Most Northern Ireland Celtic fans see themselves as republicans. They have
fervently sang 'The Boys of the Old Brigade' and other IRA songs from the
terraces over the years.
The club was founded for poor Irish Catholic immigrants who had fled to
Glasgow after the famine. Celtic's anti-establishment ethos is expressed in
its unofficial anthem, the Fields of Athenry: "Against the famine and the
Crown/I rebelled they cut me down".
Strange then, that there wasn't a cheep from fans when Martin O'Neill
collected his OBE in Buckingham Palace the other day. Nationalists,
especially of the Sinn Féin variety, are normally up in arms about British
symbols at every opportunity.
Union Jacks, red-white-and-blue bunting, the name 'Londonderry', gets them
hot and bothered. Heaven help any ordinary Catholic who spent five minutes
at a Hillsborough Castle garden party for a minor royal. I wouldn't fancy
going back to Turf Lodge or Twinbrook after that.
Yet the bold Martin can join the Queen herself for a day at Buckingham
Palace and not one Celtic supporter makes the mildest criticism. No deluge
of outraged phone calls to local radio stations or letters to newspapers.
A cynic might say O'Neill's success means he can get away with anything. But
that would imply that some nationalists' objections to British symbols
aren't based on any uncompromising beliefs - they are opportunistic and
obviously negotiable.
Celtic fans are known for their in-yer-face Irishness. Matches against
Rangers are an extension of the conflict here. The tricolour flies over
Parkhead.
Of course, not every fan supports the IRA but Celtic is much more identified
with militant Irish nationalism than the Irish football team. I know people
who wear their Celtic shirts when shopping in mixed areas just to annoy
unionists.
One would have expected such uninhibited individuals to give O'Neill an
ear-bashing. After all, 300 people have refused to accept honours since the
Second World War - including JB Priestley, John Cleese, Alan Bennett, Albert
Finney, JG Ballard, and Vanessa Redgrave - because they believed the whole
process reinforced the British class system and was undemocratic.
Martin O'Neill thinks otherwise. How many of Celtic's tens of thousands of
fans here have contradicted, let alone condemned, him? Their overwhelming
silence sits uneasily with their usual denunciations of British trappings.
