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Belfast Celtic Football Club was a
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
club. Founded in
1891 Events January–March * January 1 ** Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany. ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. ** Germany takes formal possession of its new Af ...
in
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
, it was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish League in
1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...
. The club left the league for political reasons, as the team and its supporters were largely
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...
and its players had been violently attacked by a mob against its main rival Linfield in December 1948. Belfast Celtic was one of four clubs that attracted the biggest crowds in the Irish League, the other three being Linfield,
Distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the hea ...
and
Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...
. Belfast Celtic played its last match in 1960.


History


Early years

The club, formed in 1891 simply as Celtic, was named after
Celtic Football Club The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...
of
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
. Upon incorporation as a limited company in 1901, however, was known colloquially as the Belfast Celts, the title "The Celtic Football & Athletic Company Ltd" already being officially registered by the Glasgow club. Their home from the same year was
Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...
on Donegall Road in west
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
, known to the fans as "Paradise". Celtic won their first league title in 1900 after beating fierce rivals Linfield by a single goal. The severe political violence that began to engulf Ireland in the 1920s spilled onto the pitches and terraces of the Irish League. In 1920, the
Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...
fined and suspended the club following violent incidents at the
Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...
semi-final. Celtic was forced to abandon their participation in the 1920–21 season, and did not rejoin the league until 1924–25 season. Celtic's support base was strongly
Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...
and Catholic but the club also enjoyed significant support from some local west Belfast Unionists and
Protestants Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
, who accounted for about 10 percent of the fan base. Despite the background of political turmoil, the club went from strength to strength and the
inter-war period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...
proved to be Celtic's strongest: they were league champions four years running after their return to the league. The club also produced some of the greatest players of their generation, and at one stage had five international goalkeepers in their squad.


