Celtic Park was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

ground in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland. It was the home ground of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

from 1888 until they moved to the site of the modern

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

in 1892. The ground staged an international match between

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in 1891.

History

Located to the south-east of the Eastern Necropolis graveyard in the

Parkhead Parkhead () is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet (place), hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necro ...

district of Glasgow, Celtic Park was opened on 8 May 1888.Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) ''The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005'', Yore Publications, p161 The club had obtained a lease on the site on 13 November 1887,Brian McGuirk (2013) ''Celtic FC – the Ireland Connection'', Black & White Publishing and over the next six months Celtic founder

Brother Walfrid Andrew Kerins (; 18 May 1840 – 17 April 1915), known by his religious name Brother Walfrid, was an Irish people, Irish Marist Brothers, Marist Brother and is best remembered for being the founder of Scottish football club Celtic F.C., Celtic. ...

brought together a large group of Irish volunteers to build the ground; they erected an uncovered stand with a capacity of around 1,000, laid a nineteen-foot wide track around the pitch (with the aim of hosting cycling events), and created banking around the track to be used as terracing. Although the ground was built for Celtic, the opening match at the stadium on 8 May 1888 was between the Edinburgh-based Hibernian and Glasgow club Cowlairs, a game that ended in a 0–0 draw with a crowd of 3,000 present. Hibernian had agreed to play the opening match in order to fulfil a promise that the club's founder and manager Canon Edward Joseph Hannan had made to Brother Walfrid; however, Celtic did benefit from the gate receipts.The Birth of Celtic
Hibernian FC Celtic's first match at the ground was played on 28 May 1888 against

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

, with the home side winning 5–2 in front of almost 2,000 spectators.The men who kicked it all off for the Celts
Celtic FC In 1890 Celtic were founder members of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

(SFL). On the opening day of the league's first season, Celtic played Renton at Celtic Park. Renton's Cameron scored the first-ever goal in the SFL as the visitors won 4–1 in front of a crowd of 10,000. The ground hosted a

international match against

in the 1890–91 British Home Championship; the match was played on 28 March 1891 and ended in a 2–1 win for Scotland. The highest recorded league attendance at Celtic Park was 15,000 for a match against Hearts on 17 October 1891, with Celtic winning 3–1. In 1892 Celtic decided to leave the ground after the landlord increased the annual rent from £50 to £450.Celtic spirit shines on
FIFA, 8 July 2008 The club moved a short distance to a new ground, which was also named

. The final league match at the original Celtic Park was played on 14 May 1892, a 2–0 win over Leith Athletic. After the Renton match (the result of which had been expunged when Renton were expelled from the SFL a few weeks into the season), Celtic had not lost another league game at the ground. The site was later used for housing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Celtic Park (1888-92) Defunct football venues in Scotland Celtic F.C. Parkhead Scottish Football League venues Scotland national football team venues Demolished buildings and structures in Scotland Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom Football venues in Glasgow Sports venues completed in 1888 1892 disestablishments in Scotland 1888 establishments in Scotland