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my Celtic-Irish conundrum...
ok, so i'm a Glasgow Celtic supporter from Australia...
before all you anti-Glasgow Celtic fellas on here judge me, try and put yourselves in my shoes for a sec: i wasn't brought up supporting any soccer club (soccer being a game for "wogs and poofters"), so when i started taking an interest in the beautiful game, i was able to make a very concious and deliberate choice as to which club i would support. an EPL round-up is on TV every monday night here on SBS, and i came very close to supporting either Leeds Utd or Liverpool. the former because i liked the squad (Kewell, McPhail, Harte) and the kits (all-white, and yellow) and the latter because... well, because they're Liverpool. but i'd always had Celtic in the back of my mind, because i was and still am very interested in Irish history and culture. if a foreign-born Ireland-loving celtophile is going to support a football club, which one do you think it'd be? considering that in Australia at least, i would never be able to see a single eL match. so when i read more of the Celtic's history, and saw my first Celtic match on TV, i fell in love with the club. the songs, the atmosphere, is unbelievable. (especially in comparison to the AFL!). and i sympathize(d) with many of the East End Glaswegians who romantically see themselves as displaced/exiled Irish.
but i agree with the central thrust of the anti-Celtic argument, namely, that it's hypocritical to fly the tricolor and sing songs about Ireland, when all the money you put into the club is going to Scotland. (i think it's very easy to take Football too seriously, and to get all moralistic about what is, after all, entertainment..i mean, using the same logic that some anti-Celtic people are using here, i could attack them for not supporting Ireland sufficiently, because they're not supporting the youth teams. obviously a line has to be drawn somewhere...i'd say, at supporting Man Uand sport inevitably becomes political because of its very nature, and right or wrong, there's no denying it enhances the atmosphere..)
solution: the proposed Atlantic League. profressional football has become highly money-oriented, and i don't see this changing in the foreseeable future. big clubs in smaller leagues, are finding it harder and harder to compete with the big clubs in the EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A. most of the following clubs have expressed their consideration or approval (in the case of Celtic since 2000) of the proposed league with would rival the large aforementioned ones...
Club Brugges [Belgium]
PSV Eindhoven [Holland]
Ajax [Holland]
Benfica [Portugal]
Sporting Lisbon [Portugal]
RSC Anderlecht [Belgium]
Glasgow Rangers [Scotland]
Glasgow Celtic [Scotland]
Feyenoord [Holland]
AIK Stockholm [Sweden]
Gothenburg [Sweden]
Brondby [Denmark]
FC Copenhagen [Denmark]
Standard Liege [Belgium]
with Celtic and Rangers participation in the SPL scrapped, so too would the possibility of winning the domestic treble, thus, it would be no great crime if Celtic pulled out of the League Cup, and instead competed in the FAI Cup. Celtic would become the first border-transcendent football club, playing home games alternately in Glasgow and Dublin. Celtic FC could merge with Shamrock Rovers, building a new stadium and garnishing an immediate fanbase. by the time all this occurs, the inevitable United Ireland will hopefully have been achieved, and the Belfast Catholic community would immediately rally around an official re-identification with the Grand Auld Team, Belfast Celtic (maybe even a further merger with Cliftonville?).
this scenario would thus eliminate the hypocrisy inherent in the present situtation. and since Celtic will be playing in the Atlantic League, we also wouldn't be faced with the peculiar situation of the club competing against other Irish clubs on a week-in, week-out basis.
this is all very far-fetched i know, but i think it's obvious that the future of football in these capitalist supra-national times is border-transcendent, and it is only a matter of time before a permanent European leaugue replaces all national leagues (with domestic Cups staying in place). we may not like it, but it is inevitable, if money is going to continue ruling and running the beautiful game.
on a quite different note....i want to follow an eL club... but which? obviously i have an immediate leaning to the Shamrock Rovers because of their strong Celtic FC connection, and they're roving/wandering history also appeals to me...then most of my Irish ancestors were from Cork, but i don't know if any of them were actually from Cork City. and has said club dropped the "Rebels" nickname? other ancestors were from Clare, but then there's no Clare club... but how can i really decide without even being able to see a match? i hope to go on student exchange to UCD, so maybe i'll have to wait till then, and experience the atmosphere of each club, before i can make any truly informed decision...
anyways, i apologize for the long-windedness of this post...
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