A short story of Celtic FC banners
Celtic park choreography is probably the best in Europe
Sports
October 25th, 2019
October 25th, 2019
In the last Europa League match against Lazio, Celtic showed once again their proverbial irony. The shameful parade of some Lazio 'fans' – who made fascist salute as they march through Glasgow - immediately tickled the Celtic supporters, who didn’t wait the second leg to reply. During the match several banners aimed at the Lazio fans were unfolded: "Lazio vaffanculo", "Follow your leader" with the image of Mussolini hanging upside down and "Brigate Verde", literal translation of Green Brigade - historical group of Celtic fans -, with the logo of the Italian ‘Brigate Rosse’.
The Celtic fanbase has deep roots and a strong social and political consciousness. Celtic Football Club reflected the Irish Catholic community migrated to Scotland (which is predominantly Protestant, like Rangers fans). The Green Brigade is openly left-wing and over the years it demontrated its strong political connotation. In 2016 some Celtic fans waved some Palestinian flags on the stands and in 2018, they showed a banner saying ‘Celtic stands with Palestine. End genocide. End Zionism’. The Celtic fans support independence movements (Athletic Bilbao) and other left-wing supporters, such as St. Pauli, a club that traditionally stands against homophobia. Celtic also proved to be an openly gay-friendly club, as evidenced by a banner shown in 2017 saying "A club open to all".
But the Celtic Park banners are not just political. Irony and creativity are main features of the Bhoys fanbase. In 2013, during a Champions League match against Juventus, a huge banner was unfolded demonstrating a brilliant, enormous copy of the Clash’s London Calling album cover, with Paul Simonon smashing Juventus crest. In 2012 Celtic fans showed a big banner to remember the Great Famine victims. But lots of other banners are definitely more sports-related, like the one dedicated to Muhammad Ali (‘Ain't nothing wrong with going down. It's staying down that's wrong’), displayed by Celtic last October in the Europa League match against Cluj.
