The Celtic Badge Men
In the older days (up to the 2000’s), badges were a big thing and much collected by devotees. You used to even get guys walking around the terraces at Celtic Park selling them to interested supporters.
Still very much to the fore, some avid collectors have made a life from it, as for example Roddy MacKay who dubs himself “The Badgeman“.
There is even a website dedicated to Celtic badges by an avid follower, which cover supporters clubs, historical events at Celtic, major victories, humour and other elements from our club’s culture (see: Celtic Badges).
Roddy MacKay from South Uist
A very popular character, Roddy has dubbed himself as “The Badgeman“.
He has been around Europe following Celtic with his jacket decorated from top to bottom in the badges. Easily noticed, he is approachable and adds colour to the travelling support. He has also been interviewed at Celtic, and is easily recognised by all the support. There is a long life to go for that jacket, and we hope a little more room for even more badges.
He is best known as a presenter of BBC Gaelic language TV shows. He was also the man in a Setanta Sports channel advert pushing the couch to Celtic Park.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/The_Badgeman
Roddy has Celtic flowing through his veins and apart from naming his son after the whole Celtic side that played the day he was born, he has also immortalised Celtic on his body with a tattoo that covers his whole back and took an incredible 52 hours to complete.
Roddy was also the man responsible for one of the most iconic Celtic banners in recent times.
The Jock Stein – Is It Cold In His Shadow banner which was first unfurled at Ibrox was the creation of Badgeman who designed the banner and sold t-shirts with the help of www.celticminded.com to raise the necessary funds to have the banner made. That day 45000 rangers fans stopped chanting their vile slur in unison as it was unveiled and Badgeman counts that as one of the happiest days of his life as a Celtic fan. He was also involved in the Justice For The 96 and Miklos Feher banners which he handed over to the Liverpool fans and Benfica FC.
Unfortunately a few rival fans took exception to the Jock Stein banner and Badgeman and his family were the victims of sustained attacks and he ended up in hospital. He now rarely gets to games as he suffers from permanent nerve damage but remains upbeat and to this day states he wouldn’t change anything, he would do it all again in a heartbeat, as long as his family was safe.
If you see Roddy at a game don’t hesitate to say Hail Hail where you will be greeted with a smile. This is one man who eats, sleeps and breathes the football club.
from his bebo page:
http://skin.bebo.com/PleaseSignIn.jsp?Page=c/home/index&popup=0
