The Student Room Group

Why are Celtic hated so much?

I'm an English Celtic fan. I can understand other fans in Scotland hating Celtic as we are the most successful and widely supported Scottish team, the same way most fans in England hate Man United and most fans in Germany hate Bayern Munich etc. However I've always wondered why so many English fans hate Celtic so much.

Most of them do so because they say Celtic fans support the IRA. This is true, but I don't really see a problem with supporting an organisation which fought for Irish independence from Britain. There are no songs sung by Celtic fans on a matchday which glorify or even mention the PIRA.

Celtic fans do not engage in any sectarian singing; there are no songs sung by Celtic fans which carry slurs against Protestants. The same, however, can't be said about the fans of deidco, formerly known as R*ngers (RIP) who openly sing sectarian songs about Catholics. Yet these fans and that club, for some reason, are much adored by a lot of English supporters. There is so much more that could be said about our dearly departed neighbours, but I'll try and stay on topic.

We also seemed to be hated for our refusal to wear the poppy. In a match vs Aberdeen the Green Brigade ultras group held up banners which read 'Your deeds would shame all the devils in hell. Ireland Iraq Afghanistan. No bloodstained poppy on our hoops'. This was met with complete outrage at the time. Many Scottish Celtic fans originate from Ireland and indeed many Irish fans are season ticket holders at Celtic Park and take the ferry from Ireland for every game. So why does anyone expect them to welcome a symbol of the British army, who occupied and oppressed Ireland and the Irish people for centuries, at Celtic Park and on the Celtic jersey? If one was to give an American flag to an Iraqi boy, who's country has been invaded and destroyed by Americans, he wouldn't exactly embrace the flag. So what's the difference here? The resistance to wearing the poppy by the Celtic support is completely justified imo.

So why do so many people hate Celtic? To me it seems like the cool thing to do. Many people don't even bother looking at the history of Celtic and the history of Ireland and just jump on the bandwagon of hating Celtic and liking R*ngers, because it seems like the norm amongst English fans when it comes to the Old Firm.

Scroll to see replies

Tends to be guys wearing hackett polos year round with bulldog tattoos who hate Celtic.

Vast majority of people are indifferent, or if you live in London/Manchester etc where there are have traditionally been loads of Irish people you'll probably have met enough Celtic fans to have a reasonable opinion. Personally I quite like Celtic fans and would prefer them to Rangers any day of the week.

Only issue is around the poppies on the shirt thing which many find distasteful but I think any reasonable English person who spends 2 minutes carefully thinking about the history of the army in Northern Ireland will understand what that's all about.
Reply 2
Rangers was built on racism, no protestants, jews, whatever. Celtic all the way.
Original post by samba
Rangers was built on racism, no protestants, jews, whatever. Celtic all the way.


Swear Rangers are the protestants and Celtic the catholics traditionally.
Reply 4
I don't hate Celtic. Found it funny when they laughed at Rangers being demoted, though, because the Old Firm is literally the only reason that club is still relevant.

Now they just live for two defeats in the CL a season. Good for them.
Reply 5
Original post by The Shed End
Swear Rangers are the protestants and Celtic the catholics traditionally.


Ahh, got it the wrong way around. Still, not letting catholics or jews etc play because of their religion is beyond ****ty. Didn't they hate the Irish and Italians too?
Original post by samba
Rangers was built on racism, no protestants, jews, whatever. Celtic all the way.


Original post by samba
Ahh, got it the wrong way around. Still, not letting catholics or jews etc play because of their religion is beyond ****ty. Didn't they hate the Irish and Italians too?

No, it wasn't.

I hate Celtic because they support IRA terrorism and because I'm a Rangers fan and that's what rivals do. They are also massive hypocrites.

You aren't the most successful Scottish team. Rangers have won more top division titles.
Reply 7
Original post by The_Mighty_Bush
No, it wasn't.

I hate Celtic because they support IRA terrorism and because I'm a Rangers fan and that's what rivals do. They are also massive hypocrites.

You aren't the most successful Scottish team. Rangers have won more top division titles.


Did Jews and all Catholics support the IRA? Why weren't they allowed to play for Rangers?
Aren't Celtic associated with nonces as well?
Original post by samba
Did Jews and all Catholics support the IRA? Why weren't they allowed to play for Rangers?

