Doha CSC…
Doha CSC started in 2012 when a Facebook and Twitter account were set up to get people together. There were about 12 people who turned up to the first get-together in the Irish Harp inside The Sheraton Hotel on 2nd October, 2012, after the 3-2 away win against Spartak Moscow in the CL group stage, and they decided they needed to meet for every game to keep this good run going.
They met at Garvey’s for the ‘Tony Watt Barcelona’ game. They were in Stevie Ward’s house and Admiral’s Club for the first leg of the Juventus last 16 game, where they broke the Qatari record for swearing at a TV!
At that game, they joined up with another group that a well-known local Celtic fan, Brian Ferguson, had been gathering at the same time. They had at least 40 at that game, which was their biggest turnout at the time. Sadly, Brian passed away in 2022 and is missed by all at the CSC. They floated abound a few venues before settling on The Shamrock in the Magnum Hotel, West Bay, Doha, around 2019.
The club got a bit of Internet fame back in 2015 when they would do a tweet like the supporters club notices you would get in the Evening Times on a Friday night, noting the pick-up times at various stops.
It read, ‘Bus to Qarabag game sorted. Just up the road. Leaving from the usual spots Tuesday, August 4th, pick-ups at Al Waab Vaults 11.23, Salwa Road Ladbrokes 11.53, and Burban 12.04. Non-members welcome. Bring cans. Plenty of cans.’
They published a photo of the route.
Somebody on Twitter asked why they were avoiding war-torn Iraq, and they replied, ‘We are barred from Iraq due to a pee stop incident on the way back from the Karagandy game in Kazakhstan in 2013. Got to avoid now.’
A few days later, it turns out the ban from Iraq had made headlines—well, one headline, the ever-reliable Daily Record, which took the spoof post as gospel.
Being in Qatar, listing pick-ups at ‘Al Waab Vaults, the Salwa Road Ladbrokes, and Burnbank and bringing cans,’ it should have been obvious it was a spoof. Or that those pick-ups were for a 29-hour bus journey going 2609km through various troublesome Middle Eastern countries.
Or that whoever was the Iraqi government in 2013 had time to enforce a ban on their bus for a pee stop!
Or that the pee stop incident was on a mountainous 5000km trip back from the Karagandy game.
It was not long before the Daily Record removed all trace of the story. The bus broke down during pick-ups outside William Hill on Al Sadd Road and went to Baku by plane, a very straight-forward 2 hour, 45 minute flight for a nervy 0-0 to see Ronny Deila’s Celtic team go through to the next round.
At the time of writing, they are still banned from Iraq.
Just received the history of Doha CSC and they mentioned their spoof ban in 2015 from going through Iraq for a pee stop when they kidded on they were running a bus a bus to Qarabag, leaving from outside Ladbrokes in Salwa Rd, which the Daily Record reported as true😀 #bringcans pic.twitter.com/npDOZFthU2
— Celticbars (@celticbars) August 12, 2023
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.
On Tuesday The Celtic Star was at Celtic Park alongside David McIntyre from Celtic Bars as Celtic began a new approach, looking to engage with the club’s supporters and the various activities, events and undertakings that go on in and around the Celtic support on an ongoing basis.
Recognising the work done over two decades by Davy from Celtic Bars in assisting Celtic supporters reach out to fellow fans and get together all over the world to watch the team play, is a great place to start.
That’s why The Celtic Star was happy to advise and assist Davy to get Football Without Fans brought together and published, using our own book publishing experience to benefit the project which we’re delighted to report has been an overwhelming success so far.
Here’s the video on Celtic TV’s You Tube channel which has had 1500 views and rising. You can order a copy in print or kindle from Amazon regardless of where you are in the world. Order your copy HERE.
📗 David McIntyre of @celticbars has compiled a book telling the story of over 400 Celtic Supporters Clubs across the world. Here, he tells Gerry McCulloch about the idea behind the book and the labour of love it took over a nineteen month period to completion. pic.twitter.com/UfsocEKOmh
— Celtic TV (@CelticTV) December 19, 2023
