Celtic Slang | About Celtic | Celtic’s Foundation
Details
Reference to: North End Terracing (now the North Stand)
Derivations: ‘The Jungle’
Built: [….]
Re-Built: 1966
End: 1994
The Old Much Loved Terracing
| “The Jungle made a major contribution to success at Celtic Park before during and after my days there. The volume of support and the understanding and knowledge shown by the fans there is legendary.” Billy McNeill |
The Jungle was admired as one of the best football terraces, but any Celtic fan will tell you it was the very best in the world.
It was a standing enclosure in what is now the north stand of Celtic Park, and was home to the loudest and most fanatical of our supporters.
Most older Celtic fans will have vivid memories of bouncing up and down and singing in the jungle, which some try to argue is more famous than the Kop in Liverpool, but not really true, however the Jungle in full throw was a sight to behold and a invaluable supporting asset to the team on the pitch. Various opposition players felt intimated by the atmosphere from the terracing and many later in life paid tribute to the supporters there.
The northern terrace, which became known as the ‘Jungle‘, was concreted in 1966 and a new roof was erected, and so strictly you can argue that this was the birth of the Jungle.
How did it get its name? Certain folk seem to point to it having obtained the moniker around after World War Two (1939-1945), due to the large number of returning servicemen from the Far East, and christened the stand with the ‘Jungle‘ name, but some dispute this.
It actually wasn’t always the raucous place that some of the older supporters like to make out. Up till around some time in late 1970s or early 1980s, it was actually the Celtic End that was where the younger supporters used to mostly congregate and be the centre point for match atmosphere. That all changed as they drifted over during the 1980s, and its reputation was getting bolstered, but it has always been a home for the hardened supporter.
The old Biscuit Tin board put seats in the stand in season 1993-94 which diluted the atmosphere (it was done to help fulfil criteria for all-seater stadia that was being imposed). Sadly it was demolished in 1994 to make way for the new all-seater stadium.
In memory of the old terracing, a last day ‘Jungle’s Last Stand’ day was arranged to celebrate the ending of the terracing days. Remarkably, the turnout in the evening far exceeded expectations, and all had an incredible evening out watching old luminaries play in a kick-about to celebrate the end of a great innings for the old terracing. It was quite emotional for some.
The term ‘Jungle‘ was still used by some for years to describe Celtic Park itself, or even to the area of the North-West curve of the stadium, where hardcore singing fans liked to sit (now moved to Section 442, the new terracing area). However, this is really just a nostalgic echo since the real Jungle vanished all those years ago, and is viewed by many as a symbol of how the club, and football, has changed in modern times.
A fuller review of the old Jungle can be found in the following: Link.
Quotes
“The Jungle made a major contribution to success at Celtic Park before during and after my days there. The volume of support and the understanding and knowledge shown by the fans there is legendary.”
Billy McNeill
“Right, son, did you see that place they called the Jungle? That’s where you will find the fans crammed in when you are playing. You can make these guys love you. You perform for them and they’ll repay you. This support has got a great knowledge. They’ll encourage you and they’ll never forget you.”
Bertie Auld’s dad to Bertie Auld on his signing during his introductory tour of Celtic Park (1955)
“I always laughed when people said ‘Willie Miller referees some games.’ I mean, how could I referee a game, at Celtic Park, in front of 50,000 crowds, in front of that old Jungle? By the way, the stuff that used to come out of that Jungle – both verbal and physical – was incredible. It was an amazing atmosphere to play in.”
Ex-Aberdeen player Willie Miller (2015), The Herald Newspaper interview
“The Jungle – great area, atmospheric!”
Archie MacPherson, legendary Sportscene presenter, journalist and match commentator (June 2024)
Articles
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Jungle next to away end. the entrance/exit between the Jungle and the Rangers end. IIRC you could get into either terracing from there.
Picture shows the Celtic support converging on the spot where the original Celtic Park stood from 1888 to 1892. A thing of beauty.
From 1960s
Disabled fans (Celtic 67 CSC) section in 1993/94
Celtic Park, 1949
Amazing picture from the damage done to Celtic Park by the 100mph gales which battered Glasgow 50 years ago in January 1968.
Tom Shields took his life in his hands Down among the “Jungle Bhoys” on Saturday. From the Glasgow Herald
