THERE will be a little piece of history made this afternoon when the VAR system will for the first time ever, be used in a match involving Celtic. And there could have already been history made earlier today as a strong Celtic side defeated St Gallen Under 21s by nine goals to one.
The history aspect could have been that the game consisted, be prior agreement of two halves each of 40 minutes. Has Celtic ever played an 80 minute game before? We’ll need to wait until David Potter clears that one up for us.
Final game of the pre-season tour! ????????
???? @FCSG_1879
⌚ 18:30 CPT
???? Kybunpark
???? LIVE Worldwide on @CelticTV
#⃣ #TurnUpTheHeat pic.twitter.com/q3NMhbbwsV— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 2, 2019
However with the Hoops just under three hours away from their second match of the day, one thing we know for sure is that playing two games on the same day is nothing new for Celtic. In fact Celtic did exactly the same thing last year while in Austria for pre-season training. The Bhoys played a closed-doors match against BW Linz and then followed this up with a game against against Sparta Prague.
Two Games in One Day for Celtic is Nothing New, David Potter explains…
So Celtic, I am informed, will play two games on Tuesday. Shock! Horror!
I hope no-one goes around saying that this unprecedented and cruel to players or anything like that! It maybe a little hard on the players – but then the life of a professional football player is not, as some people think, a bed of roses. It can be a wee bit tough, now and again.
But then what about 1916 when life was a wee bit tougher? War-time regulations obliged Celtic to play two games on the one day on Saturday 15 April – v Raith Rovers at Celtic Park at 3.15pm and Motherwell at Fir Park at 6.00 (or basically as soon as Celtic could get there in their charabanc).
Celtic won them both 6-0 and 3-1, with only one change in personnel, Joe Cassidy replacing Joe O’Kane for the second game. So glory be to Shaw, McNair and McGregor; Young, Dodds and McMaster; McAtee, Gallacher, O’Kane, Cassidy, McMenemy and Browning! Oh, and by the way, they won the Scottish League in so doing!
They said that Sunny Jim was going about Glasgow that night looking for a third team to play!
And observe the date, 15 April 1916. The following Monday 24 April saw famous events in Dublin. I bet James Connolly, Scottish and probably a Hibs supporters but not unsympathetic to the Celtic, knew all about the two games in a day!
So two games in a day! Nae bother for the Celts!
David Potter
Here’s what happened in the match earlier today…
Griffiths shuts down disgraceful Rangers chant as he chases Magnificent Seven
