Eire flag – The Irish flag controversy (1952)

Incidents, Events & Controversies | About Celtic | 1952

Details

Ref: Celtic ordered to take down Irish Flag by SFA. Celtic refuse and take a stand.
Date: 1952

The Controversy

During season 1951/52, whilst Celtic were floundering on the field, the club became involved in an increasingly tense contretemps with the SFA.

Several cases of misconduct involving Celtic & Rangers supporters, culminating in disgraceful behaviour at the New Year’s Day 1952 clash with Rangers, had been concerning the authorities in Scotland. The Glasgow magistrates met to discuss the situation, and made several recommendations which they invited the SFA and the Scottish League to consider.

The most controversial was the the fourth: “…that the two clubs should avoid displaying flags which might incite feeling amongst the spectators”.

This vague statement was construed as a reference to the flag of Eire which flew over one end of the covered enclosure, and some football officials — undoubtedly with a history of bias against Celtic — chose to use this recommendation as an excuse to threaten the club. After consideration, the Referee Committee of the SFA ruled “that Celtic be asked to refrain from displaying in its park any flag or emblem that had no association with the country or the sport” on match days.

When the full SFA council convened to consider the approval of the committee’s report, Chairman Bob Kelly of Celtic rose to defend the club’s traditions & heritage and to move the rejection of that part dealing with the banning of the flag. It all went down to a final vote, which ironically was Rangers (under John Wilson), and they actually voted for us. Before anyone begins to sense some bonhomie between the clubs, ultimately this was more due to the financial aspect of losing Celtic as an opponent. Rangers needed Celtic financially for matches, and also Rangers were themselves in the dock so kept the focus on Celtic.

However, the council voted to ignore Celtic’s plea — and the battle-lines were drawn. If Celtic continued to fly the Irish flag in defiance of the SFA ruling — and any misconduct by their supporters took place — the club could face a number of unpleasant options: “a fine, or closure of the ground, or suspension or all of those penalties”.

The thought of Celtic being suspended from Scottish football over such a matter was ridiculous, but that genuine threat hung over the club for the remainder of the season. A clique within the SFA, orchestrated primarily by the secretary, George Graham (a bitter Orangeman and Grandmason), continued to press for Celtic to take down the flag and submit to the SFA’s demands. Celtic had taken legal advice on the matter and were confident about the outcome. However, George Graham was not an easy man to tackle and was described (even by his peers and neutrals) as a ‘bigot’.

Ironically, it was Hibernian (itself decked in Irish colours) who were behind George Graham. Hibernian chairman Harry Swan was an “acting” SFA President at a respective meeting on the whole issue and despite what some say, he wasn’t a heavy handed bigot (he even commissioned works from Ireland for Hibs, including commissioning a new Hib’s crest to replace a previous large motif on the entrance that was lost on demolition due to rebuilding of part of the stadium). It’s also taking things too far when some say it was Hibs revenge against Celtic for supposedly bringing them down in the 19th Century (the latter being complete balderdash from Hibernian fans when you look at the facts). Admittedly Swan was a known Freemason but he did enough in his time to indicate that he wasn’t necessarily an arch-bigot. Most probably in this case he was playing power games in the SFA corridors, siding with George Graham in order to stay onside as well as further and enhance his own ambitions in the organisation and with others.

However, Bob Kelly had to contend with considerable pressure from his colleagues on the SFA council. He remained unshaken, and eloquent in the defence of Celtic’s traditions, and it became his finest hour.

So, why was this flag so important to Celtic? The club had been founded by Irishmen and their descendants in the 1880’s, and the flag was flown to recall that association. The particular flag flown at Celtic Park was presented to the club by Eamon De Valera (the first Taioseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland) and his government, and so it was deserving of respect and not something that we should have to lock away. Importantly, this came in the wake of the demise of Belfast Celtic who were forced to closedown in 1949 following a vicious riot that led to the vicious attack on their players which led to the serious injury of one of them. Bigotry from the opposition was at the root of it, and if Celtic were not to follow suit to Belfast Celtic then the club had to make a stand for itself and its history.

