Yesterday, a new documentary about football fans was announced by Al Jazeera. Telling the story behind six iconic supports, the series heavily focuses on the Celtic faithful and pays special attention to fans located in Belfast.
READ: Al Jazeera to Broadcast Documentary on Celtic Supporters later this month
Veteran filmmaker Jamie Doran, who put the documentary together, wrote a promotional article on the topic for Belfast Media. One particular paragraph appears to have caught the eye and it certainly shows why Celtic Football Club means so much to supporters based in the north eastern constituent on the island of Ireland:
“I had been unaware that it was illegal for decades to fly the Irish tricolor in the North. To assert that part of their identity, nationalists had to travel to Glasgow, to Celtic Park, where they found freedom to express their Irishness.”
“I had been unaware that it was illegal for decades to fly the Irish tricolor in the North. To assert that part of their identity, nationalists had to travel to Glasgow, to Celtic Park, where they found freedom to express their Irishness”
A good read about Irish Celtic fans 🇮🇪🍀— GAEL (@GAELDesignShop) February 11, 2021
Having seen the intrigued reaction to that comment, I felt that it may be of interest for readers to discover a little more about the history behind the statement. To further contextualise how much Celtic can mean to people beyond the field of play, I will need to dip in and out of politics, so forgive me for doing so.
The Flags and Emblems Act:
The ban on the Irish tricolour being flown in six of Ireland’s British ruled counties was imposed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland, as part of the Flags and Emblems Act, in 1954. The Act didn’t explicitly name the tricolour as being prohibited, but Nationalists strongly opposed the legislation as it was obvious to them that it would be used for this purpose. Indeed, that’s exactly how things turned out as the 97% Unionist Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were instructed to “remove any flag or emblem from public or private property which was considered to be likely to cause a breach of the peace.”
As ever, in the discriminatory state that Northern Ireland was prior to reforms being made within the Good Friday Agreement (1998), Irish identity was heavily suppressed by a sectarian police force and the RUC set about their task by denying expression of it. To further justify Nationalist suspicion, the Flags and Emblems Act legally exempted the Union Flag from ever being considered a breach of the peace. Consequentially, the tricolour was almost exclusively singled out as an issue by the authorities. Meanwhile, the wearing of an Easter Lilly to honour Ireland’s patriot dead, or the sale of Irish publications and literature, were also frowned upon and often opposed. That said, the national flag was often seen flying at Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) grounds, where some sort of unofficial exemption was allowed for a certain period.
Violations of the Flags and Emblems Act were punishable by a fine of up to £500 or up to five years in prison.
The enforcement of the Act, which followed the Special Powers Act (1922), caused a lot of tension. A great majority of historians believe that Northern Ireland was an unambiguously sectarian state from its formation in 1921 until the establishment of the peace process in 1998. Alongside the marginalisation of Irish flags and symbols, severe discrimination within housing, employment, policing and electoral representation all combined to ensure that the next generation would no longer accept second class citizenship. To provide some context to that attitude, there was a time when 27,000 people occupied houses in Belfast that were considered unfit for human habitation, male unemployment reached 50% in West Belfast estates like Ballymurphy and figures in Enniskillen showed that Unionists were being allocated public housing at the rate of 11 to 1 over Catholics, who made up half of the population.
Inspired by Martin Luther King and the civil rights campaign that swept across America, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was formed and several protest marches took place. However, those events and the subsequent escalation of the political situation are best suited to another publication. Instead, I intend to focus this article on the criminalisation of the tricolour, which relates to Celtic fans, by moving on to detail an infamous event surrounding that theme .
The Tricolour Riots:
I mentioned earlier that the Flags and Emblems Act caused tensions to rise. Occasionally, those tensions spilled over and lead to rioting. Most notoriously of all, an event simply known as “The Tricolour Riots” took place during the UK General Election of 1964.
The violence happened on the lower Falls Road in Belfast, due to a sequence of partisan events.
In September that year, the British government called a Westminster general election for the following month. Sinn Fein were a proscribed organisation at the time and so they stood under the name of The Republican Party for election purposes. On 6 September, Republican Party members placed a tricolour in the front window of their election headquarters at 145 Divis Street.
On 26 September, the News Letter ran a headline which read: “The Dollars Roll In – ‘Plenty’ in Sinn Fein election coffers.” Two days later, the front page of the same newspaper stated: “Paisley to march against Tricolour.”
