?s representatives of the Milltown Club. They saw the need for a new team that was more representative of the Falls. They approached two juvenile sides, Clondara and Millvale with a view to a merger. With a positive response the three called a meeting and it was then that the first and only suggestion for a name was adopted. The origin was Glasgow Celtic formed three years earlier. James Keenan who chaired the meeting stated that the aim of the club was to ?imitate their Scottish counterparts in style, play and charity?. Further linkage between the two clubs was made by the presentation of a cheque to Belfast Celtic from their friends in Glasgow. A playing pitch was secured on the Falls Road and thus the legend began.
The founding members were as follows:
J Keenan, J Crummy, D Reilly, P McAuley, B Hayes, H McArdle, B Butler,
J Keaney, P Mooney, A Bagley, F Laverty. (Picture Off Laverty to go here)
Battle Commences
In 1891-92 Celtic were admitted to the Alliance League and finished third at the end of this season they played a friendly match against Mill town who were then a junior league club. A large crowd watched Celtic win 3-2. Following this result they pressed for and gained admission to the junior league in 1892 ?1893 and finished in second place. Seasons 1893-1896 proved better fare for the ?stripes? when they finished League Champions and winners of the Robinson and Cleaver shield in 1894 and the county Antrim Shield in 1895. As a result of their success Celtic were classed as a senior Club in May 1896 and admitted to the Irish League. The pitch however wasn?t to league specification and all home games had to be played away from home. Their first season saw them finish bottom of the league but more ominously the first signs of violence at games was on view.
1897-1898 saw Celtic acquire Shaun?s Park, the Club?s fortunes turned for the better both on and off the pitch as they secured their first Irish league title in season 1899-1900. (Picture page 9)
In July 1900 Celtic became a limited company and announced that they had secured land just off the Falls Road, which would become known as ?Paradise?. The Club reinforced the view that it belonged to the people of the Falls Road when shares were offered at ?1 each, raising the then considerable sum of ?3000. In it?s short life Celtic were always driving forward and driving the pace both on and off the field of play.
Honours
Irish League Champions 14 times: 1899-1900, 1914-1915, 1919-1920, 1925-1926, 1926-1927, 1927-1928, 1928-1929, 1932-1933, 1935-1936, 1936-1937, 1937-1938, 1938-1939, 1939-1940, and 1947-1948.
Regional League Champions 3 times: 1940-41, 1941-42, and 1946-47.
Irish Cub Winners 8 times: 1917-18, 1925-26, 1936-37, 1937-38, 1940-41, 1942-43, 1943-44, and 1946-47.
Irish Cup Runners Up 4 times: 1905-06, 1914-15, 1916-17, and 1928-29.
City Cup Winners 10 times: 1905-06, 1906-07, 1925-26, 1927-28, 1929-30, 1930-31, 1932-33, 1939-40, 1947-48, and 1948-49.
Gold Cup Winners 7 times: 1911-12, 1925-26, 1934-35, 1938-39, 1939-40, 1946-47, and 1947-48.
Regional Gold Cup Winners 3 times: 1940-41, 1943-44, and 1945-46.
County Antrim Shield Winners 8 times: 1894-95, 1909-10, 1926-27, 1935-36, 1936-37, 1938-39, 1942-43, and 1944-45.
Intermediate League Champions 7 times: 1916-17, 1917-18, 1931-32, 1933-34, 1934-35, 1935-36, and 1936-37.
Steel and Sons Cup Winners 5 times: 1912-13, 1916-17, 1917-18, 1934-35, and 1935-36.
Intermediate Cup Winners 5 times: 1913-14, 1934-35, 1935-36, 1936-37, and 1939-40.
McElroy Cup Winners 7 times: 1916-17, 1932-33, 1934-35, 1935-36, 1936-37, 1942-43, and 1943-44.
R Clements Lyttle Cup Winners 6 times: 1934-35, 1935-36, 1936-37, 1938-39, 1940-41, and 1943-44.
Windsor Park 1948. ?The game that finished a soccer club?.
Robin Lawlor wrote an article about the game that day his words tell the story.
