Football Without Fans – Eddie Duffy No.1 CSC

Eddie Duffy No.1 CSC

Founded in 1987 by Tam McAllister, Frank Keenan, Gerry Carlin, Craig Carlin, and Jim Begley. The CSC was created to have a club run out of the Milton area in North Glasgow. They started off as Frank McAvennie No.1 CSC, then changed to Milton No.1 CSC in 1989. It was changed again to Eddie Duffy No.1 in 2006 following the sudden death of long-time member Eddie Duffy.

They originally ran out of The Lion Hotel in Milton, then moved to the Brigg’s Bar in Bishopbriggs in 1993. They later moved to The Manor in 1996, then to Quins at Bishopbriggs Cross in 1999. Lastly, they relocated to The Crow for the start of the 2015/16 season, where they presently reside.

They run a bus to most domestic games. For the club’s 25th anniversary dinner in 2012, they had Frank McAvennie as the guest of honour at the Kerrydale Suite. In late 2016, Bertie Auld visited The Crow for an event to promote The Lions Road film commemorating, ‘Jinky,’ the Hillman Imp’s journey to Lisbon in 1967.

All the guys involved in the production of the film are from the Bishopbriggs area. Standout European trips would be Lazio in November 2019, where, as well as most of their members going, they also took along as their guests, a contingent of their friends from Rio de Janeiro, in particular Humberto Souza, the ‘King of the Do Galo Favela.’ Throughout the club’s history, they have annually donated to various causes, including St Margaret of Scotland Hospice. Most recently, they donated £500 to a food bank in Milton.

In March 2018, several members of the club went to Rio de Janeiro for St Patrick’s Day. Before going, they hooked up with the Rio Fergus McCann CSC to arrange to watch the games while they were over. On their second night over there and before meeting the Rio CSC, the guys were approached outside a bar by Humberto Souza, who recognised the Celtic badge on the top that one of the guys was wearing.

Speaking no English and them speaking no Portuguese (and half scooped) the conversation was limited; however, it became clear that Humberto had a clear connection with the club. After a few minutes of looking at his phone, he showed them pictures of him with his Favela’s football team, all in Celtic tops. It turned out that his Favela had been donated strips by the Celtic Foundation a few years before.

Rei feeding “his people” in Cantagalo favela yesterday. Rei is a longtime Celtic fan and well known to RFMCSC and the wonderful Eddie Duffy CSC.
Rei also runs Cantagalo Celtic supporter by Eddie Duffy and ourselves. 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/9SSKHpgw1H

— Rio Fergus McCann CSC (@rfmcsc) January 14, 2023

One thing led to another, and they ended up spending the rest of the trip with Humberto (including a very humbling tour of the favela) before donating toiletries and other items to him for the poor people in the favela before they left. Following on from this, they had a race night to raise £5K and invited Humberto (and a few of his Brazilian English-speaking friends) over to Glasgow at the start of the 2018/19 season. They hooked up with the Foundation guys and John Paul Taylor for the full stadium experience. This was Humberto’s first time outside of Brazil. They revisited Rio the following spring, and since then they have regularly sent money and strips over to Humberto’s Favela.

Some more folk who’ve had a Christmas delivery. Again, thanks to those who support us (especially the generous Eddie Duffy CSC). https://t.co/ot1t9OoWTJ pic.twitter.com/JYJxUj6Tm7

— Rio Fergus McCann CSC (@rfmcsc) December 26, 2021

The CSC once appeared on Soccer AM in November 2009. Eight of them went down to London for that, which was as memorable for Sky Sports as it was for them. The following excerpts are the words of Gerry O’Donnell, who was on the show.

“One of the guys had been pestering Sky Sports for years to get on Soccer AM. Finally, we got the nod in November 2009. We would be on the weekend after a Rangers supporter’s bus was on. Our main aim was therefore to beat them in the car park challenge game at the end of the show.

“We were even practising kicking a ball through a hole in a school fence for a few nights, but despite this, we unfortunately failed. Half the guys went down on the train on Friday lunchtime; the other 4 were coming back from the Hamburg game, so they were already tontoed. We drank all night in the hotel bar but were then up at 5:30 a.m. to be at the studio at 6 a.m.

“We were all absolutely hanging. We got breakfast, were introduced to the presenters, and were advised of the show format. Helen Chamberlain was superb. She made it quite clear that she had little time for the previous week’s visitors, so that went down well. However, from early on, Sky Sports made it clear that we would all need to wear poppies (with it being Remembrance Sunday the next day.) We all refused.

“On a further two occasions throughout the course of the morning, we were taken into meeting rooms with Sky Sports producers who were pleading with us to wear poppies. At the last meeting, they said, ‘Well, could even one of you wear a poppy?’ and that is what happened. We also all wore our own club pin badges.

“The show then started, and after the first commercial break, the floor manager advised us that we were trending on social media, with the Rangers fans raging at us for not wearing poppies but also some Celtic fans raging that one of us wore a poppy.

“This continued throughout the show. Rangers fans were also contacting Sky, asking them what the pin badge was that we were wearing and if there was anything controversial about it. At the end of the show, we were quickly whisked back off to Euston and headed back up the road later that afternoon. It was a great laugh, and other than ‘Poppygate.’ Sky Sports had no issues with us, but we were all left in no doubt that neither we nor Rangers would be invited back on Soccer AM anytime soon, especially in early November!”

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. Watch the video in the Celtic World tweet below for some amazing facts on the Celtic support around the world.

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.