NOS Football•today, 2:34 PM
Rainbows everywhere. On mugs, scarves, pens, and so on. In the official fan shop of Celtic, one of Scotland’s largest football clubs, if not the largest, dozens of pride and LGBTI expressions are displayed without hesitation.
The football club also has a close-knit LGBTI supporter group for Celtic fans. The Proud Huddle, named after the group hugs of football players.
“It’s essentially a group of football fans meeting in the pub to watch Celtic games together,” says Maggie Murphy.
Murphy is a Celtic fan in every fiber of her being. But she is not just a supporter, she is also the – lesbian – frontwoman of the Proud Huddle.
Celtic is originally Catholic, founded thanks to Irish immigrants who founded the club in 1888. They initially did this to raise money for the poor and less fortunate. In short, from the start there is an eye for everyone in society.
The song is not without reason You’ll Never Walk Alone by Gerry & The Pacemakers, the fraternizing anthem that sounds every time from sixty thousand throats in the Celtic Park stadium.
Increasingly inclusive
Celtic openly supports the message of LGBTI fan club Proud Huddle at this time. According to Murphy, it reads: “We are here, we won’t do anything to you, we work together, we are each other’s neighbors. So why shouldn’t we be able to enjoy the same football club together?”
Murphy: “Celtic have become increasingly progressive and inclusive.”
Unfortunately, that can also be done differently. Take the Pink Comrades, supporters of Feyenoord and one of the two LGBTI supporters’ associations of the Dutch professional football clubs. The Pink Comrades still cannot count on public support from their club. And that is also a workers’ club, from a port city, where they… You’ll Never Walk Alone to sing.
The Green Brigade, the hard core of Celtic, on the other hand, regularly speaks out on social issues. From their support for the Palestinians to suddenly flying a huge rainbow flag. A spontaneous action that still made Murphy very emotional.
“Years ago they suddenly showed a banner in the colors of the rainbow, saying: the club is for everyone. We didn’t know they would do that. That was really a huge turning point for us. We were completely overwhelmed by that action, It was incredible and incredibly emotional. We realized we weren’t alone.”