?As the game ended the crowds came over the barricades in thousands?..a Belfast mob driven wild by a fever of hatred. They stampeded across Windsor Park, thirsting for blood. It was the blood of Belfast Celtic they wanted they forced one of our players on to the terraces below and broke his leg. Others were punched and bruised. But they did more than just break bones on that grim Boxing Day, in 1948. They destroyed Celtic the greatest club in the land. Today Celtic is a ghost club, a club with a great past and no future. Even now it is difficult to explain the suddenness of this disaster. One moment we were riding high without a care in the world. The next we were finished.
It would have been difficult to find a more confident, contented team that Celtic as we waited in the dressing room before that fateful game with Linfield. For seasons we had been a most successful club. Only a few months earlier, we had set a new league record by winning 31 successive matches. Our team was filled with famous names. I remember looking around at my teammates and feeling proud to be a member of such a club. Over in one corner sat the legendary Charlie Tully and scattered around the dressing room were men such as Johnny Campbell, Paddy Bonnar, Bud Aherne, Kevin McAlinden and Jimmy Jones, the giant from Glenavon. Jimmy was on the threshold of fame, a fast, young, bustling centre forward with all the promise of greatness. When we came out of the tunnel and on to the pitch, we found the stands and terraces packed by an eager, expectant crowd. The green and white favours of Celtic mingled with the blue and white of Linfield and there was a holiday atmosphere.
The two clubs were traditional rivals and the games between them big events in Belfast. Opening play was uneventful until tragedy touched the game. Jimmy Jones, moving like an express train collided with home centre half Bob Bryson and the Linfield man rolled over in agony. It was clearly an accident and no one was sorrier than Jimmy. As Bryson was carried off, there was a little mild booing but no more than one expects on such occasions. Soon the incident had almost been forgotten. Then it was announced that Bryson had a fractured ankle. The crowd listened in silence and then from the terrace came a low-pitched buzz. We didn?t know it then, but it heralded Celtic?s doom. That announcement turned a previously even-tempered crowd into a mob, respectable men into hooligans. As the game continued with the score deadlocked at 1-1 the tension mounted.
When the match ended I pushed my way through the crowd to the dressing room. There I had discovered that some of the others had been man handled by the crowd. They seemed more surprised than hurt. They just couldn?t believe that this had happened to them in their hometown. Then someone realised there was a player missing? Jimmy Jones. Before we could decide what to do the door opened and there he was lying on a stretcher. He had been trapped by the mob at the far end of the ground forced off the playing surface on to the terrace below. The fall had broken his leg. I shall never forget the anger of our manager Elisha Scott, at that moment. It would have been bad enough if the mob?s victim had been an experienced player that they should have wreaked their vengeance on a boy was diabolical. After that, events moved fast. Celtic?s directors swore that their club would never play again before an Irish crowd and the entire team was placed on the transfer list.
Tour of USA and Canada
As if Celtic hadn?t damaged enough reputations in their time, the greatest of all was done on May 29 1949 when they faced the then home international, Scotland, at the Tribro Stadium. Soccer history was made and recorded forever when Celtic defeated the Scottish ?wonder team? by 2-0. Celtic two days previously been replaced in the league by Crusaders, and given the traumatic events of the previous season, it is remarkable that this club side defeated any national side let alone the British champions a feat never to be repeated. The last time Belfast Celtic graced Paradise was May 17 1952 when they played Jimmy McGrory?s Glasgow Celtic in a charity match. On show that day were Jock Stein, Sean Fallon and Charlie Tully. This poem expresses the mixed emotions of the day:
Keep your eyes glued to the dressing room door,
And watch for the Celts ? it?s like days of yore,
And be ready to raise your voice to a roar,
When the boys sprint out to the field.
They?re with us again, ?tho it?s just for today,
Some years now have passed since they melted away,
No wonder our hearts are glad and gay,
Our staunchness we never did yield.
What a crowd, too, it all makes a wonderful sight,
And they?re still coming in by left and by right,
Enthusiasm never reached such a height,
We?re just longing to see them again.
And who better to meet than McGory?s boys,
The dashing Celts with the perfect poise,
Our friends through sorrows, our friends through joys,
And such will ever remain.
There are faces here we?ve not seen for years,
Old fans with whom we used to share the cheers,
And I?m not so sure there aren?t a few tears,
As they gaze towards that dressing-room door.
Now a hush descends on the mighty throng,
They?d just been singing the old Celtic song ?
For here come the boys! Let?s roar loud and long,
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