It is a strange notion to think about – football on Christmas Day. However, it did used to happen and not all that long ago. The last ever Christmas Day match in English football was in 1965, meanwhile in Scotland it was 1976!
Where Celtic are concerned, the last Christmas Day fixture for the Hoops was in 1971. The Bhoys entertained Hearts at Paradise that day, in front of 34,000 spectators. Hearts sat in mid-table going into the match, whilst Celtic were neck and neck with Aberdeen at the top.
The line ups were as follows:
Celtic – Connaghan, Hay, Quinn, Dalglish, McNeill, Connelly, Johnstone, Lennox, Deans, Callaghan, Hood Substitute: Craig
Hearts – Cruickshank, Sneddon, Oliver, Brown, Veitch, Thomson, Fleming, Renton, Ford, Winchester, T Murray. Substitute: Wood
Celtic got off to a flier with Harry Hood scoring in the opening minute. The home side built on that lightning start, but Hearts worked their way back into the game and equalised on the half hour. Jimmy Johnstone had a cracking game and got the second. So fine was Jinky’s performance that he was described by the Sunday Mail as “displaying the footwork normally associated with an Astaire named Fred.” (Fred Astaire was an Amercian actor, who is widely considered the most influential dancer in the history of film.)
Jinky and Hood were both in top form and the latter he provided the cross to Dixie for him to keep up his goal-a-game record. Seven minuted had elapsed since Deans made it 3-1 to Celtic, when Hearts pegged another back through Brown.
Fortunately, it was too little too late for the Jambos as Celtic took the points with a 3-2 victory. The win meant that Celtic remained top of the table on 31 points (15 wins, one draw and one loss from 17 games), whilst Aberdeen stayed hot on their heels with 30 points.
