Dublin No.1 CSC…

Founded in August 1967 in Rosses Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, the founding members were John Preen (Treasurer), Councillor Sean O’Brien (Chairman), Hugh Monahan (Secretary), Eamon Curley, Sean Kerr (Vice Chairman), and Thomas Stewart (Travel Convenor).

They met once more at Rosses Hotel, then transferred meetings to the Central Hotel in Exchequer Street, where they held meetings and sometimes also social nights. They later moved to the Theatre Bar in Talbot Street, where they met for several years. They also had meetings in the Smith’s Hotel in Amiens Street, Father Matthews Hall, and a few other venues over the years.

They travelled to Glasgow for matches by air, bus, and ferry for their first trip, where they were hosted by the CSA in London Road with a fried breakfast. On their first chartered flight to a Celtic vs. Rangers game, the pilot announced the flight was being diverted from Renfrew to Prestwick. He later said they were going back to Renfrew, and when they landed, they would be disembarking via the chutes. They later found out that someone from Glasgow had called to say there was a bomb onboard.

They had many trips on the Larne ferry and had many encounters with Rangers fans who tried to intimidate them. On one occasion, a Rangers fan who looked and sounded like the double of Ian Paisley and one of their members, Charlie, who was an ex-marine, wanted to throw him overboard. They had to hold him back. On another occasion, there had been trouble on the boat, but none of their members were involved.

After the boat landed, their secretary, Hugh Monahan, was interviewed by the police, who asked if he would go to court as a witness, which he did. They also travelled by ferry and bus from Liverpool to Glasgow. Around 1969, they chartered an aircraft from Aer Lingus. Thomas Stewart had to go out to the airport and pay a deposit, then collect the balance of the fares from the members, and then go back to the airport to pay the balance.

They had several flights that year, including Benfica, Fiorentina, and the semi-final against Leeds United. At this stage, they had so many members that they moved their meeting to Father Matthews Hall. They had over 200 people attending meetings at that stage. The request for fights and tickets was great, and Hugh Monahan mentioned to Thomas that Frank McKenna of Atlas Travel was a keen Celtic supporter, so he went to see him, and he agreed to organise flights for the club.

As a result, they had two aircrafts in full flight to Glasgow: a Boeing 707 and another jet, the 707, which was the first time one had landed at Glasgow Airport. They then had a charter fight to the final in Milan.

Every year from 1968, they ran a dinner dance and their invited guests of honour included Jock Stein and his wife Jean, Billy McNeill, Bobby Lennox, Danny McGrain, Kenny Dalglish and his wife Marina, who were recently married, Davie Hay, Peter Latchford, Sean Fallon, Packie Bonner, Charlie Nicholas, Frank McAvennie, and Tommy Burns.

At each dance, they donated £1000 to Little Willie’s Hospital in Baldoyle, which has been their charity since the beginning of their club. They raised the money by selling pool tickets, which were run by Tony Jones and later by Brian Gunning. They also organised Christmas parties for the children at Little Willie’s, giving each child a present from Santa.

On one occasion, Celtic visited the hospital, and after visiting one of the wards that had awfully bad cases, John Hughes came out in tears. On one occasion, they took Martin Knocton, who was in a wheelchair, to Glasgow for a game. Billy McNeill took him out to the centre circle before the match. They also started a football team at the hospital for the kids who were fit enough. They would play other disabled kids’ teams. On one visit with the team, they stopped at the Fairways Hotel in Dundalk and were joined by Pat Jennings and Luke Kelly of The Dubliners.

The kids had a wonderful time that day.

David McIntyre – CelticBars.com

An extract from Football Without Fans – The History of Celtic Supporters Clubs by David McIntyre ( Celtic Bars). Football Without Fans – The History of Celtic Supporters Clubs is out now and available in print and kindle versions HERE.

More from Football Without Fans tomorrow on The Celtic Star, the Celtic supporters website. Will it be your CSC that’s featured?

Just before Christmas, David McIntyre from Celtic Bars was interviewed by Celtic TV about his Football Without Fans book. Here’s the video on Celtic TV’s You Tube channel . You can order a copy in print or kindle from Amazon regardless of where you are in the world. Order your copy HERE.