The opposition to Celtic’s stance fragmented, and eventually the furore faded away. The threat had been made, pressure applied — but the likelihood of it ever being translated and enforced into action was diminishing in light of Celtic’s resolve and willingness to take the matters through the courts. Financial considerations over lost games played on the other clubs’ minds (pure self-interest of the wallet) and it was defeat for the SFA. For George Graham it was a black eye and Harry Swan ended up having to waddle away with his tail between his legs (the whole episode back-fired on him spectacularly).

The SFA had used the whole issue for their own ham-fisted aims, but they didn’t count on Celtic’s tenacity over the matter, they expected the club to be docile. Why were they aiming at the Irish flag? Rangers’ sectarian policies were being swept under the carpet and the flag issue was being used as a diversion technique. If it was supposedly to dampen down troubles in recent Celtic v Rangers games, then how exactly was the removal of a flag to do this? There was trouble at Ibrox and Hampden Park in previous Celtic v Rangers games and there was no Irish flag flown at either of those stadiums. Maybe they could have flown the Irish flag at Ibrox at the next Celtic v Rangers game to test their theories out.

The entire events illustrate the crude attempts by the authorities to use their own ignorance and bigotry to challenge and blacken the name of our club to mask their own deficiencies.

In retrospect, the matter may now seem to many as if it were ‘a storm in a teacup’, to be recalled for amusement, but at the time it was anything but that (especially in light of events surrounding Belfast Celtic). The Irish issue had social resonance for the time which is for analysis way beyond this summary, and it has been side-lined too often in this debate.

For Celtic, a club founded by members of a disparaged minority, it was a big victory for the Irish community and the club’s sympathisers. The sad irony is that Hibernian (a forerunner of senior football for the Irish community in Scotland) were one of the clubs behind the attempt to suppress Irish symbolism at a fellow club.

Quotes

‘He’ll roast in Hell for what he tried to do to Celtic.’
Desmond White (Celtic Chairman in 70s) on then SFA secretary George Graham

Daily Record, Thursday 5 September 1940…
The flag controversy before the famous flag controversy in the 1950s. How wrong they were as “still the tricolour flies over Paradise, where proudly it’s admired and loved by Irish exiles’ eyes”

And yet more Controversy…… 1972

In an attempt to combat what was seeing as a growing wave of football hooliganism through 1971 and 1972, Celtic were asked by the Glasgow magistrates no less, to consider taking the Irish Tricolour down off the stand because “….. some people found it offensive.”.

Football hooliganism had been on the rise most definetly in the early ’70’s and the authorities had to be seen to be doing something about it.

In particular three events made a noticeable impact on public opinion – Rangers supporters rioting in Barcelona at the end of the 1971-72 European Cup Winners Cup Final in Barcelona – which brought attention of their supporters behaviour to the awareness of all Europe and led to the club being barred from European competition for two years (later reduced to one), Rangers supporters rioting at the start of the 1972-73 season Drybrough Cup and the disturbances between Hibernian and Celtic supporters at the Drybrough Cup Final.

The attempt to tackle hooliganism was piecemeal and full of the tokenism regularly seen from those in power. The failure to connect the outward signs of rioting and misbehaviour with greater social ills – 1972 showed British unemployment at 1.3million, a figure never ever before reached, and Scotland bore a large burden of that figure, rampant inflation and a fall in the standard of living in the face of growing consumerism, as well as the continuing climate of sectarianism and bigotry pertaining to the West of Scotland and extreme tension in Ulster.

Scottish Magistrates came up with a seven point plan which was almost totally impractical and in a side swipe, asked Celtic to considering removing the Tricolour from the Main Stand roof at Celtic Park. Celtic maintained their stance which had been taken in the original reply to the 1952 incident, with Desmond White, the then Celtic Chairman, penning an excellent reply to the magistrates.

The debate and letters are well represented in the two articles shown below from the Evening Times of 22nd August 1972. Rangers objected to the question from one of the magistrates as to why they had failed to sign a Catholic employee.

