BELFAST CELTIC SIGN OFF!

Don't panic...On Boxing Day 1948, the reigning Irish Football League Champions, Belfast Celtic (founded in 1891), travelled to Windsor Park, where they were due to meet arch-rivals, Linfield. 

Just like Celtic and Rangers in Glasgow, the sectarian enmity ran deep!! This is why!! For starters their supporters were mainly Catholic or Irish Nationalists. A small museum has since been opened in the Park Centre, by the Belfast Celtic Society and a plaque reminds shoppers that a football team played there! Guess the motto??!!

In 1912, their annual game had descended into a full-blown riot after Linfield had taken an early lead and Celtic fans brandished the Irish tricolour, which riled their opponents, resulting in 60 hospitalisations. The Press reported that, "the ground was a wreck as it had been undergoing alterations, with stones, half-bricks and clinkers lying around in abundance and the temptation to use these as missiles proved inevitable". One man was "found to be suffering from a revolver shot to the right side of the head". 

The Boxing Day fixture in 1948 also descended into Bedlam and while no gunshots were fired, the repercussions were much worse! Midway during the first half of the game that ended as a 1-1 draw, had broken his ankle after an innocuous challenge from Celtic's Jimmy Jones. After the final whistle, Linfield's supporters raced onto the pitch and "hared" after the Celtic players, who, according to those present, saw the Celts "run for their lives". Jones was caught by part of the mob and hauled onto the terrace where he was kicked unconscious and had his leg broken. Not good. Defender Robin Lawlor and goalkeeper Kevin McAlinden were both given a severe "beating".

Many Linfield supporters wrote to the Belfast nationalist newspapers expressing "shame at the behaviour of the minority mob". Questions were asked in the Northern Ireland, House of Commons, over the "role of the police". Many witnesses thought the police had "done little to quell the riot". The Celtic directors decided to withdraw from the League at the end of the season anyway.

On April 21st 1949, permission was granted for them to "take their leave of Northern Irish Football" for good! Belfast Celtic enjoyed a final fling 38 days later, beating a full Scottish side 2-0 while on a farewell tour in the USA.

Belfast Celtic Football Club, founded in 1891 in Belfast, was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish League in 1949. The club left the League for political reasons, as the team and its supporters were largely Catholic and Irish Nationalists. Belfast Celtic FC was one of four clubs that attracted the biggest crowds in the Irish League, the other three being Linfield, Distillery and Glentoran. Belfast Celtic FC played its last match in 1960.

The club would never again play a competitive match but played several friendlies, including a match at home to Glasgow Celtic on 17 May 1952, when a team of ex-Belfast Celtic players took the field under the name of 'Newry F.C.' in aid of De La Salle Boys' Home in County Down. A final match—a testimonial—was played at Coleraine on 24 June 1960.

Celtic Park continued to function as a greyhound racing stadium until October 1983. Brookmount Properties bought the site for redevelopment. when it was demolished and replaced by the Park Shopping Centre.