They champion human rights, are anti-fascist and raise thousands of pounds for families on the breadline.
Yet Celtic’s Green Brigade ultras find themselves banned from the stadium they call home.
This week club officials suspended around 250 season tickets in the Green Brigade section at Celtic Park citing members’ failure to adhere to club and stadium rules.
Celtic sent an 800-word letter to fans detailing incidents involving pyrotechnics, rushing of turnstiles at home and away matches and violent behaviour towards stewards during last weekend’s trip to Hibernian. It’s a damning dossier.
My seat at Celtic Park sits directly above the North Curve rail seating – the corner of the ground occupied by the Green Brigade.
I’ll watch in awe at the colour and noise emanating from that section. The ultras’ vocal backing plays a key role in making Celtic Park one of the most vibrant places to watch football. It is their section which sets the tone and atmosphere.
For big games the Green Brigade will orchestrate stunning tifo displays which wraparound the entire 60,000 seat stadium.
At the end of last season a huge display had the words “stand on the shoulders of giants” with gigantic portraits of legendary managers Jock Stein and Willie Maley looking at each other from either end of Celtic Park.
The creativity and hard-work to create such 360 degree stadium displays is down to Green Brigade ingenuity.
But I’ve also watched the ultras clash with stewards and police. Their love of fireworks and pyro – while adding to the atmosphere at European matches – results in fines for the club.
The Green Brigade are not universally loved by the wider Celtic support. It’s a rocky relationship. When that section disrespected a Remembrance Day silence large sections of the Celtic faithful booed the ultras.
Set up in 2006, the Green Brigade’s main goal was to invigorate the flagging match-day atmosphere at Celtic Park.
Proudly political, the ultras maintain a left-leaning reputation with banners and placards supporting everyone from striking rail workers to refugees. The Green Brigade has long flown the flag for Palestine.
Over the last 17 years it has won many friends for raising funds for charities and most recently food banks. This year more than £12k has been raised for struggling families across Glasgow.
This is not the first time Green Brigade members have had season tickets suspended and told to stay away from Paradise.
But this current ban appears more serious, especially with Celtic using the word “indefinite”. It feels like a school expulsion. A school teacher at the end of their tether with the class delinquent.
It is common for Celtic to receive hefty Uefa fines for incidents involving pyro and political banners displayed in the North Curve and at matches away in Europe. Patience among club officials has worn thin.
Fans arriving at Celtic Park for last Wednesday’s Champions League match against Atletico Madrid were approached by Green Brigade members and encouraged to take Palestine flags inside the ground.
Hundreds of the flags were brought into the stadium despite the club warning that symbols relating to events in the Middle East should not be displayed. Another Uefa fine is expected in the post.
The Green Brigade operates much like an Italian-style ultras group. Faces of members are blurred out in images distributed on the group’s social media. Politics and football are intrinsically linked. While many of their songs champion the club and its players, there are also songs about the IRA.
Last season the ultras rallied behind the Celtic Women’s team, bringing colour and passion usually reserved to the men’s team, to decisive Scottish Women’s Premier League matches.
It was a wonderful show of solidarity to see the Jock Stein Stand packed with noisy supporters cheering on the women’s team with as much fever as they would during a Champions League night involving Kyogo Furuhashi and Callum McGregor.
The Green Brigade refuses to speak to British mainstream media, choosing to use the North Curve X/Twitter account to communicate with its 75k followers.
In midweek the group cited their suspension from Celtic Park as unfair.
A Green Brigade statement read: “It is undeniable that the sanctions imposed against those affiliated with the Green Brigade are a result of the group’s unapologetic solidarity with Palestine.
“The sanctions applied, most notably collective bans, are evidently unfair, bereft of policy, process and communication with individuals wrongly being punished before any allegation, any evidence nor any right of defence.”
The group refutes allegations of ‘rushing’ stadiums.
“As an ultras group, known for boisterous support and creativity, we occasionally breach the assorted regulations which are in place to sterilise football stadiums.
“We categorically deny sinister and defamatory allegations of ‘breaking in’ and ‘intimidating, threatening and abusive behaviour towards staff’.”
The next Celtic home match is against Aberdeen on Sunday 12 November. Whether the Green Brigade are allowed inside, or forced to watch at home on TV, remains to be seen.
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