Since Celtic Football Club’s inception 137-years ago, the Hoops have featured in 20 games on Christmas Day – winning on 14 occasions and scoring 64 goals…
Celtic’s first outing on 25 December came a year after the foundation of the club in 1888 – where the Hoops were defeated by Lanarkshire side Airdrie St Margaret 2-1 in a friendly. Willie Maley’s team consisted mostly of first team and reserve players.
Christmas Day Friendlies in England
In the 1890s, Celtic even travelled down south to play Lancashire side Bury in a friendly. To the Hoops’ credit, Maley’s men won convincingly 3-0 at Gigg Lane despite the Shakers’ being heavy favourites due to their league position in the Second Division of English football at the time.
Continuing with the theme of victories in England, Celtic made the journey to London 11 years on from their Christmas Day success in Bury, this time to face Woolwich Arsenal. A similar outcome occurred. The visitors travelled back up to Glasgow for St Stephen’s Day delighted following an impressive 2-0 win.
Notably, those three specific games outlined in the latter nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were friendlies, 16 of Celtic’s 20 matches on Christmas Day have been competitive fixtures.
A 9-1 win for Celtic
The first Christmas Day league game was back in 1897. Celtic resoundingly defeated Clyde 9-1 partly of Dod Allan who scored an incredible five goals. Allan, who had signed from Liverpool in the summer of 1897 was prolific during the 1897/1898 campaign. But, Allan only stayed at the Hoops for one season. Sadly, he died at the young age of 24 in 1899 and had it not been for his illness and premature death, there is no doubt he would have went onto become a legendary striker.
53 years ago today
53 years ago today, was the final time Celtic played on Christmas Day. Jock Stein’s men served up a Christmas fare with a superb game of football against Hearts — in which the Scottish champions won 3-2. Celtic and Aberdeen had been neck and neck up until this point of the 1971/1972 campaign, and reflecting analytically, this was an important win en route to seven-in-a-row.
Equally impressive was the crowd versus the Jambos. Despite matches on Christmas Day beginning to look completely out of step with the times, 34,000 spectators turned out for this Scottish Premier Division encounter.
Don’t rule out Christmas Day football returning
Furthermore, the evolution of football, TV rights, and the nature of how many games are now played, it would be preposterous to rule out our 3-2 victory over Hearts being Celtic’s last ever match on Christmas Day.
Who knows, in a few decades time, a full-fixture card on Christmas Day may well make a return.
The full list of Celtic’s competitive Christmas Day matches can be seen below:
1897: Clyde 1-9 Celtic
1909: Kilmarnock 0-1 Celtic
1915: Celtic 6-0 Airdrie
1920: St Mirren 0-2 Celtic
1924: Kilmarnock 0-4 Celtic
1933: Queen’s Park 2-3 Celtic
1934: Celtic 4-1 Queen’s Park
1937: Kilmarnock 0-8 Celtic
1943: Hamilton 3-4 Celtic
1946: Celtic 1-0 Queen’s Park
1947: Celtic 4-2 Hearts
1948: Celtic 2-0 Aberdeen
1954: Celtic 2-2 Clyde
1957: Celtic 1-2 Queen of the South
1965: Celtic 8-1 Morton
1971: Celtic 3-2 Hearts
A Merry Christmas Day at Paradise for 34,000 fans as Celtic beat Hearts 3-2…
thecelticstar.com/a-merry-chri…— The Celtic Star (@celticstarmag.bsky.social) 25 December 2024 at 07:29
Merry Christmas! Have a great day celebrating with family and friends.
Conor Spence
Celtic in the Thirties
By popular demand, both volumes of Celtic in the Thirties are now available on Amazon Kindle, with the links to order below. Signed copies of both volumes are available on hardback from Celtic Star Books and if you would like author Matt Corr to add a special dedication to your copies please let us know. Order hardback copies HERE or for Amazon Kindle click on the links below…