They were. You don't know what you are talking about. Rangers have had Catholic players since their founding. The sectarian aspect to the Old Firm derby was never something that was there since the founding of the clubs. It rose to prominence due to the Troubles in Ireland and was a two-way street. But there has never been any policy of not employing Catholics or anything like that.

It goes the other way too. We can see this with Neil McCann who was called a traitor by Celtic fans because he had Catholic Irish roots but had the cheek to play for Rangers.

I don't know where you are getting this Jewish thing from either. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebasti%C3%A1n_Rozental

Celtic fans are the ones who hold up Palestine flags and hate Israel.
Original post by The_Mighty_Bush
No, it wasn't.

I hate Celtic because they support IRA terrorism and because I'm a Rangers fan and that's what rivals do. They are also massive hypocrites.

You aren't the most successful Scottish team. Rangers have won more top division titles.


Many Rangers fans are 100% behind Unionist paramilitary terrorists, every bit as terrible as the IRA.

Thoughts?
Original post by The_Mighty_Bush
No, it wasn't.

I hate Celtic because they support IRA terrorism and because I'm a Rangers fan and that's what rivals do. They are also massive hypocrites.

You aren't the most successful Scottish team. Rangers have won more top division titles.


Rangers died. You've never even been in the 1st division never mind won it.

And as OP says, Celtic fans sing songs and support the IRA that fought for Irish independence, there are no songs sung by Celtic fans about the provos.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Zürich
Many Rangers fans are 100% behind Unionist paramilitary terrorists, every bit as terrible as the IRA.

Thoughts?

Yes, that's true. Although normal Rangers fans don't seem to make as many apologies for them as normal Celtic fans do.

It's wrong to support those groups. It shouldn't be illegal to just sing support for those groups in my opinion but it is not a good thing to do.

Original post by ClockEnderAFC
Celtic fans support the IRA that fought for Irish independence from Britain. I don't see any problem with that. Find me one song sung by Celtic fans which glorifies or even mentions the PIRA. And you've never even been in the 1st division never mind one it. R*ngers list of honours extends to a division 4 and a division 3 title.

That's not true at all. They have plenty of PIRA songs. PIRA also fought for Irish independence from Britain but that isn't a good enough reason to support them.

That's not true again. We have kept all of our previous honours.
Reply 13
Original post by The_Mighty_Bush
They were. You don't know what you are talking about. Rangers have had Catholic players since their founding. The sectarian aspect to the Old Firm derby was never something that was there since the founding of the clubs. It rose to prominence due to the Troubles in Ireland and was a two-way street. But there has never been any policy of not employing Catholics or anything like that.

It goes the other way too. We can see this with Neil McCann who was called a traitor by Celtic fans because he had Catholic Irish roots but had the cheek to play for Rangers.

I don't know where you are getting this Jewish thing from either. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebasti%C3%A1n_Rozental

Celtic fans are the ones who hold up Palestine flags and hate Israel.


Fair enough. Should double check info before I post it. Thanks for that.

It makes perfect sense too. Protestants in Ireland are pro Israel and Catholics are pro Palestinian.
Original post by The_Mighty_Bush
Yes, that's true. Although normal Rangers fans don't seem to make as many apologies for them as normal Celtic fans do.

It's wrong to support those groups. It shouldn't be illegal to just sing support for those groups in my opinion but it is not a good thing to do.


.


Fair enough.

Just always seemed odd when either side tries to take a moral high ground on such matters.
Original post by The_Mighty_Bush
Yes, that's true. Although normal Rangers fans don't seem to make as many apologies for them as normal Celtic fans do.

It's wrong to support those groups. It shouldn't be illegal to just sing support for those groups in my opinion but it is not a good thing to do.


That's not true at all. They have plenty of PIRA songs. PIRA also fought for Irish independence from Britain but that isn't a good enough reason to support them.

That's not true again. We have kept all of our previous honours.


Find me one song sung by Celtic fans which even mentions the provos. I can find you plenty sung by your fans full of sectarian bile.
Question

Is Celtic pronounced "s-eltic" or "k-eltic"?
Original post by StrangeBanana
Question

Is Celtic pronounced "s-eltic" or "k-eltic"?


Seltic
Original post by ClockEnderAFC
Seltic


Cheers, always wondered about that
Original post by ClockEnderAFC
Find me one song sung by Celtic fans which even mentions the provos. I can find you plenty sung by your fans full of sectarian bile.

My Old Man's a Provo. - That one even has it in the title