By then I knew I was emigrating to New Zealand so I started a special bank account in order to have money to fly home if and when Celtic reached another European Cup Final. The account was closed about 10 years later.
I now realise that it is very unlikely Celtic will be Champions of Europe again but I am glad to say I feel a lot more comfortable celebrating Lisbon again. It has certainly given me pleasure and even some brief and very restricted fame over the years. Even in this remote part of the world.
Around the time of the 40th Anniversary I was asked to do a brief account of the occasion for a local Auckland radio station. Having been in Lisbon on that glorious day somehow seems to lift my status in the eyes of some people.
A few years ago I was still involved with the NZCSC football team. My own playing days were well over but I had the position of kit manager so I could still enjoy the dressing room banter. By then the makeup of the side was more mixed and not everyone was an ex- pat Scot or Irishman.
We had a young Kiwi lad, Brendan Boyce, from the Waikato who was playing with us while studying theology in Auckland. He knew of Celtic through his Irish grandfather. Unlike the majority of the team he was a quiet boy who only drank an occasional lager. At an end of season at a team do in the Claddagh Bar I was talking to a couple of lads at the bar when it was mentioned I had been in Lisbon.
Brendan, who had been sitting quietly a bit away from us heard this remark above the hubbub of pub noise and was on his feet and at the bar in a split second knocking past people in a most uncharacteristic fashion. “You were there?” he asked in an almost reverent tone. “Tell me what it was like”. He had heard stories of this great occasion and now was meeting someone who was there.
In May 2005 (in fact the Monday after “that” Sunday at Fir Park) my wife, Christine and I enrolled in an evening class. We thought we would expand our knowledge by getting out and learning Irish. Our tutor was Seamus Kenny a North Dublin man about the same age as myself and as I discovered from his saddened look that evening a bit of a Celtic fan. His teaching methods were not as orthodox as others and one class was held in the Clare Inn, a local pub where some of the staff spoke Irish. The idea was that we would spend the night conversing in Gaeilge.
After a couple of pints though the format changed to a more relaxed mix of English and Irish. Somehow we got onto dates. Everyone mentioned their “Kennedy moment’ of remembering where they were at a famous event in history. Seamus who by now knew I was a Celtic fan said he was sure I would remember the date 25 May 1967. “ Of course I do – I was in Lisbon” Again the reaction was startling – He got up out of his seat, mouth open, shook my hand to the amazement of the rest of the class to whom the date would have meant nothing and shouted over to the bar- “ get this man a pint!”
In my years in New Zealand I have met a few older Celtic fans who had emigrated down under decades before I did. For most of them the European Cup Final was simply a line in the New Zealand Herald Sports results that read Celtic 2 – Inter Milan 1. In early January 2017 I was at an 80th Birthday Party. The Birthday Bhoy was Tony McVey originally brought up like myself in Baillieston but had immigrated to New Zealand in the early 1950’s.
Despite the distance his children, and grandchildren are Celtic fans. He was lucky in that about six months after the actual game he and his family got a reel of film with highlights of the match on it. At that party I could simply say I was going to Lisbon in May and say no more as everyone knew what I was talking about.
Obviously my own children have realised the importance of Lisbon and all three of them have made the journey to Celtic Park (indeed my daughter Nichola has even been to Lisbon!) The boys, Stephen and Sean are regular watchers of Celtic games despite the time difference problems and know the names of the Lisbon Lions as well as they do present day players.
Over the years I have been fortunate enough to meet the majority of the Lions and I regularly contact a couple of them every time I am back in Scotland. For someone of my era one of the greatest thrills I had was in 2000 sitting in the home dressing room at Celtic Park one Thursday afternoon sharing tea and biscuits with Billy McNeill and John Clark and listening to their recollections of great European games. On another trip some years later I was accompanied by my youngest son Sean who was delighted to meet the first ever Scotsman to hold the European Cup and receive a special limited edition Lisbon Lions portrait signed by Cesar himself.
So every year when 25th May comes around I allow myself a few moments to recall all the feelings of that day now so long ago. And I remember those words of Mick Boyle about being an old man and being able to say “I was there!” The day I went off to Lisbon, in the green.
Mike Maher
25th May 1967, the greatest day in Celtic's history. 🍀
Celtic beat Inter Milan 2:1 in Lisbon to win the European Cup!
Gemmell and Chalmers with the goals. pic.twitter.com/8cO9z6Y9UO
— Li'l Ze (@LilZe_7) May 24, 2021
Thank you, Mike. “I was there” also and have thoroughly enjoyed reading your articles.
Thanks Mike, for a wonderful read.
As a 15 year old, I was too young to go but reading stories like yours brings a lot of the magic surrounding the game to we ‘stay at home’ fans.
I also love the exploits of the guys who drove or hitched all the way to Lisbon.
Your diary of the ’66-’67 season was great too and reminded me of the path I took in following Celtic when I was a few years older.
Cheers, TamDoc.