On a trip to Boston in 1999 I was amazed to see how much Celtic still consumed so many lives so far away from Glasgow. My girlfriend and I were over visiting family in the Boston area doing all the usual touristy things.
We made our way to a bar in South Boston along with my cousin and we got talking with the barman, with Boston being a sport mad city our conversation moved quickly to the clubs in our native cities. The bar was fairly quiet at the time, so it was good to chat and share our passion for our local heroes trading stories of past victories and glorious failures.
A few days later we were all back in the same bar, the only difference was it was an early morning start with live coverage of the Celtic v Hibs match from Easter Road.
The bar was much busier and just about everyone was decked in green & white hoops. What struck me was the range of different ages in the bar, from young kids to grandparents and everything in between.
I was struggling with a hangover from our night on the town the previous night, but it gave me a great chance to hear some of the stories of the fans from Boston. Some of them had moved from Glasgow many years ago and missed getting to the matches on regular basis, while others had never been to Celtic Park but had grown smitten with the club from stories shared from older family members or pub regulars.
As a fan based in Glasgow you sometimes take it for granted waking up on match day and making your way to the ground to cheer on the team. You don’t realise the commitment of the fans based around the world waking at all hours of the day to watch the Celtic match live.
The visit was topped off with a 2-0 victory for Celtic, with 2 goals from Mark Viduka. It was great experience to be part of the local Celtic Boston Supporters Club for the day and although we were a long way from home – we felt very much part of the family.
Martin Donaldson
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