I’m a friend of one of the Cowans from Glasgow, I got him a ticket for Celtic Park once. For that family, for Humza Yousaf’s family and the countless more who are mourning, or terrified of what may happen next, I will not give you my hot takes on a situation so tragic and complex it deserves nothing but our full concern.
You can see by watching Celtic, we have a tight-knit squad, there to support each other, and a tight-knit club. You wouldn’t have it any other way. Getting involved here is the last thing any football club would want to do, but the players needed support, perhaps the bereaved too.
Try, though you can, politics and sport cannot always separate. ‘Celtic Football Club, open to all since 1888’, is our proud boast, but for much of our history, that was a political statement in Glasgow (whereas it is just a fact now). We are a club with founding values worth preserving and occasionally worth stating. God help anyone killed for their ethnicity – nothing is truer to those values.
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It is the Daily Mail columnist, but I found the content interesting for once.
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IAN HERBERT: Loaded with political significance, this Belfast stadium can be a field of dreams at Euro 2028
The UK and Ireland have been announced as hosts for Euro 2028 by UEFA
Casement Park in Northern Ireland is one of the 10 venues set to host matches
The fraying posters on the boarded-up exterior of the semi-derelict Casement Park stadium, on west Belfast’s Andersonstown Road, tell their own story of a struggle to leave the past behind and move on.
They promote an event commemorating the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule in Ireland and a wreath-laying ceremony for Irish republican martyrs. Both took place at the Milltown Cemetery, on the Falls Road, which was a daily part of the narrative of The Troubles.
This is a predominantly nationalist place where buses burned on the streets amid the riots of 40 years ago and it’s not been easy to build out from that past, as the closed shutters on the coffee places, the premises to let and the dilapidated stadium itself only go to show.
Confirmation that the UK and Ireland are to co-host Euro 2028 presents potential for something better for Andersonstown Road: the redevelopment of Casement Park, a Gaelic football (GAA) stadium until its closure in 2013, into a 33,000-capacity facility which will be the Northern Irish venue for the tournament. (Nearby Windsor Park is too small.) And when the tournament is over, a stadium the likes of which this city has never known.
The case for any form of economic rescue is indisputable, here in the shadow of the Black Mountains. Everyone speaks of the closure of the famous Bass Ireland brewery with the loss of 500 jobs. A lack of investment stalks the place.
But on the streets around the stadium, old nationalist and unionist social divisions prevent such simple calculations. To approach men like Sean and Tom, standing beneath the Casement Park floodlights on the street called Mooreland Park, is to discover why a stadium to host Northern Ireland is anathema to them, along with the idea of supporting that team.
‘I’d never go to Windsor Park to see them play and it’s only just down that hill,’ Sean tells me. ‘And the Catholics who do walk to that stadium take a different side of the street. Do you think I’m going to a place where they ask me to sing “God save the King”’?’
They abhor the idea of a stadium because of the likely traffic, the noise and the floodlights, too. Objections which have hindered its re-development for years. But it runs deeper than that. It’s a similar story from Gerry and Tommy and Paul and David – men all going about their business yesterday in the shadow of a stadium which, if the complex renovation can actually be accomplished at breakneck speed, will present west Belfast to the world, four years from now.
These doubts are not universal. Paul, a taxi driver, also from a Catholic family, says that viewing the view the world through the prism of the old Catholic/Protestant divides creates ‘a harshening and hardening’ of attitudes which make him despair. This is not to be found in the younger generations, he says. His testimony is borne out, in the views of young people emerging into the sunshine from Andersonstown Leisure Centre. ‘There might be concerts here if the stadium is built. Things might actually happen in this place,’ says one of them, Janice, who is 22. ‘Nothing happens in this place.’
So much did happen here, for so long, that the stadium carries an even heavier weight of history for those on unionist side. Some Northern Ireland fans will find it hard to celebrate sport in a stadium where the IRA stripped and beat two British Army Corporals, Derek Wood and David Howes, before killing them, in the depths of the Troubles, in 1988. Even the stadium’s name bears a heavy significance. Sir Roger Casement was an Irish revolutionary executed in England in 1916.