Links

• The newspaper articles
• Celtic Incidents, Events and Controversies
• Robert Kelly (Chairman)
• Belfast Celtic

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THE SFA AND THE IRISH FLAG AT CELTIC PARK

http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/the-sfa-and-the-irish-flag-at-celtic-park/
By CQN Magazine on 23rd February 2015 Celtic Stories

Irish_Tricolour-IrelandCOMMENT has followed Celtic and the flying of the Irish flag at Parkhead since practically day one of the club’s proud history.

For reasons of historical factual accuracy, CQN Magazine has researched the following feature from a book entitled ‘The Celtic Story’ which was published in 1960 and written by James B Handley. He makes some engrossing points after a crowd disturbance at a Celtic v Rangers match somehow drew the Irish flag into the aftermath of a debate held by Scottish Football rulers. And how Celtic chairman Robert Kelly defiantly stood his ground against the game’s bosses and won.

Here’s how the author saw it in a chapter entitled: ‘The Great Flag Flutter’:

“The traditional New Year’s Day League game between Rangers and Celtic, when alcohol, consumed beforehand or in the park itself, furnishes a low flashpoint for feelings, is not seldom an occasion for violence. One such display of turbulence occurred on 1st January 1952. Bottles were thrown, eleven spectators were arrested, two men were sent too prison and others were fined for their part in a number of incidents that took place in and around Celtic Park. The outcome was that the Glasgow magistrates, after consultation among themselves, invited representatives of the Scottish Football Association and the Scottish League to consider the following proposals:

“1: That the Rangers and Celtic clubs should not again be paired on New Year’s Day, when it was suggested passions were likely to be inflamed by drink and when more bottles were likely to be carried than on any other day.

“2: That on every occasion when those clubs meet admission should be by ticket only and the attendance limited to a number consistent with public safety, the number to be decided by the chief constable.

“3: That in the interests of safety of the public Celtic F.C. should be asked to construct numbered passage-ways in the terracing at each end of Celtic Park.

“4: That the two clubs should avoid displaying flags which might incite feeling among the spectators.”

The chapter continued:

“The Referee Committee of the SFA further instructed the club (Celtic) to refrain from displaying in its park on match days any flag or emblem which had no association with Scotland or the game. In addition, both clubs were ordered to take all possible steps to prevent the flaunting by spectators of provocative flags or emblems and to discourage by all means in their power any display of sectarian sentiments which, the committee felt, were at the root of the disturbances.”

It went on:

“On account of its associations through founders and supporters with Ireland the Celtic club from the beginning had flown over the stand at Parkhead the old Irish flag of a golden harp on a green background. In 1921, when Ireland became the Free State, the new flag of the infant republic was substituted. It might have been the flag of Siam for all the attention that any spectator, supporting home or visiting team, gave to it, and if it had been the flag of Siam the SFA would have paid no attention to it, either. What ruffled the feelings of that body was the fact that it was the flag of Ireland. It would seem that an official of long standing in the SFA was the prime agitator for its removal.

“A picture of the flag flying over the stand appeared the next day on the front pages of the newspapers and at the following Saturday’s game, only three days after the findings of the Referee Committee and before the parent body had ratified them, another picture of it was displayed with the caption: ‘Celtic still haven’t taken down the Eire flag.’

“While expressing dissatisfaction that their recommendation to transfer the New Year game had not been adopted, the Glasgow magistrates endorsed the recommendation of the Referee Committee, as did also the SFA council by twenty-six votes to seven, after first ordering the chairmen of the Celtic and the Rangers football clubs to leave the chamber. The chairman of the Celtic club, seconded by the Rangers chairman, had moved, on the ground that the SFA had no power to make such an order, the rejection of that part of the minutes of the Referee Committee which dealt with the banning of the flag.

“The Referee Committee had based their high-handed action on Article of Association 114, which runs:

“Each club in its membership shall be responsible for the conduct of its spectators on any ground and misbehaviour by supporters during or at close of matches shall render a member liable to fine or closure of ground, or suspension, or all of the penalties.”

“Mr Robert Kelly, the Celtic chairman, opposed the decision on the basis that nothing in the rules of football gave the SFA the authority to impose such a penalty.”

