One of the most widely circulated Celtic quotes is actually a myth and is slightly misleading. “A football club will be formed for the maintenance of dinner tables for children and the unemployed.” It’s a quote that we’ve all heard a million times, it’s even been repeated by the club itself, yet it was never actually said back in November 1887 when Celtic was formed.
Not a single piece of literature has evidenced this quote being stated. Not an article. Not a minute from a meeting. Nothing.
Celtic did not feed the unemployed. The club was formed to provide financial assistance to Brother Walfrid’s Poor Children’s Dinner and Breakfast Tables charity, within which a Penny Dinner scheme was operated in three Catholic schools – St Mary’s, St Michael’s and Sacred Heart. The Penny Dinner scheme was designed to alleviate poverty and encourage educational attendance among local Catholics in the East End of Glasgow – the descendants of Irish refugees. A penny would be paid for a meal, but free meals would be provided for children whose parents were unemployed and thus possibly unable to contribute the requested penny.
The club’s first circular of January 1888 tells the real raison d’etre, note that there is no reference to the unemployed:
Patrons
His Grace the Archbishop of Glasgow and the Clergy of St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart and St. Michael’s Missions, and the principle Catholic laymen of the East End.
The above club was formed in November 1887 by a number of the Catholics of the East End of the City.
The main objective of the club is to supply the East End conferences of the St. Vincent De Paul Society with funds for the maintenance of the “Dinner Tables” of our needy children in the Missions of St Mary’s, Sacred Heart, and St. Michael’s. Many cases of sheer poverty are left unaided through lack of means. It is therefore with this principle object that we have set afloat the “Celtic”, and we invite you as one of our ever-ready friends to assist in putting our new Park in proper working order for the coming football season.
We have already several of the leading Catholic football players of the West of Scotland on our membership list. They have most thoughtfully offered to assist in the good work.
We are fully aware that the “elite” of football players belong to this City and suburbs, and we know that from there we can select a team which will be able to do credit to the Catholics of the West of Scotland as the Hibernians have been doing in the East.
Again, there is also the desire to have a large recreation ground where our Catholic young men will be able to enjoy the various sports which will build them up physically, and we feel sure we will have many supporters with us in this laudable object.
The mention of unemployed people being among those that Celtic were formed to help, rather than simply local Catholic children, first seemed to be made in the early 2000s. For the 2004 Celtic Charity Fund Dinner, a programme was put together and there was an article by Alex Gordon contained within it, entitled Brother Walfrid’s Dream. This article, incorrectly, quotes the circular. Indeed, Gordon’s piece remarked:
“On another bitingly cold November in 1887, a hand-written circular was passed around the needy of the area. It stated simply: A football club will be formed for the maintenance of dinner tables for the children and the unemployed. Eighteen words. Eighteen words that formed the foundation of an institution the world now acclaims as Celtic Football Club.”
Where this mythical quote stems from is unclear, but it was never uttered and is not entirely accurate.
Celtic has a wonderful history with noble foundations, but we did not form to ‘maintain dinner tables for the unemployed’. It would be great to see our first circular accurately quoted and celebrated by the club.
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