Some seem to find malign motives everywhere. The British and Irish governments have both offered to contribute to the estimated £160million stadium costs, but the unionist Democratic Unionist Party says it would oppose any plans to allocate additional funds, citing pressure on budgets. ‘That’s just “we don’t want your money,”’ says the taxi driver. ‘With the DUP, it’s “no” to everything.’
The historic baggage was certainly too much to drive through bold plans to build a 40,000-capacity multi-sports stadium, for Gaelic football, rugby and association football on the site of the former Maze prison, in 2009. The Maze remains a derelict emblem symbol to a terrible past.
There are plenty of reasons to question the wisdom of making Casement Park a part of our islands’ most significant sporting event since the 2012 London Olympics. How can it be built on time? What purpose will serve beyond 2028, given that Gaelic football will not need a 10,000-capacity stadium, let alone one three times that size, beyond 2028? Why build it, when public money for so much else is so short?
The stadium has a heavy significance with Sir Roger Casement, depicted in a mural outside the venue, who was an Irish revolutionary executed in England in 1916
Yet this seems like a moment to look beyond narrow calculations and take a leap of faith. Generations of young people in this place have lived with the social and economic legacy of the Troubles, lacking the opportunity that others who are not so encumbered have faced. To build a venue out of a place synonymous with a violent past would be the ultimate symbol of collaboration. A physical manifestation of the new Ireland which was set on course by the Good Friday agreement.
Twenty years ago, only Gaelic football – the nationalists’ game – was permitted on a grounds like Casement. For football – the British ‘garrison game’ as the nationalists once called it – to be played at a Gaelic football venue on Andersonstown Road, would be an achievement loaded with political and cultural significance. This would be a field of dreams, testament to sport’s capacity to unite, albeit that the venue’s name would need to change. ‘Let’s look at the positives,’ says local SDLP councillor Paul Doherty. ‘West Belfast has been down for so long.’
The city is tackling old divides and suspicions in many ways. New schools will not be built now unless they are multi-denominational, so the new generations emerging from them have different perspectives. ‘Some of my generation will never see things differently,’ says the taxi driver, who is 52. ‘But as the years go by, the religion and the religious divide matter less and less. This stadium would carry less baggage for the next generation. Even less for the next. And for the next. We have to put the past behind us. This is a way.’
So speaks one who has listened to decades of mutual suspicions, issuing forth from the back seat of his cab. Only time will tell if it can happen. A mural celebrating a Belfast blues singer on the wall of a street which intersects with Andersonstown Road declares that ‘music crosses all barriers.’ It’s always been more complicated than that for sport.
Can anybody tell me if Hamas have announced the date of the next General Election in Gaza?
And do the Green Brigade get a postal vote?
Or are they in line for a proxy one?
My knowledge is scant on this but i believe if you are not an inmate currently residing on the Gaza Strip you are not permitted to vote.
Postal votes will not be counted.
You got the first part right
If you knew the answer why did you post the question?
Big Wavy 6.51pm
Spot on
I agree 100% with you on this.
It is sadly the same from the UK government and media as a whole.
John Fallon
A decade ago I spent time in the Middle East. I travelled to Egypt and Israel and worked in Cairo, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Gaza and the West Bank. A wonderful and unfortunate part of the world. After my first trip to Gaza I was asked to write a short article of my experience. I have reproduced it below…
Having recently returned from the Gaza Strip, one of the questions I am asked is of my first impression of the place. My answer is immediate, the crossing point at Erez. Although shocked by the state of devastation in Gaza and heartened by the resilience and courage of the Palestinian people, the Erez crossing said so much about the fear and mistrust of Israel towards its neighbour.
I had travelled to the Middle East to make a documentary for the Al Jazeera network.
