After that I headed home for a quick, much needed shower and a post–match fry up! Soon I was on the bus heading to the RSA. On the way I felt a curious mixture of sadness and happiness. Sad that we had lost a European Final and would likely end the season with no trophies at all. Yet happiness at what the NZCSC had achieved and seeing so many Celtic fans in New Zealand having the chance to enjoy watching their team in such a big occasion.
Any remaining sadness vanished as I walked in the door of the RSA Club. It was more like Gallowgate, Glasgow than Newmarket, Auckland. The place was full of fans bedecked in green and white. The background music was that mixture of football songs and Irish ballads that have featured on Celtic buses and in Celtic pubs for decades. Someone had draped, in a not too irreverent manner, a large tricolour around the portrait of the Queen!
It was great to spend an afternoon in that atmosphere. I bumped into two of the NZCSC’s founder members, Des King and Ants McVey. Des had been born in Scotland but had come to New Zealand at a young age. Ants was a Kiwi by birth and had never even been to Scotland but like the whole McVey family had inherited a passion for all things Celtic from his Scottish father and Irish mother.
I was a bit surprised to see Adrian Moran was still there as he had earlier told me he would be going straight to work. However he decided an afternoon with the Bhoys was needed and had phoned in “sick”. He had not long returned after a bad leg break while playing for the NZCSC football team so had advised his boss that the injury was playing up and he could hardly walk never mind drive to work.
The craic and the beer flowed. The RSA sold more Guinness that day than they usually did in a month! Just after 6pm we turned on the TV News.
Normally Scottish Football attracted no interest in the New Zealand media but things were different for this short period. Celtic’s defeat of Liverpool got good coverage and for the last few days local TV was covering the arrival of so many fans into Seville.
The room went silent for a short while as Angus Gillies’ item was screened. As promised Angus did not reveal how we got the pictures although his statement “we cannot tell you how they got the pictures” ended up causing more curiosity than if he had shown them. (Kevin later informed me that for some time after the game he was having to diplomatically field questions on where the pictures came from).
Angus’s item mostly concentrated on the NZ fans and their passion and desire to see their team. There were a few cheers from guys who saw themselves on the screen. Unfortunately one who featured on the item was Adrian Moran who was seen leaping and dancing with delight at Celtic’s second goal. Sadly for Adrian he would later discover that his boss was watching the news that night and a week after Seville Adrian would be looking for a new job!
Around 7pm I took advantage of an offer of a lift home with a few of the lads. In the car Sean Hird reminded for about the 6th time that day that it was his birthday. Jon McGrinder opined that these early kick offs were great as you could spend the day in the pub and still get home in time for dinner and a good sleep before work the next day!
I was soon sitting down to a dinner (and a few more beers) with my family. My wife Christine was NZ born and not particularly a football fan but we had lived together in Glasgow for 6 years so she knew the passion that Celtic fans had. If the boys ever mocked her about her lack of football knowledge she would retort with “well I was at the 4-2 game”. That would usually quieten them.
Nevertheless I was not sure she would have been happy to know that the boys were over two hours late in getting to school so I waited until she was out of the room before I asked them what the teacher had said when they handed over the note I had written. They told me he had just asked them what the final score had been! I was right after all – Seville was indeed a family commitment.
PS – some months later I was reading a book while the TV was on the background. The programme was covering local TV awards, not something I would normally be interested in. However my ears picked up when I heard cheering Scottish voices. I looked up and saw a brief clip from the item Angus Gillies had done on the UEFA Final. He was receiving an award for his work.
So I suppose Celtic did have one winner from Seville!
Mike Maher
