Celtic is a unique football club all about the Glory and the Dream

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The Celtic Star

·28 May 2025

Celtic is a unique football club all about the Glory and the Dream

137 years ago this very day was the first ever game played by the football club that would go on to be the most successful in the country…

Michael Davitt lays the first sod of shamrock smothered turf at Celtic Park. Image The Celtic Wiki

On 28 May 1888 a new football club from the East End of Glasgow played its first ever game and the rest as they say is history. That club is of course is Celtic football club who would become the most successful and iconic clubs in world football.

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The old Celtic Park was the venue a far cry from our spectacular present day surroundings just down the road, and two thousand spectators turned up to witness a wonderful moment in history as the men in white shirts donning a red and green Celtic cross across the breast complemented by black shorts and black and green socks took on the blue and white of Rangers.

READ THIS…Happy Birthday Celtic – Celtic’s first game on this day in 1888

1887: The Celtic FC team line-up for the 1887-88 season (back row left to right, players only) Willie Groves, Tom Maley, Paddy Gallagher, Willie Dunning, Willie Maley, Mick Dunbar, (front row left to right) Johnny Coleman, James McLaren, James Kelly, Neil McCallum, Mick McKeown. The players are wearing the club’s first strip; white shirt with green collar, black shorts, and emerald green socks. The club crest is a green cross on a red background, reflecting the involvement of Brother Walfrid, of the Marist Brothers Catholic organisation, in the founding of the club.(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Our opponents were an established side on the Scottish football scene having been on the go since 1872 but the newly formed Celtic swept them aside 5-2 thanks to goals from Neil McCallum, James Kelly and a Tom Maley Hat trick to herald the dawn of a new era.

Few who were present that day could have anticipated how much of an illustrious institution Glasgow Celtic would be become. From creating iconic memories to improving folks everyday lives, Celtic has become a truly magical club boasting a unique history and it all started on this very day back in 1888.

Celtic captain Billy McNeill holds aloft the European Cup after Celtic’s 2-1 victory over Inter Milan in the 1967 European Cup Final in Lisbon. Photo Imago.

Three days short of the club’s 79th birthday Celtic became Champions of Europe when Billy McNeill lifted the European Cup and held it high into the Lisbon sky, an iconic Celtic moment that will never be be beaten. Celtic reached those heights that no other club in Scotland – dead or alive – can claim to have achieved.

And today Celtic, despite the occasional set-back, is the outstanding football club and dominant force in Scottish football having won more trophies than even the combined totals of the two Ibrox clubs. We beat them on this day in 1988 and we’re beating them now 137 years down the road….

Long may it continue!

Happy Birthday Celtic

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Celtic in the Thirties by Celtic Historian Matt Corr is published in two volumes by Celtic Star Books. ORDER NOW!