| Match Pictures | Matches: 1980 – 1981 | 1980-81 Pictures |
Trivia
- Boxer Sean O'Grady paraded at match (link)
- Celtic play in change strip of green shirts, white shorts and green socks.
- In the Reserve League on the same day Celtic defeated Kilmarnock 1-0 at Rugby Park. The Celtic team was Latchford, McStay, Donaldson, Duffy, Moyes, Casey, Crainie, Weir, Douglas, Reid, Halpin Subs Kenny (Douglas), Buckley. The Celtic scorer was Duffy.
Review
Bottom club Kilmarnock shocked Celtic when Gordon Crammond gave Killie the lead in 15 minutes.
Celtic replied with two goals before half time from the blossoming strike partnership of Charlie Nicholas and Frank McGarvey and both added a goal more each in the second half to give Celtic a comfortable win. Man of the match was Tommy Burns who gave a wonderful midfield display and created three goals.
There was contoversy at half time when the lightweight boxer Sean O'Grady made an appearance at half time. The Celtic directors agreed to his on field appearance as a promotion for the forthcoming WBC lightweight championship bout with Scots boxer Jim Watt. O'Grady hailed from Oklahoma and was nicknamed 'the bubble gum bomber' as he was constantly chewing gum. When stepping on to the turf he was given a polite reception from the crowd and was wearing a stetson hat and denim jacket. He proceeded over to the Jungle and threw off the jacket to show the Celtic hoops underneath and the fans gave a huge roar and chanted – 'there's only one Sean O'Grady !' A scuffle broke out in the lower stand between Celtic and Kilmarnock fans, who objected to the Celtic fans cheering of O'Grady.
Celtic chairman Desmond White was said to be mortified and was accused in the media of promoting O'Grady because of his Irish-Catholic sounding name. The irony was that O'Grady was not a Catholic although this was only revealed by his manager after the fight.
The fight against Watt was a controversial one with the Scot winning after a controversial, but accidental, head butt on O'Grady caused a cut which stopped the fight in round 12. The fight was on October 31rst 1980 in the Kelvin Hall, 24 hours before the Rangers-Celtic game at Ibrox and raised fears of sectarian clashes although these fears were unfounded as the game passed off relatively incident free with few arrests.
Teams
Celtic:- Bonner, Sneddon, McGrain, Aitken, MacDonald, McAdam, Provan, Sullivan, McGarvey, Burns, Nicholas.
Subs not used:- Doyle McCluskey
Goals:- Nicholas 36, 51 pen, McGarvey 44, 86.
Kilmarnock:-Brown, Robertson, Cockburn, Clark, Clarke, McDicken, Houston, Mauchlen, Doherty (McLean), McBride, Crammond.
Sub:- Maxwell
Goal:- Crammond 15.
Att:- 18,000.
Articles
- Match Report(see below)
Pictures
Articles