Three days after arriving in Jerusalem I finally obtained my press card from the Israeli authorities and was ready to travel to Gaza. Husam, my Israeli Arab driver, helped load my equipment into the boot of the car and we began the forty-minute drive to the Erez crossing point.
As we neared our destination, six low-flying Israeli jets screamed overhead, drowning out the music from the car radio and causing Husam to shake his head and smile ruefully.
“Where are they going?” I asked.
Again he shook his head, “It’s not where they are going, it’s where they are coming from.” He pointed in the direction from which the planes had come. “Gaza.” he said and at that moment I caught my first glimpse of the huge airport terminal-like building that is the Erez crossing point.
Husam pulled up outside the main gate. As we unloaded the equipment from the boot I looked up at the clear blue sky and noticed a large white sphere, like a three-dimentional moon, floating above us.
“What is that?” I asked, even though I had already guessed the answer.
“It’s a balloon, with cameras that see into Gaza. They see most things happening there.” he replied.
I felt my nervous excitement level increase by one notch. Staring again at the terminal building with its tall wire fence and steel gate, it was as if I were about to enter a prison rather than a border crossing point. Husam and I shook hands and agreed on a date for my return. As he drove off, I turned and faced the huge gate. An Israeli soldier on the other side pointed to a turnstile where I should enter. I picked up my bags, swallowed hard and took a first step towards the unknown.
My first port of call was the security gatehouse where I showed my passport and Israeli government issued press card for clearance. Then it was through the turnstile and the short walk up to the glass-fronted building. Inside the almost deserted terminal there was a row of passport control booths of which only two appeared to be manned. The terminal was built at a time when many Palestinians crossed into Israel every day to work. Now very few use this facility and Israelis are forbidden to enter Gaza. I approached a booth and once again I presented my documents. I answered the usual questions about the purpose and duration of my visit. The female guard stamped my passport and smiled as she wished me ‘Good Luck’. The smile seemed genuine but the tone of her voice made me feel wary and my nervous excitement level jumped another notch. On the other side of the booth I saw a sign with an arrow pointing the way. Now began my long lonely walk to Gaza.
First, I went through a doorway, along a narrow corridor with high steel walls and out into a sloping yard, at the bottom of which I struggled, and I do mean struggled, to get myself and my four pieces of equipment through a tall, constricted turnstile. There was no one around to help or give advice although there were CCTV cameras every step of the way, so I knew I was being watched and probably laughed at by unseen persons. Sweating, breathing heavily and feeling ever so slightly humiliated, I now stood for what seemed an eternity in front of an ernormous solid metal door set in a concrete wall. And, as I would normally do in such situations , I said to myself, “Fuck!” Just as I was about to gesture to one of the cameras, there was a loud clunk and the door slid open slow-motion style. I stepped through and as the door closed behind me I murmured to myself, “Well, this is it! Welcome to Gaza.”
I stood still for a few moments taking in my surroundings. I was standing inside a cage, bars on either side with a corrugated iron roof. This cage runs for about half a mile across a buffer zone leading to the Palestinian border control. Fortunately, for a few shekels I was transported to the other side in a small golf buggy type vehicle by an old Palestinian man who did not look in the best of health. The ground outside of the cage was flat, dry and played host to a few scrawny goats foraging amongst the rubble and twisted metal. At the end of the cage I had to negociate another turnstile and then make my way to a trailer which fuctioned as passport control. There, a Hamas official checked my documents and wrote down my passport number in a large black book. I then boarded a taxi for a one-minute ride to immigration where again my passport was checked and my luggage examined. To my great relief, Samy, my local driver, was waiting with a car to take me to Gaza City to begin filming the story for which I had been commissioned.
One long month later, I left the town of Beit Hanoun and returned to Erez. I had seen so much in those four weeks and my attitude towards the Israeli state had altered somewhat. An anger and bitterness simmered within me.