Ian Paisley, Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church, called upon Protestants to assemble in their thousands at Belfast City Hall that evening to march on Divis Street. It was a call that sent a chill through the Nationalist community, which had been subject to Loyalist and police incursions in previous decades.
The RUC told the Minister of Home Affairs that it regarded the display of the tricolour and Paisley’s proposed protest as “provocative acts.” This position was held despite the fact that the flag had been in the window for three weeks without a complaint being made. Nevertheless, the Minister met Paisley and the Unionist leader agreed to call off the march but not the rally. Later that day, 50 RUC officers, using pickaxes and crowbars, smashed their way into the Republican Party offices, seized the tricolour, put it into a patrol car and drove off at high speed. A stunned crowd of several hundred local Nationalists looked on.
A notice was served under the Flags and Emblems Act, which referred to the “illegal display of the tricolour flag or flags of the Irish Republic, or any other flag, or anything purporting to represent the Irish Republic.” In response, Belfast Nationalists demanded that a new flag be displayed, so as to confront the intimidation being meted out because of their identity or for wanting to have a voice in the political spectrum. In an attempt to dissipate the tension, the election directorate told the RUC that if the flag wasn’t returned a few days later (the following Thursday) then it would be replaced.
By the next Monday night, Ian Paisley held a further rally in Belfast City Hall, where he welcomed Unionist candidate James Kilfedder to speak to the crowd. Kilfedder said: “The republicans must not be allowed to fly the tricolour, and when the last vote is counted on polling day we must show the world that there was no wavering in the determination of the people to keep the Union Jack flying over West Belfast.”
In Ballynahinch, Northern Ireland’s Prime Minister Terence O’Neill, surrounded by members of the Apprentice Boys, the Black Preceptory and six Orange bands, commented on the seizure of the Irish tricolour. He declared that Sinn Fein was the main challenge and described The Republican Party as “nothing more than modern anarchists who refuse even now to abjure the discredited policy of violence.” Bizarrely, O’Neill ignored the fact that the only threat of violence had come from Ian Paisley, and the only violent act had been conducted by the RUC – under government instruction.
24 hours later, Paisley held another rally at the City Hall and poured fuel onto the fire by calling upon the Prime Minister to prosecute those responsible for displaying the Irish flag. Meanwhile, at Divis Street, there was a stand-off between a large Nationalist crowd and riot police. Needless to say, tensions were starting to rise in a way that hadn’t been seen since the early years of the Northern Ireland state.
Apprehension continued on the Wednesday night, when there were more scuffles, followed by RUC baton charges and stone throwing.
The day of destiny then arrived with no sign of the flag being returned, thus, after lodging their nomination papers, the Republican candidates returned to their election headquarters and once again placed a tricolour in the window to the hearty cheers of supporters. Things then escalated as a band of RUC officers arrived. After failing to break down the reinforced door, they simply smashed the pane-glass window, stepped inside and seized the flag once more.
Fighting immediately broke out in response to that action and by the evening rioting was widespread throughout Divis Street and the Falls Road. This reaction continued for the next two nights. Hundreds of people were injured in the violence and many, including a mother of eight children, were arrested, before being imprisoned for six months.
Calm was eventually restored and the tricolour was never replaced in the window of 145 Divis Street. The event may sound trivial, but it was little to do with the simple material being on display. It was more about the deeper symbolism. In saying that, I am not condoning violence or rioting; it is just important to note that the palpable anger felt at that time was because of the state rejecting Irish identity and discriminating against people of that ethnic background or national mindset.
The impact of travelling to Celtic Park:
The Flags and Emblems Act was eventually repealed in 1987, 15 years after direct rule by the British government was introduced. Therefore, there was a period of over 30 years when Irish people in Counties Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone were unable to freely enjoy Irish expression. Travelling to Celtic Park would have provided the opportunity for Celtic fans from those places to obtain a welcome relief. Within the stadium they could enjoy the sound of Irish songs being sung by fellow supporters and tunes such as the Holy Ground being played over the tannoy. Above the Jungle, an Irish tricolour, gifted to the club by Eammon De Valera, rippled in the wind.
It must have been a great respite to be at Paradise in those times. Supporting Celtic could be said to have been a celebration of who they were. Alongside their passion for the game itself, Celtic transcended football and continues to do so today. At least for many people and for many different reasons.
