The History and Meaning Behind the Iconic Celtic Badge…
Football is synonymous with the clubs’ iconic badges, emblems that make them recognisable all over the world. Many of them are far more popular and beloved than the symbols and slogans of the leagues and competitions they belong to. For example, the majority of football fans would easily recognise at least a dozen badges from each of the more popular football leagues before they are able to recall the competition logo. This is normal as it is the clubs, their identity, and how they connect with the fans that make football such an important sport.
This is only deepened when the history of the club is intricately connected and rooted in the history of the city and the country of the club in question, and by extension, the very soul of its people. Examples of this can be found all over Europe, the birthplace of football, but especially in the British Isles. There, football is in the very foundation of cities, communities, and the honor and identity people share. In Scotland, this is present the most with the legendary football club Celtic. The Celtic Football Club, as it is officially known, is at the very core of Glasgow, Scotland, and its long and troubled history.
Founded in 1887, it has gone through a lot of change but its badge remained iconic. A Scottish team with the famous Irish four-leaved clover? How come? There is nothing else more recognisable about the Scots and their football than one of their most successful teams, but what is the meaning of their badge? Here, we consider this very topic as it is important to know such details if you call yourself a football fan. And if you are someone who enjoys sports betting on a platform like Stake.com, such knowledge is crucial as it separates good football betting enthusiasts from great ones.
The Mysterious Irish Connections
Everyone who has been involved with British football knows all too well that Celtic, a Scottish club through and through, has an Irish origin. Call it roots, call it a connection, one thing is known for a fact: the Irish are largely responsible for the creation of this Glasgow team.
The iconic emblem that sports the four-leaf clover (shamrock), a plant believed to bring luck, is now synonymous with the Scottish top-tier competition and one of the oldest and most competitive rivalries in football, that of Celtic and Rangers, dubbed The Old Firm, until 2012 and since 2015 it has become accurately known as The Glasgow Derby.
The change came about after the Old Firm ended when Rangers FC were liquidated with around £80m of unpaid debts, with around half of that due to HMRC.
To say that the origin and meaning of the badge are complicated would be an understatement. It all started in 1887 in the east end of Glasgow, a historically poor area of the city where people struggled to get by. At the time, a Catholic priest known as Brother Walfrid organised efforts to prevent child poverty and hunger in the area by supporting initiatives at the local St Mary’s church.
The charity was regarded as the “Poor Children’s Dinner Table” and it was a success in the community. On top of that, Walfrid was a member of a group that dedicated their time and resources to helping young people who have been neglected. Their order of priests was called the Marist Brothers, with Walfrid now being regarded as the founder of Celtic FC.
The main idea of this priest and his brothers was the formation of a football club that would raise funds needed to feed and help anyone in need. It was suggested that the club would support dinner tables for children and was named Celtic to celebrate and honour the charred historical heritage and struggle of Scotland and Ireland. Irish immigrants took to Scotland, their countries only separated by some 12 miles of sea in their closest points, looking for a better life.
Their shared heritage lasted millennia by then, but their intermingling was hardly welcomed, Scotland was a hostile and unwelcoming place for Irish immigrants. Thus, the now-famous Scottish club was formed by a joint effort of two peoples who have helped each other through history and shared in struggle and oppression.
The Badge Through Decades and Centuries
The first crest that Celtic used was actually not the clover. Despite the Irish influence on the formation of the club, it was not the initial idea for their identity. It was a Celtic (with a hard “K” and not “S” sound) cross on a red oval background, the symbol of the aforementioned Marist Brothers order of priests. The first match they played came in May of 1888, of course, against their soon-to-become rivals, the fellow Glasgow side Rangers. Celtic won 5-2, a win the fans still cherish to this day.
Despite not having the clover yet, the strip the players wore was an all-white shirt with a green collar, combined with green socks and black shorts. These remain their three main colours to this day. An interesting fact is that the club did not wear the crest on their matchday jerseys for almost 100 years.
They only showed it on their shirts in the 1977-78 season. By then, of course, it had already changed to the iconic green circle around the clover with white lettering we know and love today, and the team was already a popular one in sports betting. But how did we get from the cross to the four-leaf clover?
In official documents, the clover started to be used during the 1930s, but the precise origin of the design and origin is not completely clear. There remains some mystery behind it as well as ambiguity which the fans have accepted a long time ago. What we know is that it had been used for years before becoming the official crest of the club. There is photographic evidence that confirms that the clover was used as early as 1908 for the commemorative self-issued medals the players received.
This is now regarded as the first recorded use of the four-leaf clover concerning Celtic FC. However, there is a legend behind it as well, one claiming that each leaf represented a trophy from the 1907-08 quadruple season when the team won the league, the Scottish Cup, the Glasgow Cup, and the Glasgow Charity Cup. It is far more likely that this was combined with the usual meaning of the Irish symbol resulting in a double meaning that cemented the clover as the badge.