This time as I travelled through the cage, I remembered as a child, the lions and tigers entering the ring at Billy Smart’s Circus. I once again encountered the sliding steel door and the turnstile. I climbed the concrete slope and entered an anteroom of the terminal building. Here, instructions were relayed via intercom. All my possessions were placed in a large tray – camera, tripod, bags, belt, mobile phone, money – which was then sent on a conveyor belt to be scanned. After a few moments a green light allowed me to pass into another larger room. All the while I was being observed by security from behind a window high up on the wall.
“Please step forward and place your feet on the marks on the floor, hands above your head.” A quick revolving body scan, followed by a green light that let me pass into a horsebox-type space where I waited for another green light and eventually out into passport control. When called to the booth, I approached the door and waited for – yes, you guessed – another green light. Following the usual questions of Why? Where? and How long? I was finally allowed out the door. Yes, but of course, only after the green light showed.
At last, I walked out into the sunshine, past the machine-gun carrying Israeli soldiers and up to yet another huge, angry, steel gate. Hey! But this time there was no green light. I was simply waved through. And was that a smile I saw on the guard’s face? No, it couldn’t have been. How could he smile when he lives in such fear and paranoia of being attacked by the people who live on the other side of all those steel doors, gates, fences, walls, cages, concrete blocks and razor wire?
Am I being naive to wonder if, at Erez, rather than all these defensive measures to keep out the Palestinians, it would have been better to build bridges with them instead?
Some right weird stuff on here today.
Killing people is never the answer, does not matter if it is man, woman or child, does not matter the creed, race or religion or political views etc.
The mass killing of people in Israel is awful there is no doubt, it is all over a sympathetic news and the western world has now given full blessing and backing to Israel’s attacks on gaza and all her people. Lots of civilians will die. War crimes are in full swing. The people of palastine will suffer at the hands of Israel now. A massive score will be settled and nothing will change just more of the same for the next decade. The oppressed will remain oppressed and the oppressors will continue on their path.
This situation will only change when the international community decide what is happening in gaza is not OK and actually sanction Israel akin to South Africa and force real change. That will also require compromise by the other side, which seems impossible at this time.
More killing, more death and not a bit of progress. Humans are such a destructive species.
HH
The Ibrox Football Club – The Ibrox hierarchy and administration – All Ibrox managers & staff – All Ibrox players – All Ibrox supporters – The SFA – The SPFL – The Referees Association – The Orange Order – The Masonic Lodge – The Church of Scotland – The SNP:
None of the above have ever concocted a statement the like of which the GB has released – a statement of threat against Celtic -an accusation of hypocrisy against Celtic – a call on others going to Celtic Park to join in organised demonstration in a UCL match which will have serious repercussions on Celtic.
None of the above have ever told the vast majority of the Celtic family that “we will do as we like and you can sit on your hands and watch us”
And yet there are apologists on here who have the temerity to back the GB against our club.
You are all now tarred with the same brush – NOT Celtic supporters – Celtic detractors – enemies of Celtic.
Medication time.. . .
Medication time.. . .
cloud you dont half type a lot of shite.
funnily enough there is a statement very alike that on one of the rangers blogs.
hhhmmmm
Every cloud9 has an orange lining……….
Thanks for letting us know
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Salmon anyone?
I thought twice about posting but free so each and all that
In one of my rare posts last year I suggested no Celtic supporter at Celtic Park should be disrespectful about the death of the Queen
You are correct to think I got dogs abuse
My point was go on the radio and tell the world she was not your Queen go to Buckingham Palace and distance yourself write a letter to the Sun But your view on the Queen is not a Celtic issue
I still got dogs abuse And by the way I am no royalist but WTF has it to do with Celtic
I have the same view with Palestine before 7 October Palestine had my sympathy but this weekend has made me rethink.
If anybody wants to fly a Palestinian flag get yourself to the Israeli embassy or get yourself on the radio or if you can get yourself to Israel and state your case
But using Celtic Park and definition dragging Celtic FC into the biggest political debate on earth is abusing the good name of Celtic FC
For clarity I have no desire to silence any view by anybody but do it where it’s relevant
Hail Hail to one and all
67ECW
The Green Brigade statement made some interesting observations.
