Walfrid as the leading founder

Brother Walfrid was the organiser who took all the important steps which preceded founding the club. He started the penny dinner scheme within the Poor Children’s Dinner and Breakfast Tables.

He arranged the charity football matches when demand became an issue and he brought all the characters necessary to form a successful Irish football club together. His work, with Dorotheus’ help, demonstrated to others that they had the capabilities to produce an Irish football club which could not only be the stand-out one of its kind in Glasgow, but that it could also raise significant funds to ease the poverty within their local community.

During preliminary meetings to establish Celtic, Walfrid had proposed that the focus of the fundraising should be on three Catholic parishes in the East End of the city. Almost all of the founding fathers had connections in these communities and, after discussion, the churches would be on board following one parish withdrawing from the project. This is reflected in the club’s first circular:

The main objective of the Celtic Football Club is to supply the East End conferences of the St Vincent De Paul Society with funds for the maintenance of the “Dinner Tables” of our needy children in the missions of St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart and St. Michaels. Many cases of sheer poverty are left unaided through lack of means. It is therefore with this principle object that we have set afloat the “Celtic”, and we invite you as one of our ever-ready friends to assist in putting our new park in proper working order the coming football season. 

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