The chapter added: “In supporting Mr Kelly in his assertion that the Eire flag was not the cause for the disturbance (in the 1st January 1952 game) Mr JF Wilson, chairman of Rangers, told the council that the emblem had never been of any annoyance to Rangers. ‘Don’t delude ourselves,’ he added. ‘This flag has nothing to do with the trouble.’”

It went on:

“Celtic, strengthened in their view by council’s opinion, continued to fly the flag. The reaction of the SFA at their meeting on 10th March to what they considered defiance – ‘democratic government against anarchy’ was the phrase used – was first, on the motion of the acting president, Mr HS Swan (Hibernian) to give the club three days to comply or suffer suspension. The motion had a seconder, but it was realised in discussion that if such a motion were carried, and Celtic decided to ignore the instruction, the Scottish League competition for the current season would be interrupted and several clubs would suffer. An amendment therefore that the period of grace be extended until 30th April, when the season officially ended, was carried by sixteen votes to fifteen.”

“Three weeks before the date fixed for the expiry of the ultimatum, the SFA somersaulted on the matter. At their meeting on 7th April they unanimously decided to cancel their order for the time being. The acting chairman of the Referee Committee, who had instructed Celtic to take down the flag, proposed that his decree be suspended until the outcome of a meeting between the Scottish League and the SFA for the purpose of reconsidering the matter. The remarkable feature of the SFA decision was that neither ‘Celtic’ nor ‘flag’ was mentioned by name. ‘Suspension of a club’ was the phrase that was used.’”

The chapter concluded: “A few days before the opening of season 1952-3 a council meeting of the SFA, specially convened by the president, defeated by eighteen votes to twelve a newly-worded motion of the Referee Committee to the effect that the flag should come down. And thus was cancelled what was probably the most ridiculous order ever given in football legislation.”

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Those of you following the debate about what the SFA should do about Hampden Park when the lease is up for renewal in 2020, would have noticed Fergus McCann’s open letter to the Herald newspaper. The former Celtic supremo has always been adamant that pouring over £65m into redeveloping Hampden was a complete waste of time and money. Not only does Scotland possess adequate stadiums to cover internationals, the huge sums spent on the stadium could have rejuvenated the game had it been invested in facilities and coaches for the development of young players. Among the points McCann made was a cutting remark which few missed. He stated…

‘My Hampden memories of events later in life were rather more negative. In charge of Celtic, and having to rent the stadium for the 94/95 season, I had to tolerate the mean-spirited behaviour of Queens Park officials throughout that period. This began with a clause in the lease – a “deal breaker” as their attorney made clear – that forbade “the display of any foreign flag.” Shades of SFA 1952.’

The ‘foreign flag’ referred to wasn’t specifically named but those of us well versed in Scottish football’s ways knew exactly what the ‘mean spirited’ officials of Queen’s Park were getting at; you can hire the stadium but you’re not flying the Irish tricolour above it. The fact that as late as the 1990’s this was an issue for at least some officials of Queen’s Park is a little depressing but as the Farry-McCann affair demonstrated, there were still lingering suspicions of people’s motivations even then. The modern Queen’s Park board wouldn’t be drawn into a debate and merely said that their records of the time differ from Mr McCann’s. It is unlikely though that Fergus McCann would invent such a detail. The straight talking former Chairman was never one to shirk a fight or fail to notice any slights against himself or Celtic. His alluding to ‘shades of 1952’ is interesting as he clearly feels the motivation for the ‘no foreign flags’ clause was similar to that of those who demanded the removal of the tricolour from Celtic Park over 40 years earlier.

Celtic met Rangers at Celtic Park on New Year’s Day 1952 and by all accounts had played poorly, losing 4-1. The usual amount of drunkenness led to some less cerebral home fans making their displeasure known by throwing bottles and the Police waded in with batons flailing to make arrests. The trouble made waves in the press and the SFA reacted to suggestions from Glasgow Magistrates to consider the following courses of action…

Celtic and Rangers should not meet on New Year’s Day again due to increased drunkenness at that time of year.Matches between them should be all ticket with a crowd limit set by the Police.Celtic should in the interests of safety number passageways at Celtic Park.The two clubs should avoid displaying flags which might incite feelings among the spectators.