Despite the green clover taking over during the decades, the Celtic cross was not entirely discarded. It returned in the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons to commemorate the centenary of the club. For the 125th anniversary, the team’s third kit sported the Celtic cross design on the shirts, a green crest on a plain white shirt with a black color. A great way to harken back to the old days.
The Evolution of the Shamrock
The shamrock has gone through an evolution on its own even before growing out the lucky fourth leaf. The earliest design of any type of shamrock on a shirt was a three-leafed variety on the away strip in the 1950s. The strips no longer wore the crest, but this away look seems to be the first time the club officially used the leaf for a match day.
Only in the 1970s did the logo “grow out” the fourth leaf, finding its way onto the official strip. Since then, it has been used as the main logo, crest, emblem, and crest of the club. So despite the four-leaf clover being used on documents and season-ticket books in 1935, it was the 1950s aways hirt that first had any type of clover, i.e. the three-leaf version.
The modern-day look of the badge came in 1994/95. Starting as a Private Limited Company, they changed their finance model and ownership becoming a Public Limited Company in the process. They changed the badge too at this time. The biggest change came in the lettering. Before 1995, it read “The Celtic Football and Athletic Coy. Ltd” and after the change, it was shortened and simplified to “The Celtic Football Club.” The circular design with the four-leaf clover, the dark green and the year 1888 on the bottom remained unchanged.
The Meaning(s) and History of the Clover
What about the history and the meanings of the three- and four-leaf clovers regardless of their ties with the professional football club from Glasgow? Of course, it predates the 136-year-old club from Celtic Park. The Bhoys, Celts, or Hoops, as they are known, made it their own, but they have the long history of the Irish people and their Patron Saint Patrick to thank for their club’s identity. Clovers have a rich history and symbolism to them and are nowadays connected to different beliefs and powers.
The shamrock, which is the three-leaf clover, is strongly associated with Ireland and its cultural heritage. The very term comes from the word “seamrog” meaning “little clover” and according to legend, it was St Patrick who used it to illustrate the concept of the Holy Trinity when he converted the Irish to Christianity in the 5th century.
Apart from the religious context, the three-leaf clover is often viewed as a symbol of growth, renewal, and fertility. The now-recognisable, vibrant green stands for life and vitality and makes the plant a popular spring motif. The longtime resilience of the Irish people during hardships and emigrations is also represented with the shamrock. Its cultural significance is immeasurable as it is deeply embedded in the culture and national identity of the people and the land.
Regarding the four-lead clover, the first thing that comes to mind is its rarity. It is a much more rare instance to find the four-leaf clover over the standard shamrock. Experts claim that it is only one in every 5,000 to 10,000 clovers that sprout the fourth leaf. Therefore, the motifs of discovery and exploration are also strong with it, with luck being the first and the strongest idea behind it.
A fun and hopeful activity, people enjoy looking for four-leaf clovers in fields. It is said that each leaf traditionally stands for a certain symbolism. The first is for faith, encouraging belief and trust in oneself and others. The second is for hope, instilling optimism for the future.
The third is for love, emphasising the importance it brings to life. The fourth is for luck, signifying good fortune and serendipity. When brought together, these four elements create a lot of meaning that makes the plant a cherished and beloved talisman in many cultures, not just in Ireland.
Final Thoughts
The clover has long outgrown the borders of the country where it first became a positive and encouraging symbol. Across cultures, it has given people protection as a charm and many European traditions adopted the four-leaf clover as something that counters and wards off evil spirits.
In modern times, everyone knows that it brings good luck and it is usually portrayed alongside Leprechauns, pots of gold, and rainbows. In folklore and literature, it was even used as a magical item with stories claiming it grants wishes and provides powers to those who find it. Since it is so popular, it continues to be used in tattoos, jewelry, art, and all places that deal with luck and finances, like casinos for example.
With the new season of European football well on the way, there are plenty of ways to test if this peculiar plant truly has special powers. As Celtic FC is your favourite team, you may look to the clover to help you with your online sports betting in the ongoing season! It will surely answer if you believe in its magical properties.
The team is playing in the Scottish Premiership and is currently at the top of the table with 6 wins in their first 6 matches, including the sensational 6-0 away win at McDiarmid Park on Saturday evening against St Johnstone. They also started their UEFA Champions League season in the new format with a 5-1 win at home over Slovan Bratislava and play Borussia Dortmund, last season’s beaten Champions League finalists tomorrow evening in Germany.
An interesting season is in front of us and it is already shaping up to be a successful one for the team with the four leaf clover on their chests.
Good article. The founding fathers of Celtic, would have considered the club to be an Irish club. Playing in Scotland, certainly, but an Irish club nonetheless. The 1914 Scottish Cup Final of 1914 between Celtic and Hibs, was referred to in the press of the time, as ‘The Irish Final.’ Would a Scottish club, go to such lengths to defend our right to fly the Irish Tricolour as we did in 1952, and again in 1972? Brother Walfrid was not a priest. He was a member of The Marist Brothers, a French order dedicated to teaching of poor children.
Hail Hail.
Hail Hail.