1948–49: Withdrawal from the Irish League and North American tour

The catalyst for the end of the club came on 26 December 1948, at the traditional
Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...
league game between Linfield and Celtic at
Windsor Park Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Li ...
. Celtic were winning for most of the match but Linfield equalised in the final minute. Ecstatic Linfield fans invaded the pitch and began attacking several Celtic players, including centre-forward Jimmy Jones, who suffered a broken leg and was kicked unconscious, and Robin Lawlor and Kevin McAlinden, who were both seriously hurt. Linfield issued a statement in which they blamed the attack on continual provocation from Celtic. Celtic's own statement, whilst equally blaming Linfield, focused particular criticism on the police who were present, who remained passive and made no arrests: "During the whole of this concerted attack the protection afforded to the unfortunate players may be fairly described as quite inadequate. In the circumstances the directors wish to make the strongest possible protest against the conduct of those responsible for the protection of the players in failing to take measures either to prevent the brutal attack or to deal with it with any degree of effectiveness after it developed." Celtic also felt that the response from the Irish Football Association had been wholly inadequate. The team's management met on the night of the match and decided that the club had no option other than to withdraw entirely from the league after the end of the 1949 season. Northern Irish journalist Frank Curran later commented, " elfast F.C.knew that it wasn't a football problem, and that there was nothing they as a football club could do to end it. So they got out." Belfast Celtic played their final Irish League match on Thursday April 21, 1949 when they defeated
Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...
4–3 at Celtic Park. The club then went on a 10-game tour of the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
in May and June 1949. The dates of the tour forced the team to withdraw from the
County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Fo ...
after qualifying to the semi-final, in which they were replaced by Linfield, whom they had earlier beaten 4–0. While the team was preparing to set sail for New York, it was announced publicly that Celtic intended to leave the league, pending the final decision of the club's shareholders at their annual meeting in June. In New York City, the team were embraced as political martyrs by Irish nationalists. The team were introduced to
New York City Mayor The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...
William O'Dwyer William O'Dwyer (July 11, 1890November 24, 1964) was an Irish-American politician and diplomat who served as the 100th Mayor of New York City, holding that office from 1946 to 1950. Life and career O'Dwyer was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ir ...
, a native of
County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the yew trees") is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Counci ...
, at
New York City Hall New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building i ...
on 4 May. They were presented by Deputy Commissioner
Sean P. Keating Sean P. Keating (July 14, 1903 – July 2, 1976) was an Irish Republican Army member who opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and later became Deputy Mayor of New York City and Regional Director of the United States Post Office. Keating was born and ra ...
, an IRA member, with a commemorative solid silver sugar bowl. Manager
Elisha Scott Elisha Scott (24 August 1893 – 16 May 1959) was a Northern Irish football goalkeeper who played for Liverpool from 1912 to 1934, and still holds the record as their longest-serving player. Life and playing career Elisha Scott played for Lin ...
fastened the club's pin, featuring the team's green and gold harp logo, upon the mayor's lapel. The first tour match was played 8 May 1949 against a representative team of players from the Greater New York professional American League clubs
Brookhattan Brookhattan was an American soccer club based in New York City that was a member of the professional American Soccer League (ASL). Formed in 1933, they joined the American Soccer League and won the first half of the league's 1933 season. Follo ...
, Brooklyn Hispano and
Brooklyn Hakoah Brooklyn Hakoah is a former United States soccer team club based in Brooklyn, New York, that played in the American Soccer League. Brooklyn Hakoah I Originally formed by former players of SC Hakoah Wien, they played in the American Soccer Leagu ...
at
Triborough Stadium Downing Stadium, previously known as Triborough Stadium and Randall's Island Stadium, was a 22,000-seat stadium in New York City. It was renamed Downing Stadium in 1955 after John J. Downing, a director at the New York City Department of Parks an ...
in New York City. There was a public uproar in Northern Ireland when a photograph of the team marching behind an Irish tricolour flag before a match in New York was published in the ''
Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...
'' on 11 May. Likely fearing that the incident would ensure the end of the team in Belfast, the Protestant Elisha Scott sent a letter signed by seven of the players in which he explained the incident and claimed that the team was loyal to the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
:
"Before the game the team was requested by the American Soccer League officials to parade in single file round the Stadium, led by myself. Half-way round, Mr Connolly, editor of the ''
Irish Echo ''The Irish Echo'' is a weekly Irish-American newspaper based in Manhattan in the United States. In 2007, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Irish businessman and publisher of the '' Andersonstown News'', purchased the paper. Founded in 1928, it bills i ...
'', New York, took down a Tricolour which was flying in front of the enclosure. He requested me to carry one end and proceed in front of the team. We considered it better to carry on with the parade. Since then, steps have been taken to ensure against a recurrence. On the other side of the picture, which has apparently received no publicity, I may say that while the team was in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, the
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...
was toasted at a dinner given in honour of the Belfast Celtic Club, and further, before the match in Toronto, both teams stood to attention while the
British National Anthem "God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, b ...
was played."
On 29 May, Celtic defeated
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
2-0 in front of 15,000 fans at Triborough Stadium. Fights broke out during the second half, including Scotland's
Willie Waddell William Waddell (7 March 1921 – 14 October 1992) was a professional football player and manager. His only club in a 16-year career as a player in the outside right position (interrupted by World War II) was Rangers which yielded six major win ...
and Celtic's
Mick O'Flanagan Mick O'Flanagan (29 September 1922 – 13 September 2015) was an Irish former sportsman who represented his country at both soccer and rugby union. As a soccer player, O'Flanagan played for, among others, Home Farm, Bohemians and Belfast Ce ...
throwing punches. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that the American crowd was overwhelmingly partisan in favour of the Scots, cheering any of the referee's decisions against Celtic. Reported ''The Times'', "The game held the crowd spellbound from beginning to end. Part of the reason was that it had come to see a highly favored Scots eleven—a team that had won the British Isles triple crown before 97,000 at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
last month—take the Irish into camp. Instead, the throng saw an inspired Belfast combination score once in the opening session and again in the second half to sew up the decision." The game was Scotland's only defeat during their nine-match tour of North America and it became one of the most famous in Celtic's history. At the time, no specific reason was given to the public for the team's withdrawal from the Irish League. The club quietly sold all its players to other teams.
Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
replaced Belfast Celtic in the league but fans were left without any official explanation for the withdrawal. In a 2011 profile, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' spoke with Celtic fan Jimmy Overend, then 86, about the void left by the team's exit:
Of the demise of the club, which had lit up the lives of politically oppressed, impoverished Catholics such as himself, a general labourer, Overend laments: "It was like a black cloud coming down, as if there was nothing to live for or look forward to on a Saturday. It's a grief which never went away."


Post-exit from league

The club would never again play a competitive match but played several friendlies, including a match at home to
Glasgow Celtic The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...
on 17 May 1952, when a team of ex-Belfast Celtic players took the field under the name of 'Newry F.C.' in aid of De La Salle Boys' Home in
County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...
. A final match—a testimonial—was played at
Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern ...
on 24 June 1960.
Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...
continued to function as a
greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tr ...
stadium until 1985, when it was demolished and replaced by the Park Centre, a small shopping centre.