The Referee Committee of the SFA met to consider the Magistrates recommendations and following a 26-7 vote ordered Celtic to stop displaying at the ground any ‘flag or emblem which had no association with football or Scotland.’ The implication was clear; the SFA wanted Celtic to remove the Irish flag they flew to honour the club’s founders. No mention was made of the fact that Rangers, one of the most important member clubs of the association, was excluding players from its team on the grounds of their religion. Celtic were having none of it and Bob Kelly, a stubborn man of principle in the McCann mould dug in his heels knowing that Celtic had not broken any rules of the SFA. At Celtic’s next home game the Irish flag flew in its usual place prompting one newspaper to state ‘They are still flying the Eire flag!’

 

Kelly was supported in his stance by Rangers Chairman John F Wilson, a gesture he appreciated. Indeed Mr Wilson told the council that the emblem had never been of any annoyance to Rangers. ‘Don’t delude ourselves,’ he added. ‘This flag has nothing to do with the trouble.’ In time the SFA realised the absurdity of threatening to suspend Celtic from the game over the issue particularly as they found it impossible to demonstrate any rule the club had broken. They appealed to Kelly to be a ‘bigger man’ and take down the flag. The Herald newspaper sensing that the SFA had overstepped the mark stated at the time…

‘Kelly was asked to realize that the matter was no longer one of just taking down the flag; it was a matter of Celtic defying the instructions of the council. He was told that if he would only make the gesture of taking the flag down even without prejudicing further discussions everyone would be happy. ‘You’ll be the biggest man in football’ Mr Kelly was told ‘You’ll establish a reputation never possessed by anyone in football if you’ll only take the flag down.’ Perhaps Mr Kelly did not wish to be the biggest man in football or perhaps he wanted to maintain his reputation for adhering to his principles. There can be no doubt that he struck his shrewdest blow when he stated that suspension could only follow a broken rule. No one had proved Celtic had broken any rules.’

 

The SFA were clearing struggling to save face and realised that Kelly was right. Hibs Chairman Harry Swan is still thought of unkindly by older Celtic supporters over his role in this episode but real driving force was SFA Secretary George Graham, a man with no love of Celtic and all they represented. This whole episode, coming as it did just three years after Belfast Celtic exited football following the brutal assault on their players in a match against Linfield was symptomatic of the times. 1950’s Scotland was a stuffy, conservative place where everyone was expected to know their place. The uppity Irish in Glasgow’s east end had founded a club which rose to be among the finest in the land and there were at least some who wished Celtic didn’t exist.

The season following the ‘flag flutter’ saw Celtic face Rangers at Celtic Park with the eyes of the press on the lookout for any trouble. There was a minute’s silence before the match to remember a young Celtic player called John Millsop who had tragically died. Gerry McNee states in his book ‘The Story of Celtic’

‘During a one minute silence there were howls of profanity about the Pope and blasphemous demands for the game to begin emanating from the Rangers end of the ground.’

Such ignorance has little to do with a flag hanging at the opposite end of the ground but is rather the product of prevailing social attitudes of the time among a fair percentage of people in Scotland’s industrial heartlands. Scotland is a much changed land since those far off times when a flag could lead to the SFA threatening to expel a club from the association. Celtic’s Bob Kelly stuck to his principles and was vindicated. He is often portrayed as a man who meddled in team affairs to the extent of telling Manager McGrory who to play in games but there is no doubting his love for Celtic and his steely determination to fight the club’s corner.

Of course flags can still annoy or even antagonise some. It’s not unusual for some to make their feelings known about Celtic supporters continuing display of the Irish tricolour but for most it has become empty rhetoric. The Irish dimension of Celtic is woven into the club’s history and will never be undone. The club mirrors the community which founded and sustains it and now stands proudly as the premier Scottish football club and if some ‘mean spirited’ individuals find that hard to stomach then that’s just tough because it isn’t about to change any time soon.

As for the flag of Ireland, it still flies over Celtic Park with the flags of many other nations. The press of 1952 may have screeched, ‘They are still flying the Eire flag!’It’s flying there still and that isn’t likely to change either, nor should it.

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