Yet it expressed no sympathy for victims of a massacre.
I find myself wondering if this was an oversight or an intention.
67 EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS @ 10:10 PM
“If anybody wants to fly a Palestinian flag get yourself to the Israeli embassy or get yourself on the radio or if you can get yourself to Israel and state your case”
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Agreed. Respect.
“I hold this view publicly and vehemently”
“And who are you?”
“A Celtic fan”
Consider this hypothetical if you will.
Celtic play a match away to a team from Dresden.
The home fans use the opportunity to decry the British establishment for refusing for decades to apologise for a massacre of civilians by saturation bombing of a location which had no military value.
Complete with powerful symbolic banners concentrated in a section of the ground.
They do so because we are a British club and this will help maximise exposure.
How do we (Celtic) feel about that?
Back to Basics. I would agree with them
Apropos no recent comment.
…watch the non-tut tutters tut-tut at the tut-tutters only to wind their own tut-tuttery back…
At this tragic time of such a deeply complex issue I think of the saying that it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak (sic type) and to remove all doubt.
Interesting tho, the content from Mustafa Barghouti and Haggai Matar.
Could someone on here show me where exactly the GB are praising Hamas.
The GB have often been denigrated on here as no more than immature socialists. And yet now their political stance has changed to being Islamic jihadists. Give us a break FFS.
What will probably be true is by the time the Madrid game comes around is that there will be multiples of Palestinian dead to that of Israelis.
Cloud9
In the name of f8ck, how does one even begin to respond to that shyte.
Too busy laughing now…
https://www.aidaceltic.com/aida-celtic-an-imminent-legacy
The Arab League will meet in emergency session in Cairo tomorrow.
Twenty two members, represented by their respective Foreign Ministers.
I do not believe the Green Brigade have been invited.
Given President Biden’s statement on Hamas earlier today they would do well to realise that that organistaion has no part to play in in any future Palestine, and indeed should they remain in situ Palestine has no foreseeable future. What they should also consider is finally recognising Israel’s right to exist, and return all these years later to the original UN plan from 1947, which would include both Gaza and the West Bank, but not be restricted to such, as part of a viable and connected Palestinian State. Absent recognition of Israel there is no hope for peace in the Middle-East, and no solution in sight, accept it the onus and the focus switches to Israel. And possible progress seventy five years on.
https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/music/primal-scream-collaborate-with-aida-celtic-for-football-shirt-that-raises-funds-for-palestinian-refugee-team-3329405
Good morning all from a dark, damp, but forecast bright but cold Garngad.
I see the main stream media job is done on here. Nothing but division now amongst our support.
Keep it up lads till we are back playing and the SMSM will be creaming their pants.
D :)
Good morning all from Govanhill.
Login test
And another pops up out of the ( blue)
Andrena.. they really must think we’re stupid !!!
Clinko @ 11:08pm last night.
Cheers.
I would agree with them too.
But, at the same time, I’d be frustrated by the simplistic perception that we, as a British club, are therefore fair game/collateral damage that justifies having our sporting event hijacked to make a political point.
AIPPLE on 10TH OCTOBER 2023 12:01 PM
International breaks suck.
——–
What do they suck?
HH!
Hundreds of thousands of Isreali troops gathering….what’s happened before will feel like a Sunday school picnic !!……makes you wonder ….Mossad..probably greatest security organisation in the world never saw it coming….mmm…..anyway let the slaughter commence
TalkSport today
Alan Brazil “Oh, I’m just looking at pictures of Gaza”
Ally McCoist “What’s he up to now?”
Back to Basics
Such a protest is not aimed at a particular club but is really targeted to those watching on TV from whichever country that is.
Would there be such an outcry if Ukrainian flags were flown if we were playing a Russian team
Celtic Park is obviously not big enough for the GB, when football is so irrelevant in comparison to world affairs.
Instead they should hold meetings in the open air, in the parks of Glasgow or stick themselves to paintings