Club heritage

Today, a small museum has since been opened in the Park Centre by the Belfast Celtic Society and a plaque reminds shoppers a football team played there. Padraig Coyle wrote a play, ''Lish and Gerry'', about Elisha Scott and Linfield trainer Gerry Morgan. According to ''The Guardian'', the play was performed to acclaim at
Windsor Park Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Li ...
in 2010, supported by the IFA and Linfield. The play concerns the team rivalry and the subtle irony of the fact that Elisha Scott of Celtic was a Protestant, while Gerry Morgan was Catholic. A new amateur club called Belfast Celtic Young Men & Ladies was founded in 2013, Now currently fielding 17 Teams across all age divisions and a senior link up with St Mirren Womens FC In 2018, third-tier Belfast club Sport & Leisure Swifts F.C. announced plans to revive the 'Belfast Celtic' name.


Honours


Senior honours

* Irish League: 14 ** 1899–1900, 1914–15, 1919–20, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1932–33, 1935–36, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1947–48 *
Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...
: 8 ** 1917–18, 1925–26, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1940–41, 1942–43, 1943–44, 1946–47 *
City Cup The City Cup was a rugby league competition involving Australian premiership teams. The post season tournament was a regular feature in the years 1912–1925. City Cups were also played in 1937, 1942 and 1959. The inaugural city cup was contested ...
: 11 **1905–06, 1906–07, 1918–19 (shared with Glentoran), 1925–26, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1932–33, 1939–40, 1947–48, 1948–49 * Gold Cup: 6 ** 1911–12, 1925–26, 1934–35, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1947–48 *
County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Fo ...
: 7 **1894–95, 1926–27, 1935–36, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1942–43, 1944–45 *
Belfast Charity Cup The Belfast Charity Cup was a football competition which ran from 1883 to 1941, and was based on a similar tournament in Scotland, the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup. The competition was open to senior sides from Belfast and invited intermediate te ...
: 10 **1903–04, 1909–10, 1911–12, 1919–20, 1925–26 (shared), 1931–32, 1935–36 (shared), 1936–37, 1938–39, 1939–40 * Dublin and Belfast Inter-city Cup: 1 **1947–48 (shared with Distillery) * Belfast and District League: 1 **1918–19 * Northern Regional League: 4 **1940–41, 1941–42, 1943–44, 1946–47 * Substitute Gold Cup: 4 **1940–41, 1943–44, 1945–46, 1946–47


Intermediate honours

*
Irish Intermediate League The Irish Intermediate League was a Northern Irish football competition for teams of intermediate status, which also included reserve sides of senior teams. The league ran from 1915 until 1954. History It began in 1915 after the amalgamation of ...
: 7 **1916–17†, 1917–18†, 1931–32†, 1933–34†, 1934–35†, 1935–36†, 1936–37† *
Irish Intermediate Cup The Irish Intermediate Cup is a Northern Irish football competition for teams of intermediate status, including NIFL Premiership reserve sides. It is a straight knock-out tournament and is currently sponsored by McCombs Coach Travel. The curre ...
: 5 **1913–14†, 1934–35†, 1935–36†, 1936–37†, 1939–40† *
Steel & Sons Cup The Steel & Sons Cup (also referred to as the Steel Cup) is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North East Ulster Football Association (also known as the County Antrim & District Football Association). The compe ...
: 5 **1912–13†, 1916–17†, 1917–18†, 1934–35†, 1935–36† * McElroy Cup: 7 **1916–17†, 1932–33†, 1934–35†, 1935–36†, 1936–37†, 1942–43†, 1943–44† † Won by Belfast Celtic II


Junior honours

*Irish Junior League: 3 **1893–94, 1894–95, 1895–96


Selected former players


Selected former managers

*
Elisha Scott Elisha Scott (24 August 1893 – 16 May 1959) was a Northern Irish football goalkeeper who played for Liverpool from 1912 to 1934, and still holds the record as their longest-serving player. Life and playing career Elisha Scott played for Lin ...
: 1934–1949


References


Further reading

*Mark Tuohy, ''Belfast Celtic'', 1978 *Flynn, Barry, ''Political Football: The Life and Death of Belfast Celtic'', 2009, Nonsuch Publishing * Padraig Coyle, ''Paradise Lost & Found: The Story of Belfast Celtic'', Mainstream Publishing 1999 * Padraig Coyle, ''Alex Moore's Almanac: A Young Man's Diary of a Sporting Farewell'', Marine Media 2005


External links


Belfast Celtic SocietyBelfast Celtic
{{Authority control Association football clubs established in 1891 Association football clubs disestablished in 1949 Defunct association football clubs in Northern Ireland Defunct Irish Football League clubs Association football clubs in Belfast 1891 establishments in Ireland 1949 disestablishments in Northern Ireland